Steps to planning your best girls’ getaway

YOUR IDEAL VACATION

Before you ever look at a map to pick a destination, you and your friend(s) should be honest about the kind of vacation you want and the type of traveler you are. Do you love laidback, carefree vacations where your main priorities are lying by the pool and getting dressed for dinner each evening? Let’s call this type 1.

Maybe you prefer to see the sites and explore every nook and cranny of a new city. You hate to waste time in a hotel room. This is type 2.

Or perhaps you’re a mix of both. You love history and visiting cultural sites but you need your down time. That’s type 3.

Figure it out.

Pick a place

Once you’ve figured out what type of vacation suits you both, you need to pick a place.

Type 1 recommendations: Paris, London, Rome, Barcelona, Bangkok. Pretty much any big city.

Type 2 recommendations: Positano, Krabi, Cozumel. Any beach will work for this. Or a destination where you’ve both been and don’t care to see any of the sites again.

Type 3: Chiang Mai, Mykonos, Edinburgh. Smaller, more quaint with monuments and museums to visit but not a place that will run you ragged. You’ll have time to relax.

• MORE TRAVEL: Why Edinburgh should be on your bucket list 

BOOK A HOTEL

This is purely a reminder so you don’t forget. Look at the budget and decide on a place you’ll both be happy with.

WRITE OUT MUST-SEES

No need to plan out the entire trip, especially if you’re a Type 2 or 3, but you may want to list must-sees just so you don’t miss them. Depending on your travel type, don’t cut time your time short. If you’re Type 3, you’ll want days to explore plus a couple days to do nothing. You can’t do that in a 3-day trip.

GIVE YOURSELF ALONE TIME

The secret to all bff trips — me time. I don’t care how well you think you know each other or if you’ve never had a real fight. I promise, you will. And you’ll get tired of seeing each other and spending every minute together, especially on trips that last a week or longer. Separate for half a day and do your own thing.

SPLURGE

Pick one thing you both would really love to do that you might not normally spend money on. For my best friend(s) and me, our splurges tend to involve boats: Positano, Mykonos, Miami. We’re all about spending the day at sea working on our best tan.