How can people make their vacations less stressful?

Ask Mike: How can people make their vacations less stressful?
Taking a vacation is supossed to be relaxing, but it usually ends up being quite stressful. How can travelers make their trips less stressful?

Answers and Views:

Answer by who cares
A person can make their vacation less stressful by doing the following things…

1. Accept the situation and plan ahead. Crowded airplanes and highways, weather, harried personnel, and unexpected delays are all aspects of your trip which are beyond your control. Assume you’re likely to encounter most or all of these obstacles and that you aren’t going to be able to change them. Instead, focus on your reactions to these stressors. Anticipation of stressful occurrences, and forming a mental plan for remaining calm and dealing with them, will greatly reduce your perception of stress.

2. Give yourself enough time. Whatever your mode of travel, allow yourself more time than you can possibly imagine that you will need when traveling during peak season. This is particularly important for heavy-travel days (such as Spring Break in the U.S.). On these days, just about everything including check-in lines, finding a cab, and airport parking can be expected to take longer than usual. Business travelers accustomed to a travel routine may also find that traveling with the family along doesn’t run quite as smoothly or efficiently as when traveling solo. Knowing that you have adequate time to deal with any unexpected occurrences can help prevent anxiety and stress. Should you arrive at the airport early, remember that sitting in an airport lounge working or reading is far more relaxing than sitting in a traffic-stalled taxi 20 minutes before your flight departs.

3. Make a few contingency plans. Consider the truly unexpected circumstances. Always check weather, traffic, and parking reports before departing, and have some backup ideas (leave earlier, leave later, use another mode of transportation) ready to prevent panic.

4. Check your bags. If you’re traveling by air and dedicated to your carry-on, consider the advantages of checking your luggage. The risk of delayed or lost baggage is actually very small, and the freedom of movement gained during your journey is often worth the risk, particularly if you’ll have layovers in crowded airports. Think about possible delays and decide if you’re up to hauling those carry-ons everywhere you go. Planes (and overhead compartments) are going to be at their fullest capacity.

5. Keep the kids happy (and well fed). Travelers with young children will want to plan for amusements and distractions for long waits, drives, or flights. Having a few “surprise” novelty items to hand out at intervals is a good technique to combat boredom and fussiness. Since children (and adults!) tend to be more anxious and stressed when hungry, bring along some snacks (preferably of the non-sticky, non-melting variety) and a bottle of water. Don’t count on the airplane meal appealing to your child’s tastes or even being served when you’d like it. Likewise, plan for long highway stretches and traffic jams, which mean you won’t have instant access to food vendors. Another advantage is that you yourself won’t fall into the trap of becoming cranky due to hunger pangs.

6. Think about changes of clothing. If your children belong to the baby/toddler set, consider having an accessible change of clothing for you as well as for the little ones, since your little frequent flyer may decide to spill his food on you rather than on himself. You can also dress in layers which can be removed if necessary. If you must arrive looking your best, think about traveling in comfortable clothes and changing on the plane or at a rest area before you reach your destination.

7. Plan ahead for the next vacation. This is the last thing you’re likely to want to do in the midst of a vacation. But if you find that your vacation travel is unbearable, use this vacation to discuss alternate plans for the next one.

8. Figure out how to get there. Prepare directions to your destination in advance. Have maps and alternate travel routes handy in case you hit traffic. Satellite navigational devices can also be helpful, but make sure any gadget you use is easy to operate and read.

9. Know what to expect. Check weather and traffic reports often as travel conditions can suddenly change. Look out for construction projects along your path. Often, the Department of Transportation in each area will list road closures or detours on their web site.

10. Decide when to drive. Be aware of peak travel hours. You can generally expect roads to be packed after 5 p.m. on the Friday before a holiday, and between 6 p.m. and midnight on the Monday or Tuesday after a holiday. To avoid jam-packed highways, consider taking personal days to travel. Although that may not be ideal, you may be saving yourself the headache of an accident. Since many people get up very early in the morning or travel late into the night to beat traffic, there is the real danger of drowsy driving.

