This week we’re looking at how to best prepare for your holiday. Many people, including myself, often find the lead-up to a holiday quite stressful for various reasons. There’s finalising the travel plans, packing, leaving your home in order and tying up loose ends at work before we (ideally) sign off.
Myself and many of my clients experience what I like to call ‘travel anxiety’ – that looming pressure and stress that you usually feel right up until you arrive at your holiday destination. I wrote a blog post on this last summer, titled ‘How can I make travelling less stressful’, so if you resonate with the experience of ‘travel anxiety’, I recommend you read that one here.
Avoiding holiday stress
Having recently returned from a holiday in Siena, I have had the chance to reflect on the preparation I did to ensure I could maximise the benefit from my time away. Here are my top tips for what you can do before travelling to help you have the same experience:
Get clear on work boundaries and expectations
Ideally, one of the key reasons for a holiday is so that you have an opportunity to completely disconnect from work and lessen digital distractions. Therefore, it’s key that you set boundaries with your work and make a conscious effort to be present in the moment, whilst you are away from it. Before you leave, get clear for yourself what your expectations are around ‘switching off’ and relay those to your line manager and team. Then, stick to them! This may sound obvious, but many people fail to clearly define and communicate these expectations.
I’ll be sharing more advice on this in next week’s post about what to do if you do have to work while on holiday, even if it’s just checking in.
Embrace flexibility
Travel plans can change unexpectedly, so it’s important to stay flexible and open-minded. Take my recent trip to Siena; I had to deal with multiple transport delays, which very nearly left me stranded in a random town late at night, missing the last train, and even missing my flight home! Despite these setbacks, I managed to keep my cool.
Before I left, I checked the travel arrangements and thought about the worst-case scenarios and how I’d handle them. This helped me embrace the journey and see any delay as part of my ‘Italian adventure’! I truly believe this approach helped me think sensibly which meant I was better prepared to handle all the challenges that came my way.
Allow time to wind down
Many of my clients tell me that it takes them a few days to unwind and get out of ‘stress mode’ on holiday. If you recognise this is often the case for you or if you sense you’re particularly stressed in the lead-up to going away, I suggest that you don’t plan lots to do during the first few days of your holiday.
You need some time with no pressures or obligations to fully unwind. Take a few days to lounge by the pool or beach, and don’t put pressure on yourself to do much or see any sights. If you feel like it, that’s fine, but the point is to plan to make the first few days as pressure-free as possible.
I appreciate this can be especially challenging if you have young children. In such cases, I suggest asking your partner, friend, or family member to look after the children for even just an hour soon after you arrive. This gives you, as a parent, some time to yourself where you could take a walk along the beach, lay by the pool with a glass of vino, or enjoy a massage. Small moments alone like this can make all the difference and help you start your holiday in the right way. Again, by planning this in advance, you’ll have a much better chance of making it happen!
Preparation is key to an enjoyable holiday from start to finish
By taking the time to prepare both practically and mentally for your holiday, you will give yourself the best chance of a less stressful and more relaxing, restorative experience.
If you haven’t read last week’s post about presence, then do take a read now. It will help you to see why the preparation is important because of the rewards you can reap when you are away and truly present in the moment and enjoying a new environment.
In next week’s post, I’ll be sharing my tips and insights on how to put yourself first and how to really enhance your holiday experience.
Kate x
