Holiday at Home
My holiday at home experiment was… interesting!
There must be an art to making staying at home feel like a genuine holiday. After all you are still surrounded by jobs and chores so it is difficult to switch off. If you go away you can’t even see that the bathroom floor needs cleaning, the windows washing or the grass cutting. I didn’t actually do any of those things but I could see that they needed doing and so it was more difficult to relax.
I had great ideas about how I’d recreate the whole holiday vibe in the house. My plans were doomed to failure for two basic reasons:
- Mike was still working so he wasn’t taking part in the holiday vibe and he was still getting up at 5am
- I didn’t do my holiday preparation
On day one I was feeling rather smug about all the things I’d not had to do before my holiday. I’d not had to :
- pack a suitcase
- get up at stupid o’clock in the morning to travel to the airport
- check-in
- go through security
- hang around the departure lounge
- eat airplane food
With hindsight all those parts of the holiday act on your subconscious to let you know that things are different, you are on holiday now.
Preparation would also have helped for making it feel different in the house. Maybe I should have got some umbrellas for my drinks, ordered in different food and chosen a set of holiday clothes to wear.
Perhaps ‘packing’ the books I wanted to read and finding out what was on at the cinema (Neflix) would have helped as well.
Still, I’ve learnt a lot from this experience so I’m more ready for our next holiday which is also likely to be at home. I’m hoping this one will also be a bit sunnier and warmer. I’ll leave you with these:
My Top Five Tips for a Holiday at Home
- Turn the phone off
- No opening of email (even on your phone)
- Plan ahead: do the washing, clean and plan for easy holiday style meals
- Ask friends and family to play along, to pretend you are away and that they can’t contact you. With mobile phones this is something to watch out for when you can go away again as well.
- Plan possible ‘holiday’ activities