Answer by Shleenish
Don’t go with family!

Answer by Chris & Katie
Leave the kids at home lol

Answer by JOHN D
Valium Klonapin Xanax Alchohol Marijuana

Answer by Sarah L
dont drive, fly.

Answer by tan0301
definately DO NOT GO WITH FAMILY… took both mothers (mine & hubby’s) on vacation last year.. almost went insane. Leave everything at home and work at work. Go with a positive attitude and make the best out of every situation. Everything makes a memory and sometimes the horror stories make the best stories!

Answer by peaches6
Research the place you’re going to be visiting and put together an itinerary. Make a checklist of everything you’ll need for your vacation and get your paperwork in order ahead of time. Good Luck!

Answer by naughty_mattress_monkey
Plan in advance (a week or two without kids…a month or two with:)). Be like Santa ;)….make a list and check it twice, before heading out. I think sometimes we all need to get the attitude of “if we forgot it, we will learn to go without” and just enjoy our time.

Answer by Dew
Planning ahead to where there going and get reservation ahead of time.
Make a list of all you will need to take with you and then,
Pack a week ahead a little at a time.

make a list of all places you want to visit and make a list for which ones you will be going to.

Answer by kelbabe305
Do A LOT of planning ahead, and pack early…Don’t wait until the last minute to pack everything because you will probably forget something.

Answer by mcelhinp
Go alone, or with a friend ditch your family they only drag you down.

Answer by HappyMom
Don’t plan! Let things happen naturally. I would have an itinerary but otherwise let each day take its course. Travel someplace accommodating or stay at a resort that offers everything for all ages in your group. If you have small ones with you see about babysitting services so you can have a night or day to yourself or with your spouse/loved one.

Don’t try so hard, and remember not everyone likes to do the same things so if that means you split up and go your own way then let it be so. We try to take a family vacation and force everyone to do the same things & always together and someone is usually upset/bored, therefore ruining it for the whole group. Same place but different activities can be a wonderous thing.

I also would not try to do so, so much in one day or in the whole trip. Plan activities accordingly and save it for another visit. Goodluck!

Answer by mylifeisHis
By not cramming 2 weeks worth of activities into a week or less! People try to see and do so much because it “justifies” the expense or so they won’t feel guilty taking time off work. Sometimes they are “only 100 miles” from an ‘important’ historical landmark or a big tourist destination, so they feel compelled to “fit it in” because they are “so close”. Or they think rushing all over doing ‘stuff’ is supposed to be ‘fun’. But then they go home feeling exhausted-needing a vacation from their vacation. We try to schedule one major activity each day, and enjoy the ability to be spontaneous for the rest of the day. And that is with 3 teenage boys-yes you can, especially if you realize it’s their vacation too, and let them suggest ideas. We found success letting each person choose one thing they’d like to do [wherever it is we are going], and then planning the vacation around that. So, Dave gets to go swimming, Mike gets to look at the local skateboard shops, and Robert gets to look at the local girls. And we get peace because they aren’t upset because we “never let them do anything they want to do!”

Answer by Ziah I
plan early so you don’t have to worry about things

Answer by Melvin W
Find some Entertainment for you and your family.

Answer by Jack
Separate.

Answer by the_fire_dog
By letting go

Answer by Ben R
The travelling part is always stressful, not alot can be done about that unless you fly first class.

When on holiday i think more people should take the relax and take it easy approach. Too many people want to cramn thier holiday full of exciting “must do” things – relax, go with the flow and just enjoy yourself.

Answer by Believe the Hype !!!
By forgeting everything except Allah..

Answer by easy
Stay at home,barbecue in the back yard and afternoon naps

Answer by keeky_ar
Plan ahead make sure hotel is booked and have everything you need. Make a check off list.

Answer by I love kissy and tootsie
Well I can think of 3 ways. The first is make it longer then a couple nights so right when you get there its not like you have to pack back up and leave. The second don’t drive there that adds some much stress! The third way is go some where hot and just sun bathe.

