Why is it that the positive effects of a vacation rarely linger? Susan Krauss Whitbourne, PhD, a professor emerita of psychological and brain sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, says our brains are wired to move on—and our circumstances probably don’t help. “People tend to bookend their experiences, and once you’ve shut one door, you go into the next,” she says. “It’s adaptive, almost like a coping mechanism: You have a job, your kids have to go to school, reality starts to bite.” Want to avoid the sting of real life and all its stresses once you get home from a trip? Here’s how to draw out the positive effects of your vacation. Planning is one way to prevent unnecessary chaos on a trip. For example, it may be helpful to make reservations for dinner at your destination, but try not to fill every moment of your trip with activities. “If you’re madly dashing around on a trip, trying to cram as much as possible into it, you’re going to feel frazzled,” says Whitbourne. “Everyone will be running around, and it will be just like being at home.” To ease the transition back to reality, Jennifer O’Brien, a travel photographer with The Travel Women, strategically avoids tiring activities at the end of her trips. “I front load tours and activities on the first few days and then purposefully schedule nothing to do toward the end so I can let spontaneous plans happen or just relax and enjoy the place,” she says. If circumstances won’t allow you to fully escape your job, do your best to brainstorm a plan, and let your travel mates in on it. For example, will you work during certain hours when you’re out of the office? How often will you check your email and phone? There’s no hard-and-fast rule about how much work works, and how much work will drain you. Courtney Keim, PhD, an organizational psychologist and associate professor of psychology at Bellarmine University, says some people might be able to relax more on trips with their laptops and phones available, even if they aren’t obligated to work. What’s important in any scenario, she says, is to be realistic about how you’ll handle work if you’re needed. Headed to an all-inclusive? It may be tempting not to leave the grounds. But Whitbourne says you’ll probably get more out of your travels if you sneak out to do a little exploring. Absorbing the sounds and scenery can prompt self-reflection and cause you to more deeply connect with your surroundings so you can bring those memories home with you. If possible, it can be helpful to build in a buffer between your arrival and the demands of “real life.” If you can’t take an extra day off work, plan to return home on a Friday or Saturday so you can enjoy an entire weekend at home before jumping back into your normal routine. It may be tempting to reenter life as you know it, but your mind and body might need time to adjust. “Build in a buffer for the transition if you have that luxury, but also have realistic expectations about what you will do when you get back,” says Keim. “You may need that time to get back to where you need to be.” Victoria Yore, founder of Follow Me Away, recommends learning to cook something new while you’re gone and then trying the recipe at home. “Let’s say you went to Paris or New Orleans for your vacation. Take a cooking class, which will take you out of the traditional vacation activities, and set you up for success once you return home,” she says. “Then try out those macarons for a sweet treat or cook up some jambalaya after work to remind you of the fun you had on your trip.” As a gift to your future self, Amina Dearmon, a luxury travel advisor and owner of Perspectives Travel, recommends decluttering your home before you leave. If you’re able to order a grocery delivery, schedule one for a few hours after you’re supposed to arrive home so you don’t need to take a trip to the grocery store. “These things can help you reconnect with and extend your experience and memorialize the trip,” says Whitbourne. “And the memories could become the basis for family stories that get told for years to come.” Another creative way to delight your future self: Mail home a postcard describing a favorite experience from your trip. “When you return home, reading how you felt at the time is great fun and brings back the energy all over again,” says psychologist Sandra Hoffman, president of the educational travel company Children’s Concierge. International tour guide Rashad McCrorey, who coordinates trips to Ghana, says preparing to dodge the effects of jet lag can be a challenge, but if you do it correctly, you can feel refreshed and renewed at home. To fend off exhaustion and disorientation at home, he recommends gradually adjusting your sleep schedule to coincide with the nighttime at home. Try not to go to sleep immediately when you board a long flight—instead, be patient and grab some shut-eye when it’s nighttime at your final destination. Finally, try to plan your arrival during the day of your home country. If you sleep on the plane before you arrive home, and you’ve already begun adjusting to the new time zone before your trip, you can have a full first day at home and be instantly on your normal sleep schedule. “Do something special on the last day or night, something you can look forward to the whole trip so you don’t dread the end of your time off,” says Jane Liaw, a travel planner with Bella Bird Journeys. “Ending your experience on a high lets you look back on the whole experience more positively after you have returned home.” If you’re dreading your trip home and all it represents, Dearmon recommends grabbing your in-flight magazine and using it as a tool to plan your next trip while on your flight home. “Being able to look forward to your next trip as soon as you touch down allows you to not dwell on the realities of being at home,” she says.
