Recently Iâve been reading âGrumpy Mom Takes A Holidayâ and within the chapter on friendship the author, Valerie Worener, asks you to write down all the qualities you want to find in a friend. ThenâŚgo BE that friend. So maybe you donât think you have perfect travel friends. I donât either!!! And I am not a perfect travel friend! Take a look around your community and see if you can find a few friends (2 to 3) who would be excited to getaway together! OR if you have sisters or cousins, that works too!
I know some of yaâll may not agree, and thatâs okay! But I totally believe that 1 night away isnât enough. 2 nights away is fine, but 3 nights away is perfect. Enough time to relax, have multiple dinners uninterrupted and squeeze in a brunch or two!! Our recent trip was Thursday morning to Sunday night allowing us 2 full days of exploring the sites while also having time to chill on the patio and have a bottle of wine! Plus because our AirBNB was tiny, we were real over sharing a double bed⌠I can handle a poor night of sleep if I know weâre going to a spa the next day!! By the time Sunday morning rolled around, we were excited for brunchâŚand ready to hop a plane back home. Over the years we may upgrade to a week long getaway. In our season of little kids and jobs waiting, 3 nights away was just perfect.
This is the chance to find a city to visit that doesnât need to be stroller friendly!!! I lost count of how many people asked me, âWhat made you choose Quebec City?â So hereâs how that conversation went:
Friend: âLetâs go to Italy!â
Me: âThatâs Chadâs #1 place to go, so Iâd have to bring him alongâ
Friend: âBeach?â
Our Thoughts: Not exciting enough
Me: âI saw a special one time about Quebec City?â
Us: Letâs do it!!!
There are SO many reasons Quebec City is an ideal place for a Girls GetawayâŚand Iâll share our itinerary at the bottom! The best part about this city was how un-family friendly it was đ⌠there was hardly a child to be found, which was great for a getaway!!! If you canât quite do the airfare, I encourage you to find a 2-4 hour drive and search AirBNB!
If this is your first time on a trip away it may be helpful to stay in the same time zone so you can easily be reached if anyone at home needs help quickly. Again, this isnât at all mandatory- it just could help!
You wouldnât have caught be seeking out a 16 mile bike ride to a waterfall, but Iâm so glad my friend did!!! It was totally out of my box and if she hadnât advocated for it Iâd probably have shown up at the waterfall just walking around like the regular tourists. All 3 of us were able to find something we wanted to do which made us equally excited to constantly have something to look forward to. When youâre planning your own girls trip you may not 100% love every activity planned, but if you go into it grateful that your friend gets to enjoy somethingâŚyouâll probably start enjoying it yourself within the first 5 miles⌠đ
Everything at home is fine. Keeping a distance of FaceTiming 1-2 times a day for a few minutes was perfect for me! In fact, at one point we all joked that the kids didnât miss us at all! For all 3 of us it happened that Dads were on duty. We received pictures of mis-matched outfits, messy hairâŚand mile side smiles!! The kids were great! Youâre off making memories with your friends and connecting, so let Dad (or whoever is watching the kids) do the same!! Iâd love to think that as we make this girls trip an annual thing, the girls will look forward to spending a 1:1 weekend with Dad.
If this is your first time away, it may also be helpful to have a few things laid out for Dad or caretakers. Whenever Chad and I have gone away together we take labels to the girls individual dresser drawers! Maybe this means you lay things out or pack lunches before you go, or leave detailed notes. Between the 3 of us on our recent girls trip we all had different stories: one Dad had never been left alone, another Dad was pumped to be left alone, and one Dad is already the primary daytime caretaker. Whatever the dynamics are for your family, itâs great to think through things before you go- but donât obsess about checking in while youâre gone. Get away and let goâŚand have fun getting photos of donut and cake pop breakfasts!!
I no longer believe that a girls trip is a luxury, but a necessity! It was so refreshing to step away, connect with life giving friends and be my own person. It could go without saying that this trip was a success because the routines were set at home. There was ZERO stress that the girls may not sleepâŚthat Chad would not only be up with them during the dayâŚbut also at night. Over and over again I hear from families how freeing it is to get a babysitter, or have grandparents stay overnight and no one has to wonder what the night will be like. As a wise Mom of 3 grown kids commented on a photo I shared while awayâŚ.
âReason 9,000 that kids need to be able to sleep…so moms can travel without guilt that kids will be stressed at night or that everyone will just be exhausted the whole time youâre gone! I also told people that I was a better mom when I had a minute away from time to time. So glad you all could go!â
I whole heartedly agree that I came back a refreshed and more patient Mom. And get thisâŚI even turned the clock to be morning sooner because I couldnât wait to hug and kiss the girls!!!! Their screeches of âMOM!!!!!â Is one that I treasure.
If youâre interested in going to Quebec City, Iâd love to share our itinerary! If not, just skip this part. But I cannot recommend this city enough for a getaway!
Thursday-
Checked into AirBNB (not linking our location as I actually donât recommend!)
La Buche for dinner (please please get the poutine and salmon pie!)
Walked the boardwalk in front of Fairmont Le Château Frontenac (be aware that nightlife ends at 9PM)
Found a small epicurean grocery for wine and chocolate covered popcorn
Friday-
Peppe pastry for breakfast
Bike Tour of Montmorency Falls
LĹuise for late lunch (fish and chips are a MUST!!!)
Walked around Old Quebec Square and found maple taffy on a stick!
Saturday-
La Maison Smith for chocolate almond crissants
Strom Nordic Spa (highly recommend booking a seasonal package, great value!)
Food tour of St. Roch Neighborhood (the most fun thing we did!!! highly recommend!)
Sunday-
La Maison Smith for chocolate crissants
Brunch back at La Buche (strongly suggest getting 1 sweet and 1 savory dish to split!)
Walked and shopped at Boutique Roseville and thrift stores in St. Roch
Lunch at Formageries des Grondines
Uber to Airport!
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Thanks for sharing! I can only dream of a girls getaway right now, but someday will make it happen! Without sharing your exact AirBnB, can you tell us what part of the city NOT to stay in? And where you would recommend instead?
Oh good question!!! I would 100% recommend staying in Old Town Quebec, which is where we stayed…we just weren’t impressed with the AirBNB we picked!! (the beds were awful, ha!)
Hey!! I sure hope a getaway could be in your future one day for sure!! We stayed in the Old Town of Quebec and I highly recommend!!! I just didn’t love the place we stayed at, ha!! Love this city!!
This is all so great, and I’m even more jazzed about my (very first) girls’ trip I’m taking in January. It’ll be short but I’m looking forward to unplugging. P.S. I’m angry at you for looking good in hats. đ — Tess