We tend to think of our vacations as a chance to get away from it all and relax, far from the worries that harry us in our day-to-day lives. For the most part, vacations fulfill this ideal, but from time to time people return home feeling more tired than they were when they left. The reasons for vacation burnout can vary, but they often involve dealing with too many stressors. While planning your trip, keep the following things in mind to make sure you come back happy and well rested:
—Don’t plan too many activities. Sometimes the thought of seeing a destination, especially one you’ve been dreaming of visiting for your whole life, can lead you to stuff your itinerary a little too full. If you’re always rushing from one thing to the next, you might not feel like you’ve had a vacation at all. Remember, no matter how hard you try, you often can’t see everything.
—Don’t worry too much about money. Plan your budget beforehand, and leave room in it for a few extravagances. Carefully checking prices on menu items has its place in life, but it’s a lot more relaxing to just order what you want and know that everything will turn out all right. It may help to pay for things in cash, so that you can easily count how much you have left to spend.
—If you do feel burned out, accept the feeling and take actions to help yourself cope. Pushing yourself through a day full of museums when all you really want to do is stay at the hotel and read a book isn’t much of a vacation. Your time off should mean time to do whatever you want, even if it’s not what you expected to do when you left. Taking a run, calling home for a chat with family, or deviating from your itinerary are all great ways to help the burnout fade.