How to Make the Most of Your Vacation

The best vacation is one that gives you lasting, happy memories, despite its challenges.

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Vacations are usually few and far between, so the stakes can feel higher than during a normal week of your life. Even if you’re lucky, you may only go on two or maybe three trips per year, so it’s natural to want to make the most of that time.

Those higher expectations, along with the added pressure to make great memories, can unfortunately backfire if you’re not careful. If you’re like me and find yourself vacationing with five young children in tow, then you know that pulling off a successful vacation is, in fact, no easy feat—at least not by today’s standards.

That’s why I want to not only offer my best tips for enjoying vacations, but also suggest that the way we think about vacations today might not be helpful. Vacations, like so many other aspects of life in our capitalist economy, have become consumer goods. They are experiences to be purchased, enjoyed, and then repurposed into content for your “followers” to “engage” with.

However, there is a better way—one that will lower the pressure and maybe even raise the value you derive from this cherished institution. I recognize that my tips are a bit opinionated, and that not everyone may agree, but I hope that they at least get you thinking about the purpose of vacations in your own life, and maybe spark a few new ideas to consider.

4 Tips for a Happy, Memorable Vacation

Vacations are not rocket science. People have been enjoying special getaways for generations. These tips are not necessarily for everyone and certainly not every vacation, but in general, I think that they draw us back to ideas that our present age is prone to miss.

1. Invest in Future Nostalgia Over Present Relaxation

To me, focusing on relaxation is the No. 1 place where vacation thinking goes wrong. People assume that because daily life is busy, vacations must be about relaxation. However, relaxation is mostly about you, and there’s nothing wrong with that—it’s just not what a vacation does best.

We all need rest, and vacations can provide that, but rest is best achieved through good sleep and a weekly sabbath—or some equivalent. Asking for a one-week vacation to restore you in that way is asking too much. Vacations are for creating memories, particularly with people, and one of their chief gifts is marking the years of our lives and giving us special times to look back on.

2. Put Your Phone Aside

In our constantly connected world, one way to actually give yourself rest is to disconnect from technology as much as possible. Limit the number of forces that pull you out of the present moment and enjoy the world that is in front of you. Even more than rest, taking a break from tech has the effect of slowing down time, and it’s the distortion of time that makes vacations so wonderful, and why we look back on them so fondly.

3. Spend More Time With People

There’s a temptation on vacations to want to sit and relax, maybe get lost in a book, or just take a break from the demands of relationships altogether. Although this is great in small doses, I don’t think that it should be central to how you think about vacationing. In fact, we should use these breaks as opportunities to invest in our friendships in ways that are harder to do while juggling the many demands of everyday life. Linger around the table with those you love, play a leisurely game, or go on a long, slow walk—these are the times when bonds are forged that carry you through every season of life.

4. Embrace Challenging Situations

One of the most challenging vacations we’ve had ended up being the one our family never stops talking about. Our car ride with young kids involved so many extra stops and many tears, and took five hours longer than expected. Our vacation house had no air conditioning during a heat wave, and we were nursing a sick child. To top it off, we didn’t have enough water pressure to take showers on some days, and the house was too close to a busy road.

Despite all this, or maybe because of it, it’s the one vacation that nobody in our family can forget. As time passes, our memories of that trip have only grown fonder. In a society that screams at you to choose convenience, ease, and luxury, it’s at least worth considering whether that’s always what we need.

To me, these tips capture what a vacation is for: a chance to push back against the forces that shape our everyday lives and to create a space where great memories can be made. Our current society tells us to be connected, seek comfort, and be productive. I say, let vacations be a little haven away from all of that—one that is gloriously disconnected from tech, connected to people, and filled with difficult and meaningful pursuits.