Vacation time is the new value
With impromptu scheduling and variable vacation time, the traditional time-frame of anticipation and planning goes out the window as it is no longer a yearly event scheduled months earlier. Duration also changes from the traditional vacation time to a mix of short breaks and much longer time away from work. Shorter booking lead times and the next day city breaks featured by some airlines in Europe fit perfectly for the fortunate ones.
Expectations also change with more dynamic planning and impromptu choices of activities. On the bright side, it feels more like vacation, than tightly planned and scheduled time-off. On the down side, access to some activities and attractions may be more limited on short notice. One can go to the local market at any time, but booking a boat for a scuba diving day usually requires a few days' notice. Even more so with famous or popular attractions where entrance tickets are limited. The good part of the trade-off is the flexibility to be able to grab a special on a slow day, or change your mind looking at the cloudy sky.
Take advantage of the changes in booking dynamics. Today, you can open Google Maps and see hotel rates right now, for tonight. Yes, there are times and places where supply is dry and you will pay over the odds, but on average there is almost always a bargain to grab right this minute. Make your vacation a real vacation doing what you like today, or not doing what you initially planned and just be lazy.
Tips for impromptu vacations:
- Shoulder season is the best time. It is the period between peak and off-peak season at your destination. The weather is good, the crowds are not there and hotel availability is excellent at fair prices. As shoulder season depends on climate, weather, and popularity of the region, there is always a shoulder season somewhere in the world that will fit your schedule. In South-East Asia, particularly Thailand and Vietnam, shoulder season is from November until New Year right at the end of the rainy season and before the beginning of the high season which runs from January to April. May through June, or even July is also a shoulder season, but it is also the hottest period of the year.
- How far? And where? How long is your impromptu vacation? Consider time and distance: how about one hour per vacation day? A long weekend is worth 3-4 hours away, but a 14-hour flight for less than two weeks may not be so relaxing. Where is entirely about your feelings, and practical distance. Don't necessarily think sea or mountain, think atmosphere, context, people ... where it all mixes just right for your vacation mood.
- Going with a partner? Of course, you are going to plan together. Make it memorable, not about where and what, but about the personal dimension. Away from everything is the best time to connect a little differently, open new paths in your relationship, explore fantasies in a context remote from the usual everyday life. That's a big part of resetting relationships, something you get to take home, outlasting the impromptu vacation. Never been to a nudist resort? Take your relationship to a higher level, see people in a different optic with no clothes and no status. If it is your first time, choose a larger resort for a better first time experience.
- Hotel or resort? Different service, different location, different purpose. If you want to relax, do nothing and have everything available right here, right now, then a resort is the better choice. On the other hand, if you plan to roam around, explore the area, discover local food, then the hotel makes better sense as you will mostly sleep and eat breakfast there, with an occasional dip in the pool. If you are interested in all-inclusive resorts, then read the Dreaming of a resort vacation article here on Alaji.
- Find the local restaurants. The ones without a menu in three languages, the ones where the tourism industry employees like to go. There are always a few in tourist areas because the locals have to eat too! Look up the How to avoid tourist restaurants! article here on Alaji for more restaurant tips.
- Jewelry and watch: Just don't! The jewelry is not only a risk, but it makes you look "rich" with prices and service consequences. It is not necessarily that people will target you, but subconsciously, they will treat you differently, and not always in a good way. Leave the watch home too, you are on vacation, and you have a phone. But please, don't go to the other extreme and look like a slob, it's not pleasant and people will also treat you differently, and there too, not always in a good way. Just be your normal self and you will be treated like a normal person.
It's a change of mindset
You only need to think differently about what you want your vacation to be. Going off the clock is a trick to help you turn off routine. First, forget meal times, you can get food anytime in most places. Still hungry for breakfast? Head for the breakfast buffet, and step back for a minute. You don't have to have the usual breakfast. What do you feel like right now? You can pretty much make up whatever it is you feel like eating right now at a breakfast buffet without going for your usual eggs, bacon, or whatever you usually eat. You can make a bacon sandwich and take it to the beach instead, or build a crazy salad for a change of pace. Throughout the day, go with the craving at whatever time it may be, you have no schedule. Take an afternoon nap instead of visiting a new place or doing some scheduled resort activity? Yes, absolutely if that is what you feel like right now.
