15 Questions to Ask Before You Book a Too-Short Vacation.
A Seven Night Vacation sounds… like a lot of commitment. It sounds like, well, eight days away from everything, maybe unplugged, maybe un-reachable.
Imagine that.
Royal Holiday members book dozens of three and four night trips every day. Four or Five days in Cancun – or Acapulco or the Dominican Republic – is terrific and affordable and it’s always less stress.
You’re not boarding the cat. The fact is, the nephew is not only going to feed kitty, but will play with her, too! And you’re back in less than a week.
But…
Was it really a vacation? Did your cell phone go off and stay off? Did you forget what your bed felt like? Did you wake up and know exactly where you were, or were you still wondering what strange day that was – on day number five?
If you’re heading back to the airport, and you’re not anxious to go,
This checklist is to help you decide if you should book a longer trip next time…
1) Were you really hoping to go back to work every day? Live with Fewer Regrets and enjoy a meaningful life right now. Did you figure out what makes you really happy and what make work meaningful in this trip?
2) Did you finally forget about everything related to work, or the office or the store or the farm?
3) Did the kids have to run to keep up with you? The first two or three days maybe you were checking the emails, but after that, you should really be the leader of the pack.
4) You don’t have to be brave. You don’t have to kill a lion. But you do have to explore new things and places and experiences! Did you check out some animals? Some new plants? Architecture? Landscape? Artwork? All these things are going to expand who and what you are. Are you someone different from when you left?
5) Every trip is an investment – in you. Did you get the most out of it? Did you just enjoy it half-way?
6) Are your colleagues and charges going to understand your commitment to down-time when you get back? And are you really loaded with happy experiences and riveting tales to share with them? Are they going to love you for taking them to lunch just cause you’re back?
7) Are you more creative? Your trip to the airport should find you staring out the window just brimming with contentment. A romantic sense of fulfillment should be almost overwhelming you. You can feel that all the time, if you refresh yourself, fully, and often enough.
8) Wow. Suddenly you weren’t crowded up with a hundred other people (or cars). Did you find that you were friendlier? Did you find yourself missing human contact and just chatting with people? It tends to happen.
9) There are consequences to sitting still. And you do it most of the year. Did you get enough exercise and maybe learn a new way to use your body to think? To feel? To experience the world?
10) If your stress went down, maybe you actually slept better? Whatever kind of abuse you think you are accustomed to, your body is you too. It always responds to noise, to stress, and to stimuli that you are subjecting yourself to. Have you slept better, more deeply and more profoundly? We always hope so.
11) You better believe there are repercussions for health. You got some exercise, you got inspired, you got a new sense of what it means to connect with a place. But who and what was connecting with that new place?
12) Every holiday is a chance to re-invent yourself. Are you going to go back to the old habits? The old problems? The old outlook?
13) Daylight affects the body, and natural light deprivation can cause gastrointestinal problems, headaches and worse. The body can start to stabilize in just a few days, but the symptoms will often re-appear when you go back. Is that what you were anxious to get back to?
14) Unless you’re really out in the country, pollution is probably a big, negative factor in your day-to-day life – and health! Four days of non-polluted air may be almost enough. By day two in where ever your off to, your lungs – and your family’s little lungs(!) – won’t bear a trace of carbon monoxide. Now, why were you in such a hurry to get back to your normal life?
15) Do you see now that colors and shapes affect you? Did everything seem more vivid? More open and more relaxing? All of the imperfections and irregularities of nature should have made you more aware, more relaxed and less stressed out. That’s what a real vacation feels like.
If you can’t find the right seven night vacation for you, we can help. And if you must book one even shorter, of course, we can help with that too.
