Inadvertently, a lot of us may have observed that at times our vacations tire us out, to the extent that once we are back, we may need a whole day (may be two) to rest and recover. I have personally experienced this and later I realized that not only I did not plan it well, but I was not even aware of it till I was back from my sojourn. Well, an impromptu outing may be at times different but from our daily lives when we take time out to plan a vacation, solo or with family, we have the ‘choice’ to plan it well.
This also depends on the stress we allow ourselves to engage with. Taking an average holiday that we take is usually between 3 to 5 days, I have seen people, including myself take a lot of pressure while decision making- places to visit, what all could be avoided to carry, budget plan, touristy or relaxed, attire for day and night, what new cuisines to try out. Phew!
A friend of mine went for this Euro trip with his family That was supposed to be dream vacation for them, bucket list type. I was loving the snaps he was posting on social media. Once he was back, he told me that it was not an ideal trip. About 10 days, 7 cities, back to back done with a travel agent. I felt bad that his first time Euro experience with family was not good. We zeroed on two reasons – firstly, he barely got to click pictures due to limited time at each spot and secondly, he was bound by a master plan made by a travel agent which had a bunch of other families as well. I asked him ‘But it was your call, right? You knew about all this.’ He said, ‘Yes I did, but I didn’t realize’.
Here I will talk about 6 things that has the potential to make our holiday more relaxed and not tire us out.
Solo, Family or Friends – this is the very first thing that one should look at. Who are you travelling with? The itinerary will need to be done accordingly as it takes time to arrive at a consensus on various aspects.
Threshold – here is the trick that always works for me. I keep the final day of any of my vacation extremely light to avoid any blues on the next day. So, be realistic and be cognizant of your threshold.
Essence of the journey– not only knowing but recognizing what your travel is about really helps. Is it a touristy, just a getaway, soul searching or adventure. This may have been said many times but planning what items to pack for what kind of travel, helps in carpe diem. For instance, one of the things that I keep in mind during journeys is ‘being in the now’.
Narcissism – We all have this alter ego which pulls us towards this gratification by posting live pics, live videos on social. I have found a hack to it. Bit difficult it has been the first time but works wonderfully. Once I am back from my holiday, I take few minutes to arrange all the snaps, select the best snaps in one folder and then post it with a note. This saves me from getting distracted with the pressure of going on posting while relaxing. All said and done, minimizing screen time could be one of the objectives during a holiday.
Interact and Experiment – Interacting with the locals has always been a great experience for me. Getting to know a lot of things that usually we may not get to know like that. Also, ffor e.g. experimenting with food has 50-50 chances of being a good or not good experience. I usually take that risk and try local food. On a lighter note It does well for my Instagram as well with multiple hashtags! My first Bánh bao experience was in Hong Kong. In the menu card it seemed like dim sums. Honestly, I didn’t like it there, but I am glad I tried and now know the palate.
Bring Back – I first realized the importance of this when all the snaps captured during my honeymoon washed away. Guess what, the ‘canon’ fell in water at the beach. It was not about the camera as much as about the pics. And this was Murphy’s Law, had to happen on the last day of our honeymoon travels. So, here is what I keep in mind, capturing moments, keeping them safely and bring back some momentos from each travel. Being a little philosophical here, one never knows if one will get an opportunity to visit the same place again. So, Bring Back!
To summarize in one sentence, holiday without exhausting yourself and live the moments because it is these moments that help us unlearn and learn and shape us up as better human beings.