Taking a vacation is one of the best ways to escape everyday life stresses. And while you may think that planning one is a dream come true, it is a stressful nightmare to some. Holidays often turn out to be not what you expected, which can make you avoid or delay planning the next trip. I wanted to share some tips on how you can plan to make sure your holiday is stress-free, and to leave you desperate to book the next one as soon as you’re home.

Although you may want to enjoy a stress-free vacation, sometimes your long-awaited holiday will leave you feeling more tired than before the trip. But why does this happen? When you go on a vacation, you should be taking time for yourself to recharge fully. By doing anything else other than relaxing, the time that you set aside for yourself becomes counterproductive. Especially if you are travelling with a baby or toddler! It’s why I rarely go on a holiday that’s not an all-inclusive, food coma, sun-snooze-fest. Those city breaks that may look appealling and culturally interesting, can mean you spend your whole trip darting around the city trying to see and experience everything of merit. They can be particularly hard if you are travelling with anxiety. However, if you love all those cultural things, practice the new slow-tourism trend and travel slowly – it’s about not rushing about, taking time somewhere to explore and enjoy it deeply, and pacing yourself. It’s also about filling your time with only things that are meaningful or feed your soul.

While you may not have control over everything that can disrupt your vacation, there are several specific measures you can take to ensure that you are more than likely to enjoy your next vacation. I wanted to share a couple of the main ones for me.

Be Realistic About Your Expectations

As you plan to travel to a new destination, you will probably go through different review sites to determine other people’s opinions about the location. You may also visit popular travel blogs online or read through guide books and magazines to see the reality of the destination you have in mind. Once you have done enough research, your expectations are usually very high. After looking at photos of the destination you intend to visit, it is common to get a preconceived notion of how you think your holiday will turn out, when in reality, everyone’s experiences are very different. What you may fail to realise is that sometimes not everything works out as you intend. It is not wrong to be excited about touring a destination. However, keep your expectations in check so that you do not end up disappointed.Take proper care of your Luggage

Much of the stress that arises during a vacation is due to losing luggage, or even just having to arrange to store luggage in your hotel luggage room on your last day. Or sheer exhaustion at having to cart it around as you try to enjoy your last few hours of your trip. When you travel, you should never leave your bag unattended. Be it in a café, airport lounge, the beach, or even your hotel sometimes. Some hotel’s luggage storage areas are not as secure as you may think.

Sometimes you may want to explore a city just after landing, for example. However, dragging along your heavy luggage may ruin your experience. You can rent out a luggage locker in a train station or at the airport. For maximum safety, luggage storage services can often be safer than your hotel in some countries. Do your research and get a solid plan in place for your luggage, and your first and last vacation days, before you depart.Unplug yourself From Technology

During your vacation, you need to reduce the time you spend on your digital devices. While it may not be easy to completely cut-off the use of mobile phones, you need to reduce their use to a bare minimum. Remember the days when we went on holiday before mobile phones. We had no communication to anyone else other than a pen and a postcard or a coin-metered phone booth in the street. A vacation is the only time that you get to spend on yourself. You should, therefore, make the most of it by having fun and relaxing. Only use your digital devices when necessary and limit the time to only an hour or two per day. You could also carry a backup family and friends mobile and leave behind your work-related phone at home. If you have to bring your work phone, de-activate some work-related applications and notifications.

Check out my post on my Greek summer holiday in Rhodes

Summing up

Regardless of your travel destination, a vacation can turn out to be stressful if you are not entirely prepared for it. If you want the experience to be worthwhile, you need to lower your expectations and take the necessary steps to prevent any stress during your trip. Before you set out on your journey, also ensure that you have all my key travel essentials for your trip.

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