An unofficial guide for a girls trip

You know the post two-week holiday blues have hit when you have no more Instagram photos left to post. Or you go back to talking to your holiday friends like a situation ship, where you leave them delivered for hours but watch all their stories. So now I’ve had time to digest the holiday, instead of writing a boring blog telling you ‘where the best places to eat’ are (I would happily just send you a list if you really are interested), here is an unofficial guide of moments that make the holiday worth re-telling: 

1. The fit stranger that you all fall in love with at the same time

Trying to find a place to store your luggage in France would OF COURSE end up being in a random cheese shop. We booked through this dodgy online service to store our bags (don’t use bounce) and the maps led us to this corner shop, full of fromage. When we got there, a beautiful French man appeared saying that the store no longer accepted luggage. As three damsels in distress, we batted our eyes and said ‘oh no what will we do’ (in our elegant English accents). He then said, we could store the luggage in the shop anyway, no charge. We walked away from the store, talking about how we may be starring in Emily in Paris as that man was far too attractive for a cheese shop. Then, the penny dropped. Collectively we thought, did we just store our bags to get stolen because we thought the French guy was fit? It felt like one of those blog articles telling you every tourist trap not to fall for. Spoiler: our bags were fine and if Max is out there, thank you. It was at this moment that I realised being on a girls trip equates to zero brain cells. 

1. There’s always an influencer friend 

Right before we went away, I was squealing at my phone as Emily In Paris Season 4 was currently being filmed in Paris. I remember thinking, what are the chances of finding the filmset? Apparently not too hard. We were sitting in one of the fancy Paris gardens and I told my friends that one of the filming locations seemed to be a 15 min walk. Going on holiday with me is like having a mini fake-influencer who will seek out anything that could result in me meeting a celebrity. So, we walked to ‘Terra Nera’ (Gabriel's restaurant) and when we got there it was replaced by the name ‘Gigi’s’. I actually think I nearly fainted from excitement. It’s so surreal just seeing a massive film crew in the streets filming and I get very star struck person. Afterwards I said to my friends that maybe I can’t go into the journalism industry as I don’t know if I can handle even seeing a film crew without feeling all blood sugars drop - it’s the adrenaline rush. 

1. A lot of aperol spritz and gossiping 

There is a ritual to the dinners in the evening on the girls trip. Number one is that you must have a pre-drink at a bar beforehand and number two is that all conversations are confidential. There was one night where we walked past two people around 5pm having an Aperol Spritz, instantly we all went ‘yep let’s have a drink’ and soon before you know it we were sat in a bar. I love when you see two people embodying the image of a holiday and then you realise, you are also on holiday, so can join in. Then, not to make a holiday sound entirely about alcohol but wine at dinner, slightly shit-talking with friends in my opinion is a whole activity. We had conversations where someone would go to say something and hesitate, I would chip in ‘it’s fine say it, it’s your holiday.’ And no-one will ever know what we discussed or who we talked about xox 

We met some Canadians one night, who I thought were a friendly bunch and the daughter said to us that she hated 'the scouse accent.' About two bottle of wine down, the audacity of someone to say they actively dislike an accent, to my friend who is scouse. Well, you've been outed on my blog now. Some opinions maybe shouldn't be shared at a holiday dinner.

In terms of 'after dinner', it is slightly shameful that we planned twice to go clubbing and both times failed. We resorted to a jazz bar that was used in La La Land (take a guess who dragged her friends there) and the other evening we walked up a hill for crepes, which surprisingly they don’t serve at midnight. 

1. Nearly committing a crime abroad 

A girls trip is not complete without almost ending up in jail together. Yes, we got fined on the Paris bus. If you ever go to France, VALIDATE YOUR BUS TICKET. Even if it is 50 degrees, there are thousands of people in the way, just scan it. Another tip, stay with your friends as I was split up and just repeating 'I'm Anglais' to a stern, French controller that I couldn't fully understand. These ghost-buster type police appeared and demanded we pay 35 euros each. Ironically, just before this we had paid twelve pounds for hot chocolate, so the boujee lifestyle was short lived. I could see other tourists refusing to pay and murmurs of ‘police station’ could be heard in the conversation. My parents love me but probably not enough to bail me out of a prison in France.

1. The 'slight' bickers

It’s a sign of a strong friendship group if you can argue on holiday. A testing hour was when we had to get up at 4am for the Eurostar and each of us displayed different personalities. One of my friends was SO awake, it was slightly sociopathic. My other friend was quite mellow, I have no complaints about that. I was completely silent until I had my coffee on the train, to anyone who wakes up at that hour regularly. I ask why? 

Some of the ‘slight’ arguments  - I emphasise slight as they usually would be 30 min sulks tops - were on the last day both of my friends used ALL of the water in the shower before I got in there. When you’re on the last stretch of holiday, the littlest thing can touch a nerve. Or, on the Eurostar home my friend was sitting in front and whenever I went to tap her shoulder I would end up hitting her face by accident. Which she didn't appreciate as I was asking if we were in England yet, when we were still in France. But it is these moments you have to cherish. 

SO, that was my quick, unofficial guide to going on holiday with your pals. My question I ask myself for going away with people is can we sit in silence comfortably AND can we also have fun? It’s not an easy feat to go away on holiday, especially when my friends have the same name as well…but needless to say, I felt very grateful to have a fun trip in between my studies. Who knows, maybe there will be another unofficial holiday guide again soon…