While planning and throughout your holiday, what are your best tips for reducing stress?

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Isabelle

Careful planning is essential especially top avoid stress when travelling with kids.

My top tips are:
Good flight departure/arrival times
Night flights with kids for longhaul
Pre-book seating and special meals
Take a new book for flight
Wear comfortable clothes in layers that you can take off when the temperature gets warmer or colder!
Minimise amount of baggage especially in the hold.
ie 4 passengers including children you can take 4 hand luggage cases
Make sure that the holiday has something for everyone who is going. ie golf kids club diving canoeing cookery class
If very stressed stay in a hotel where you are looked after with food at any time ie a villa rental/self-catering can be hard work!
Start the packing process a week before - just start putting clean/ironed suitable piles swimwear tops underwear trousers skirts and say will I really wear that?
Cardigan or wrap for evening if cool.
Do not get sunburn - it will ruin your relaxation - you will have a great tan after a week even if you use factor 40.
Buy a good guidebook or look at the internet for ideas for places to visit. Useful to hear personal reviews though everyone is different.
Do not spend entire time taking photos - enjoy relaxing with friends or family.

Vicky

The better you plan your holiday, the less stress you will get throughout it. Which may not always be true of course, but it is important to learn about the place one is travelling to, its' customs and traditions, especially if visiting for the first time.

But in general, what I've learned from my own experience, is to be open to everything, and try to see the best side in every new experience.

Standards differ from place to place, and what is unacceptable in one country can be perfectly fine in another, so be free to accept whatever you have on offer.

I had some few stressful moments when travelling to Middle East, but with hindsight, I shouldn't have worked myself up so much about the harassing sellers in shops and markets, about the change they forgot to return, about misplaced orders in restaurants, etc. Those petty things kept a fraction of my attention from enjoying the experience in general.

And the last, but not the least, is the sense of humour! It will help to deal with almost everything!

goldfishvase

Try to get those travelling with you to take some of the responsibility, then if anything were to go wrong there won't be any one individual to blame.
Like, if the hotel or cottage was not as nice as you'd hoped, then you don't have to feel it's all your fault because you chose it and booked it - the others had a say in it too.

Ben Gunn

"On returning from a holiday, I wash and iron all holiday clothes, swimsuits, towels etc and put them into a spare set of drawers ready for the next holiday,the same goes for toothbrushes/toothpaste, shampoo, soap etc."

Most of the ladies' drawers I've seen won't even contain a bum, never mind all those things.

Soup Dragon

On returning from a holiday, I wash and iron all holiday clothes, swimsuits, towels etc and put them into a spare set of drawers ready for the next holiday,the same goes for toothbrushes/toothpaste, shampoo, soap etc. New holiday clothes are always bought in the sales therefore avoiding the last minute rush to the shops. All passports etc are put in one travel document case in then safe and then when the next holiday comes around it's a 1 hours job putting everything back into the cases. I'm never stressed, cos it's all ready. The house is cleaned top to bottom the week before we go about 2 hrs a day sees this done, so when we get back it's like a shiny new pin and then the process starts all over again ready for the next holiday.

Hi Donna - Go with a tour operator. These usually remove most of the 'stress points' at each end (airports?). When you have been transported to your accommodation (by the tour operator), hire a car. With your own transport you get to see much more of your resort, and the surroundings, without suffering the stress that can be associated with over-organised trips. Usually these trips are vastly overpriced and you are herded around like cattle. We have found we can hire, and have the convenience of, our own transport, and do our own thing, for a lot less money and with far less grief.

A . Z .

To say in your mind, 'I am going on holiday to relax and not feel stressed.' Always keep in mind the holiday is a means of excitment, adventure, relaxation and enjoyment. If you have these beleifs you will enjoy booking the holiday and enjoy it when you are out there. Incorporate the whole family (if have one), so everyone is talking, laughing putting their input, making the experience bringing people together with negogiation and happy compromise. I don't think the holiday is the stressful experience you are just a stressful person who needs to learn how to relax. Good luck.

jeff hall

do not book it with Virgin Atlantic.

truthofmatter

While planning don't think too much about you've got the best deal.

Throughout your holiday try not to think about going back to work.

xenobyte72

Open mindedness and preparedness are the keys. There's no real way of knowing what to expect, even on the commute to work so the best way to avoid stress is to prepare a little emergency pack, with some currency, a phone card, a first aid kit... whatever use your imagination. Shop around for decent travel insurance.

Then just do the common sense stuff; book your tickets, pack your bags and go.

What ever happens, see it as a good thing or else try to see the funny side. Every cloud has a silver lining.

Uncle Joe

Try to get a direct flight.

Pack a day or two in advance of departing, when you will have plenty of time.

Leave vital documents like passports, cash and tickets, lying out somewhere easily visible and accessible the night before you are due to depart.

Don't try to do too much. Spend the first couple of days acclimatising.

MADDY

going out and enjoying yourself, visit lots of interesting places, go swimming, having lots of rest, but most of all enjoy forget about home and work that can come later when you arrive back home but for the lenght of time your away, you need this holiday so again enjoy.

jester

Stay in, travel in and see more of the Country that you are already in!

