Making The Most Of Holiday Time

When it comes to our time off work, there never seems to be enough time. In Australia, the standard is around four weeks of holiday leave per year. Although it is more common to take this in smaller blocks of time such as one or two week blocks.

The problem with the way that holiday leave tends to work out is we try to push too much into to little time. Have you tried to fit America into one week or Europe two weeks? Maybe not, but I have spoken to people that have tried. It might be possible, but it is far from a vacation.

The Time It Takes To Travel

Whenever booking any holiday, considering the time that it takes to travel is essential. The last thing that you want to do is spend more than half your holiday just getting there.

I have spoken with people that have tried to fit a trip from Australia to Europe into two weeks. They might have got to see some of Europe, but between getting there and back, it took them four of the fourteen days they had. That is before the additional days that they spent trying to fix their sleep schedule.

The same can be said about short trips from Australia to America. Depending on how you choose your flight and where you are planning to visit you will need 1 or 2 days each day.

I am sure that a similar situation exists for people travelling between other parts of the world. The important consideration is that you need to plan your travel to fit the time you have. Not make the time you have fit the trip you want to do. Trying to make a trip that should be four weeks fit into the two weeks you have available is definitely not the ideal situation.

Set The Right Pace

The pace of your trip is what will make it seem like a holiday or bunch of rushing around. What I mean by the pace is how many days you spend at one destination. Are you going to allow yourself 2 or 10 days in one city or country to explore?

The time that you spend in a town is going to depend a lot on what you are expecting to achieve by being there. If you are looking to visit the main attractions and take a surface level look a couple of days is ample. On the other hand, if you want to explore the city a little deeper the time can be very much variable.

In the past, I have made choices on time spent in a city without a lot of thought. I have stayed ten days in Vancouver, Las Vegas and Vienna. However, a significant number of the other cities I have visited have been three or four nights.

For the most part, the short visits have suited me. I like to have a reasonable pace to my trip seeing and experiencing new things. But at the same time, I have in mind that I may just revisit the city one day. As such I want to have some reason to consider visiting a city again.

Time In A City

In some respects, the amount of time that you will spend in one city can vary. However, I would not personally consider allowing less than five days for any city I planned to visit.

When I say to allow five days, I mean to build that amount of time into your trip. So for example, if I wanted to visit four cities, I would allow 20 days for such a tip. In general, this will allow for the travel time, including the travel time between cities. But it still gives a reasonable 3 or 4 nights in each city.

What I am talking about here is giving yourself some minimums. Of course, you can set these at whatever level you would like. If you like the idea of getting to and from an airport every second day that is fair enough. I am just offering a suggestion to assist you in making your trip a holiday.

Recovery Time

Anytime that we are travelling, there is a chance that we might keep going a little too hard. There is always so much to do and see when you are in a new city that you sometimes don’t remember just to take a break. But there is also a consideration to build to build recovery time into your travel as well. Sometimes those long haul flights and days navigating airports can take their toll as well.

You need to remember to build in time or schedule time if you have to for rest and relaxation when travelling. Holiday time is supposed to help you recover from he hectic work life balance we try to manage throughout the year. But if you are pushing yourself harder when on holidays this is just not going to happen.

Two tips I will leave you with for recovery time. The first is always try and leave the second day or half a day after a long haul flight as rest time. I say the second day because we all know the excitement to get out and explore on that first day. The second tip is to try and allow at least half a day every week you are travelling to just relax. Whether it is on a beach, at a cafe or bar, or just chilling out in the hotel. Make this time where you have nothing you need to do and help to recharge.

Remember This Is A Holiday

It might sound like there is a whole lot of thinking here. But what you need to consider is that you are taking a vacation. Just try and do whatever you need to do to make it feel like a holiday. The last thing you want is to spend no time resting and relaxing like a holiday is suppose to be.