Tips for Planning a Girlfriend Getaway Road Trip

Grab your gal pal and hit the highway for a girlfriend getaway road trip! Girlfriend getaways are the hottest travel trend these days. These are vacations for girlfriends, sisters, mothers and daughters without male companionship. My favorite girlfriend getaway is hitting the open highway for a road trip. Having traveled over many American roadways with my gal pals, following are tips I've learned.

Choose your road trip travel partner wisely.
Traveling is meant to be fun but it can be stressful. Before asking a gal pal to hit the road with you, make sure you can really travel with her. Are you the spontaneous type while she likes to plan every minute of the day? If your differences are too great, the road trip may be the pits. Sisters, mothers, grandmothers, college roommates and road warrior colleagues make excellent road trip partners because you've already experienced being with them during intense situations.

Navigationally challenged.
When considering your road trip partner (or partners), consider who will drive and who will navigate. A navigator usually has a good sense of direction, can read a map and persuasive enough to convince the driver to stop and ask for directions when lost. I'm navigationally challenged and prefer driving as long as my co-pilot is a decent navigator, especially when traveling in large cities.

Communicate: understand each other's road trip expectations.
Discussing what you and your girlfriend want to experience, see and do during the road trip before hitting the highway can alleviate disappointment. Sure, some of the best travel stories are born from spontaneous adventures, but expectations need to be discussed.

Are you planning a road trip to a specific area to visit Aunt Sandy and the cousins or explore the area with your gal pal? If a girlfriend getaway is planned around visiting relatives whom your traveling partner doesn't know, she may feel left out, especially when the clan is talking about last decade's family reunion.

Two of a kind?
Are you a wild chick who likes to party until the sun rises while your gal pal is in bed by 9:00 p.m.? Traveling with someone who has different interests is a great way to expand your cultural horizons by experiencing new things. You'll have an opportunity to enjoy something your girlfriend enjoys and vice versa. But, if differences are too great, someone's not going to be happy and it may be a long, silent trip home.

It's the money, honey.
Work out a budget before hitting the road on your girlfriend getaway and discuss it with your travel partner. The worst thing is traveling with someone who has more expensive tastes than I do. I'm the kind of gal who gets the most bang for my buck and won't travel with someone who pays full price for everything and expects me to do the same. Extremely different budgets can become troublesome on a girlfriend getaway, especially when deciding on hotels, attractions and dining.

No hitchhikers. Not even Brad Pitt.
It's pretty rare to see a hitchhiker looking as fine as Brad Pitt's character in the chick flick "Thelma & Louise" (1991) but if you do spot one, don't stop to pick him up. I admit to hitchhiking more than a decade ago with intentions of getting from Point A to Point B. One doesn't know a hitchhiker's intentions and it's better to be safe than sorry.

With a bit of planning and communication, a girlfriend getaway road trip will be a happy and memorable experience.

Read about a girlfriend getaway to Florida's Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp.