# How to enjoy vacations and trips

## Why have vacations?

The broad purpose of a vacation is to remove yourself from [the routines of life](habits.md), though the destination will determine if it's a relaxing, thrilling or enlightening experience.

The most rewarding vacations always come after you've [succeeded at something huge](success-1_why.md).

You can have [fun](fun.md) anywhere, but planning ahead can make your vacations and trips *much* more rewarding.

## Before you start

Ask why you're going:

- Vacation planning is extra stress, so only go because you want to.
- If you're worried about losing something free you'd otherwise lose (e.g., an expiring timeshare), *really* reconsider your vacation.

Set a budget:

- By [setting a limit](money-3_budget.md), you can recklessly spend up to that amount.
- If your priority is to save money, don't go on the trip.

Plan for the worst and hope for the best:

- False idealism ruins [your happiness](mind-feelings-happiness.md) as soon as you encounter any issue.
- Before traveling, get a health checkup and immunization for anything from your destination country.
- It can get cold at night, even in the tropics, so pack appropriately.

Plan ahead as much as possible:

- Start as early as possible to ensure you can schedule the time off and have everything you'll need.
- If your vacation will be around a major holiday, start planning a year ahead.

Keep everything trip-related in one place:

- Destination, departing airport and airline, departure date and time
- Any transfers or trips to a second destination
- Returning airport and airline, returning date
- Tickets and confirmation numbers for all travel arrangements and events
- Contact information for everything

If you're going with others, everyone should enjoy themselves:

- Everyone has their own unique preferences, so only choose activities *everyone* will like.
- If you need, schedule days when people split up to do what they prefer.

If you have children, keep [your children](parenting-children.md) engaged:

- Mind the extra costs and time associated with children.
- Hold each child personally responsible for carrying their luggage, and have a plan if they lose it.
- Surprise them during the trip with new toys or books.

Do as much [work](success-4_routine.md) beforehand to offset the inevitable pileup of activities when you get home.

## Day trips

Generally, a day trip that isn't overnight won't require much planning.

Get your local area's most recent guidebook or tourist guide to find new things to do.

Always research beforehand (and make phone calls) to make sure the event or location will be open.

Consider what to take, and make sure the venue permits it.

Routinely open venues like museums, parks, zoos, and movies require practically no planning:

- Go to the event, bring what you want, enjoy your time there.
- Get a map of the location *before* you go to know what you'd like to try.
- If you go to the zoo, wear the same colors as the zookeepers for the animals to come up to you instead of backing away.

Get a ticket for festivals, concerts, exhibitions and cultural events as early as possible, but make sure everyone has time off for it.

If you're leaving your personal effects, store them out of sight:

- Put your valuables underneath your car seat or in the trunk.
- Hide money and smaller items inside an old lip balm canister.
- Put larger objects inside a cleaned-out lotion or shampoo bottle.

## The week leading up to the trip

If you're going to a different time zone, adapt your [sleep schedule](sleep.md) a few days beforehand, since even 1-2 time zones can disrupt your circadian rhythm.

When packing, only consider legitimate needs:

- Most people over-pack because they don't realize they can buy what they need when they're there (e.g., toothpaste) or want to maintain their *entire* lifestyle while on vacation.
- Only bring what you can't live without or can't buy at your destination.
- If you can go minimal enough, bringing only a carry-on will make life *dramatically* easier.
- If you can't carry a suitcase with you, avoid checking it at an airport and mail it to your destination after informing your lodging.

Make two near-identical lists when packing: everything you need to pack, and everything to verify when you're ready to come home.

Pack everything into as few bags as possible.

If you're traveling with others, mix each person's possessions across checked bags to ensure a missing bag won't ruin the vacation.

Consider all aspects of [security](safety-security.md), but with more consideration for going to an unknown region.

Make your bags distinctive to find them more easily in a pile:

- Paint or print something on your bag
- Tie a brightly colored cloth to the bag
- Use a visually unique tag
- Take a photo of the bag tag and store it on your phone

Plan for basic toiletries:

- When it's a famililar culture, it's often less trouble to simply buy what you need when you get there, *especially* if you're flying.
- Soap, shampoo, and conditioner (though hotels often give them free)
- Sunscreen, sunglasses, umbrella
- Vitamins, prescription medications, decongestant, allergy medications
- Toothbrush and toothpaste
- Razor and shaving cream or electric shaver
- Makeup, skin care products, nail trimmer
- Hairspray, hair gel, hair dryer
- Deodorant, cologne or perfume, body powder
- Tissue packets, basic first aid kit, lip balm
- Pain relief pills, antihistamine, and antacid
- Pack enough for 1-2 more days than you expect you'll be at your destination.
  - Travel-sized items can last 1-4 days, depending on use.
- Bring a towel, which can be useful for shoe shining, makeup removing, mess cleanup, and as an emergency pillow cover.
- Medication, or a location at the destination that would have it.