Answer by magiver155
Mikey, Mikey, Mikey… If Your vacations are stressful.. You don’t know the meaning of VACATION!! Vacation is to relieve the STRESS OF WORK! Either you are doing it wrong.. Or you have the cushiest job in the world where your stress comes from your vacations!You should tell us what you are doing and we can all help and tell you what you are doing wrong! Otherwise… Stay At Work If that is less stressful..

Answer by S.S. Agent Matt Tress
Hi Ask Mike,

All people need to do to make their vacations less stressful is to simply plan ahead. Doing this will reduce last minute frustrations and continual asking of “have we got this?” and “did we pack that?” etc.

Also including some form of entertainment, for the journey. The journey is usually the most boring part of the vacation and people need to be occupied with something to do. Weather this form of entertainment be a hand-held video game or a personal music player for the kids or just a magazine or an audio book for the wife/girlfriend. This will make the entire journey so much more fun and less hassle.

Answer by twinklecutie2000
well dont take kids or family sometimes they can be real annyoing and better take an airplane in a car it really streeful and a great vacation place is hawaii u should go there

Answer by STORM
I go to the beach in the “off” season and leave town when NASCAR comes to the super speedway. 😉

Answer by KNAPSACK1
I buy books and do on-line research to find out as much as possible about the destination. I don’t care for surprises when I am on vacation. I study my maps to be sure of the routes that I will be driving. And I keep things as simple as I can, trying not to overdo on any thing, picking only one or two things to do each day. And lastly I try to be realistic about distance I plan to travel each day. If you are tired you can’t enjoy the experience as much. These are just a few of the ways that I try to keep stress to a minimum.

Answer by gimpy
my opinion plan ahead in plenty of time,have at least one or maybe even two back up plans and then on the hand sometimes its more adventurous to have no plan at all,but plenty of money in that case is a must

Answer by chris.dp38
By not going on LAX

Answer by Sophiesmom
With “most” vacations planning is the key…I find the less stressful vacations are when you pack the car and go on a road trip, on an adventure…There isn’t the stress of having to be some where at a certain time, you can do as you please, you find a nice place you can stay there for how ever long you want…equaling no stress.
I think a lot of people over think their vacations, what and when things have to be done, its to overwhelming…If you took a little time to stop over planning and enjoying whats out there you have a better time and you dont come home more tired then when you left.
I cant understand why you would state that people would be embarrassed for not knowing the language of another country…If you thought ahead of time people would figure that part out, why it would be embarrassing i cant figure out…I have been to many counties and there are always people native to the place who do speak English and that’s even my second language.
Everyone just needs to take a chill pill and relax, or that vacation would have been better off you in a tent in your own backyard if you want to play it safe.
One suggestion though…When planning your vacation…Make sure what you want to do is there so your not disappointed. I longed to ride horseback on the beach, went to Oahu Hawaii…Guess what…they dont have that there…So make sure what you want is there first.

Answer by DB
We travel alot, and I find it very useful to write lists of what to take/do and start doing the what has to be done before the trip and packing about a week ahead. I also gather information about what there is to do when we get where we’re going. We also talk about and decide what we’d like to do most. We have learned that the one thing that stresses out a vacation fast is when you set unrealistic expectations. You must remain flexible and have a sense of humor! We still usually pack more than we use, but we’re being flexible while just relaxing and having fun. Also don’t work on vacation! Let it go long enough to just BE! =)

Answer by mia
Go alone.Bringing people along is what people actually get stress about knowingly or unknowingly.

Answer by Adrian Emond
Not be stupid or drive and not fly!!

Answer by DONNA L B
Leave their cell phones and laptop computers at home!

Answer by 10-T3
PLANING EVERYTHING FROM A TO Z .

Answer by EddyMac
Don’t go on Vacation! The best Vacation I ever had was when I didn’t do anything! lol