Lisa Mayoh: The tradition that stood the test of time and kept filling the cup

Three nights away with girlfriends has become more than just a break from reality - it's the antidote to modern life's relentless demands, writes Lisa Mayoh.

Lisa Mayoh and her friends have a long weekend away every year.

As you read this, I’ll be waking up in the glorious aftermath of a long weekend away with my girlfriends. We’ll be tired, we’ll be (almost) cocktailed out and likely still laughing about something that happened last night, fighting over who gets the first shower so we can walk up the road for (crispy) bacon and a strong coffee.

But above all, we will be deliriously, otherworldly happy.

Because weekends away with your people, especially this time of year, change everything.

I wouldn’t call it a reset because we normally come back far more dishevelled than when we left, but it’s the break from real life we all crave. Saturday sport and being the birthday party present buyer and Uber driver, washing the uniforms, walking the dogs and every minute in between, is all out of our hands for a three night reality reprieve.

Yes, three nights. We learned quickly that two is not enough and four can be quite dangerous, so the happy middle is where we landed.

The groups has found just three days is all they need.

We’ve been doing it for decades, you see. Since we were fresh faced and responsibility free just out of high school, through the uni years and with breastfeeding babies staying with dad at the hotel round the corner so mum doesn’t get FOMO – it’s a tradition that’s lasted the test of time … because it fills so many cups they may as well be bathtubs.

The group has been doing this since they were just out of high school.

We laugh non stop. We cry if we need to. We have an annual tennis championship, and the winners of the hotly contested and champagne fuelled Bowral Cup get to gloat for the next 12 months, deservedly so.

We go to our favourite place for lunch, a new place for dinner and fit in walking, window shopping and enough chit chat to get us through the rest of the year.

And if you don’t do it with your own friends, you must.

A long weekend away with friends is a must.

Go somewhere cheap. Get takeaway or eat cheese and crackers for dinner in pyjamas while you watch an old movie. Dance in the kitchen and whinge about your kids, your workload, your washing pile. Or don’t, because in that moment, it’s all forgotten.

The bills and the bullies and the baking you have to do for next weekend’s school fete – they’re all tomorrow problems.

Today is for you. To be with them. Friendship – male or female – is really, really important.

In a society that is so emphatically busy, people are also really lonely. You don’t know what someone’s really going through every day because they’re too busy to call or you’re too tired to answer if they do.

Connection – in real life and away from it – is key. So friends, consider me reset. Ready to roar through the next two months to Christmas before life slows down for a January reprieve. And then – well then we all count down to next year. Cheers to that, girls.

Originally published as Lisa Mayoh: The tradition that stood the test of time and kept filling the cup