How great is it having that one closest friend who is required by unspoken law to attend things with you? From amazing concerts, to the awkward dinner party of that person you once randomly hooked up with, to being the plus one at family events with all of your engaged or married cousins, they’re always by your side.

You guys are going to have the Best Summer Ever… until they leave your ass alone and fly off to an exotic location for two months. Goodbye, running wild together around the city on New Years Eve. Sayonara, coastal roadtrips and spontaneous adventures to hidden water holes. Au revoir any dreams of matching Christmas sweaters and swapping presents.

Don’t worry, though – you can totally have an amazing summer on your own (did that sound convincing?).

Soak Up The Sunshine

Sure, your BFF may be in their own idyllic paradise, but people travel worldwide to come to Australia for summer. We boast the best beaches in the world and have so many beautiful sights. Take yourself on your own adventures – even if they are only twelve hours long because you have to go back to your sucky retail job the next day. You may just get something to rival their snaps of the Eiffel Tower.

Save Some Dosh

Yes, receiving a photo of your bestie skiing in the Swiss Alps right before starting an eight-hour shift at your job is not the best feeling in the world. However, use it as motivation to start your own travel fund, or save up for something you really want. If you work as much as you can while their away, then you can afford to take some time off when they get back to hear travel stories and spend some quality time together.

Widen Your Circle

Remember those other friends you have? Some of us are guilty of going a little overboard with our time allocation and spending all of it with our fave partner-in-crime.

This is the perfect time to connect with all your other fab friends and even make some new ones. Having a bestie is great, but sometimes we can forget that there are plenty of other fabulous humans out there in the world to discover.

Set A Personal Goal

You know that feeling when one of your close friends achieves something really fulfilling that advances their life so you begin to examine and question your own life?

This isn’t always a bad thing; change is scary, but good. While your BFF is away on their character-building adventure, think of a goal that you would really like to achieve. Perhaps you want to compete in a race at the end of the summer, or maybe you want to be in a new job. It can be easy to feel like you’ve done absolutely nothing while your friends are all frolicking around Europe, so have something to share yourself to get rid of those negative feelings.

Their return may feel like the longest stretch away but they’ll be back on homeland before you know it. And hey, you can always start planning your next summer: it’s only eleven and a half months away.

(Lead image: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants/Alcon Entertainment)