Don't stress at the air-port, burning the planet with a flight that takes your money out of the country; stay at home and find peace, tranquillity and the smugness of a guilt free, stress free holiday.

All you really need for a holiday is to nail up your letter-box and flush your phone down the toilet!

Holiday is a state of mind not a place!

â™¥ Ram â™¥

Since is a holiday, why stress ? Take things as they come and forget about planning too much. By making too many plans we are creating the stress automatically as we all know things are likely to go not necessarily wrong but not always according to plan. So, do not make too many plans, just pack your luggage and go with the flow. This is my policy and I never get stressed. I may get a bit nervous about the travelling, but nerves are there to run up and down. Holiday is suppose to wipe the stress out not to increase it, what is the good having a holiday then?

brianthesnailuk2002

Myself and my other half can only afford a one week holiday so rather than jet-off to another country we generally stay in this country and avoid the additional stresses of all the sorting of travel to and from the airport, the travelling for 2 days of the holiday etc. etc.

We find a relaxing holiday (out of season to avoid the screaming nippers) on a boat on the Norfolk Broads the perfect way to relax and escape the daftness of Engineering and Nursing.

Si G

Research where you're going, from which terminal at the airport to maps of the hotel & surrounding areas of your destination. These are all available on the internet so theres no excuse.
If you are flying, put as much stuff in your suitcase - you don't have to mess about putting stuff in the overhead lockers & holding everyone else up!
ALWAYS give yourself plenty of time to check in/ get to airports & accept that things can go wrong.
I should know, I was on my way to Halifax International, Nova Scotia to fly to Manchester on September 11th 2001.
I got an extra weeks holiday out of it - about the ONLY good thing that happened that day.

Phil D

get the wife or husband to do the planning :)

lesroys

I'm not a good one to talk because I am always stressed before, during and after the holiday, but I look at my husband, who never stresses before, during or after. It's quite amazing. Packing consists of throwing some stuff in a bag about an hour before we leave (or when we're driving, my husband sometimes doesn't even bother with the bag, he just slings stuff into the trunk!).

So here are my scenarios as a stressaholic, and my husband's relaxed - and when you think about it very practical - response:

Me: But that's not ironed. It's not even clean!
Him: So we use the laundry service when we get there!

Me: You'll forget something (toothbrush, belt)
Him: Nothing I can't buy when we get there.

Me: Hurry, hurry, we'll miss the plane/train/ferry!
Him: When did we ever miss the plane/train/ferry? Answer: "Never".

Me: Nothing you have thrown into the bag (car trunk) goes with anything else. You'll look ridiculous.
Him: So? I'M ON HOLIDAY!!

oohbetty

Firstly I wouldn't get stressed while planning a holiday because all you've got to worry about is packing some clothes etc. Not the be all and end all of life. You must have high stress levels! I usually pack a day before and I definitely don't get stressed throughout my holiday as that's the whole point of going on one - to avoid the worries of daily life! Relax more is my advice.

obanpussyginger

ensure that no flights involve BA

Dream-Maker

I understand about your compulsions.
Freud called it, "Something inside ourselves, but, outside our control"
Most advice is 10 a penny in comparison.
Just start trusting in yourself more, and be a little more adventurous.
Good luck

cottontail

delegate tasks and let children / husband pack their own cases. i used to be stressed because i didnt trust them to pack their own stuff!!!! now they have responsibility for their own. Also half chores i.e collecting currency cancelling milk with spouse. Write a list and label who does what!
Enjoy! Hope you have a fab time i am so jealous

dod377

Do whatever you want whenever you want. Don't make forward plans. A day worrying about something is a day wasted.......We all get by....

marg4kizz

Large glass of chilled white wine!

elytron

your on holiday, what is there to get stressed about!!!

JonesTheMiner

I sit down with my pen+paper and make a list. I then stick on some music, crack open a bottle of vino calapso, and work my way through the list packing as I go. I take a break, eat, make a few calls and get back to it ready to finish it off. I then remind myself that there are shops at my destination and if I have forgotten something then I can buy it there!
I then reward myself for all my effort!

lukee

include lots of time for relaxing / so that you can do other unplanned things and dont havd too rigid a timetable

Also dont go by plane - trains, ferries or driving are much more relaxing

suli2009

book it with TOURISTIC AGENCY

misscacazzy

aslong got passport money and knickers,unless going to artic can get anything 4got there.holiday 4 chillout

You are here: X

research where youre thinking of going before you do anything else - you dont want to book a place that you think is near to where you want to go only to find out it's in the middle of nowhere and virtually impossible to get to/from.
Also research whats in the area before you go and have backup plans for places to visit and travelling. be diplomatic the places youre visiting one day do what you like the next day what the other person likes etc. Accept that things can and probably will go wrong at some point so go with the flow.

lindafrombarnet

Book a trip to Lake Como in Italy, stay in Belaggio, chill out, soak up the fantastic scenery, peace and tranquility, guaranteed to reduce stress levels...

While planning and throughout your holiday, what are your best tips for reducing stress? pic 1
While planning and throughout your holiday, what are your best tips for reducing stress? pic 2

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