Pack clothing:

- Select clothes that don't easily wrinkle and all match with each other.
- Remember shirts, pants, shorts, jackets, sweaters, shoes, swimsuit, and hat.
- Since shoes and boots are bulky, choose a versatile pair of dress shoes or walking shoes.
- Since tourists are prime targets for scams, wear clothing that makes you appear poor or middle-class for the region.
- Fold your clothes in the same shape to make them stackable.
- If you need more space, use packing cubes with vacuum sealing or roll into military-style cylinders:
  1. Fold in sleeves or flared ends to make a rectangle.
  2. Fold the left and right sides inwards towards the center, overlapping each time.
  3. Roll it up, then tuck it in to make it stay.
- With longer trips, only pack 2--3 days with laundry soap and wash your clothes at your destination.
- Pack extra underwear and socks.
- To save space, roll socks and underwear into shoes.
- Cover the bottoms of the shoes with old shower caps.

When flying, pack a carry-on:

- Keep travel-size toiletries and one change of clothes in the bag, just in case your luggage is lost.
- Include power adapters and plugs, for *both* your home and destination regions.

Bring fun distractions for the trip:

- Deck of cards and pocket board games
- Pens/pencils, notebook, puzzle books
- Reading books, clip-on reading light, pocket flashlight
- Laptop, mobile devices, music player
- Extra batteries for everything
- Power converter if you're traveling internationally
- Camera and charger
- Snacks while in transit

Bring reference items:

- Travel guides and paper maps for your destination
- Pre-downloaded mobile device maps for the region
- GPS unit or GPS-enabled mobile device and charger
- Any necessary paperwork or documents like driver's license or confirmation printouts

Bring any other conveniences or needs you want:

- Battery alarm clock
- Snacks
- Luggage locks
- Bags to hold dirty laundry
- Pocket sewing kit

Before you leave, double-check everything:

- Clean out all wallets and purses of anything hard-to-replace that you don't need to bring.
- Turn off the thermostat and set the sprinklers.
- Lock all doors and windows.
- Unplug all appliances and computers.
- Set the radio, TV, and lights on plug-in timers
- If you're leaving your car at the airport, remove all valuables from it
- If you're not using it for at least a week, unplug your car battery and top off the gas tank:
  - Unplugging the battery ensures it won't drain.
  - Filling up the tank both prevents moisture from building up in the tank and the seals from drying out.

## A vacation starts when you leave your house

Have a [good attitude](success-2_attitude.md), and find something meaningful at your destination that's *better* than home.

However, it isn't stress-free until you get there:

- Traveling to and from the destination can be [stressful](mind-feelings-happiness-stress.md).
- Keep enough paper literature to read.
- Add a half hour to each deadline to permit room for error and time to relax.
- Expose yourself to natural light at your destination to quickly realign your body clock.
- If you must take a nap in a public place, prevent theft by strapping your bag to your body.

Make traveling comfortable:

- To keep your blood flowing, stand up about once an hour.
- To cut down on jet lag, stay hydrated and avoid [alcohol](fun-alcohol.md).
- Many hotels allow takkyu-bin, where they'll send your luggage to its next destination for a small fee (i.e., another hotel or an airport).

Since the locals understand the area more than maps, don't be afraid to ask people for directions.

Use the Las Vegas twenty dollar bill trick to ask for an upgrade to your room when you arrive:

1. Increase your chances by arriving earlier in the day while they're preparing rooms.
2. Slip the desk clerk a $20 bill with your credit card when checking in and ask if they have any complimentary upgrades available.
   - Make sure other guests don't see you do it.
3. Generally, if they can't find anything they'll return the $20 tip.
4. Even if they're unscrupulous and keep the tip, it's a $20 risk for a much nicer room.

While amenities like water bottles and wireless Internet typically come with a fee, you might get them free by asking in advance.

If you're not sure if your bed is damp, set a small mirror between the sheets for a few minutes to see if it fogs up.

Stay up until bedtime to realign your [sleep cycle](sleep.md).

Even on guided tours, look ahead and plan for what particularly interests you.

- On a cruise, schedule the events for the next port as you leave the previous port, *not* when you dock.

## Don't stop at the guided tour

Tourist traps are expensive and unfulfilling:

- Companies tailor everything as safe, predictable, reproducible experiences.
- Some concierges are paid to recommend tourist traps, so ask the hotel clerk about local events.

Try new, unconventional experiences:

- Wander around the local city center.
- Meet people and speak with them.
- Watch and observe how people behave.
- Try the local food in off-the-path restaurants.
- Drink in out-of-the-way bars.
- Try new food to create a permanent connection in your memory to the place.
- Go to your most remote desired location first, so that the civilized place you return to is a comparative relief.
- Even a vacation disaster can become an adventure if you change your attitude about it.

Turn off mobile devices:

- Unplugging from others is liberating and fulfilling.
- Escaping from life is the entire reason you took a vacation in the first place!

Vacationing in a new place will force you to grow, and many of the components of [societal hardship](hardship.md) apply in small ways.

## End the vacation on a positive note

It's always nice to grab a unique souvenir you'd never be able to get back home, but you can typically have it mailed to you later by searching online.

Always clean your suitcases after staying in a hotel, since bed bugs frequently travel in them.

Remember that you're going on vacation to [have fun](fun.md), and you're doing it correctly when you *want* to go back to your lifestyle afterward.