When you travel somewhere for fun, your excitement can lead you to try and cram way too much stuff into your schedule. To keep your trip from being completely exhausting, set just one day aside for all the touristy things.
Photo by Jean-Francois Gornet
You want to get the most bang for your buck with a holiday, but when you cram so much into it, you can barely look back and savour the experience. Adrienne Breaux at Apartment Therapy recommends you promise yourself that you won’t try to see everything:
This could be your first and last time in _______ city, right? That line of thinking is just wrong, though, and can lead to exhausting days, not living in the present, not really actually soaking anything in and coming back home to memories that are cloudy and rushed. But what to do when you do want to see everything? Do a lot of planning ahead of time. Consider marking a day to be really touristy and see a ton of things you just check off the bucket list. Then try to spend the rest of your vacation spending more time doing less activities, even fitting in time to just linger somewhere.
Narrow your list down to the big things you really want to see and knock them all out in one day. The rest of your trip can still involve seeing and doing other things, but now you’ve given yourself time to actually enjoy it.
For example, you might find your time meandering down the side streets of Paris way more enjoyable — and memorable — than battling crowds at the Louvre. Wherever you’re going, a little planning and prioritising beforehand can help you keep from overcrowding your itinerary with “I’ll never be back here” thinking.
Get More Out of Vacation: 4 Promises to Make Before Your Next Trip [Apartment Therapy]
Comments
One response to “Keep Holidays From Feeling Rushed By Dedicating One Day To Tourism”
From personal experience, sometimes, you just CAN’T pack all the big things into one day. Your feet will hate you. Especially if you go somewhere with too many stairs. You can’t even pack some single things into one day – I spent two days at the British Museum, because there was just too much I wanted to see to fit it all into one day.
I do recommend planning for rest days, or low-key touristy days. You want to see the place you’re visiting, not just the bits of it that appear on postcards. Go for a walk, get lunch somewhere you found by chance, explore a section of the city and don’t look at the map on your phone unless you’re lost and it’s time to go home 😉
You might even find something that makes you decide you’ll definitely come back.