Sitting at my keyboard working through the Maryland blizzard, they came like little mood-lifting missiles: e-mails and ads touting sun-drenched vacations in Costa Rica, the Bahamas, Mexico — anywhere without snow. Seeing the spam pop-up in my e-mail filter was itself an instant interlude from the dreariness outside my wintry window. Visions of beach umbrellas, jungle-like gardens and heat, heat, heat! cast a primary-colored prism into my otherwise noir world. Ah, to get away!
Turns out, that may be enough. According to a study recently released by Dutch researchers, the act of planning a vacation (and by inference, daydreaming about how perfect it will be) significantly boosted the ‘happiness quotient’ of those surveyed, even two months before the actual trip. But post-holiday reflections revealed that those returning from a long-awaited sojourn must have ripped through all their good spirits faster than a cruise passenger downing Margaritas — they reported being no happier than those who stayed home.
The study published in the journal “Applied Research in Quality of Life” involved approximately 1,500 Dutch citizens and begs the question, are the Dutch harder to please than other vacationers? Or are we deluding ourselves that what we really need is a break?
Conversely, are the promises used to sell travel destinations so unrealistic that we can’t help but suffer from a letdown? Or is it simply that much like sex, it’s all in the imagination?
It’s long been a traveler’s cliché that the rigors of vacationing can wear you out and lead to being more exhausted after a vacation than before, but don’t we travel with the expectation that at least in our physically depleted state we’ll have blissful remembrances to tide us over until we recover?
Maybe not, at least, for long. According to the study, only those whose vacations were characterized as ‘very relaxing’ — presumably with no flight delays, lost reservations, itinerary changes, expense surprises or family spats — had even the slightest increase in ‘happiness,’ and that was only noticeable for about two weeks.
By eight weeks out (presumably after all the laundry had been done, the photos downloaded to Flickr, and the office water cooler bragging has wound down), the result was no discernible residual happiness. Aren’t vacations supposed to be fun and restorative, or are we doomed to the holiday hangover?
It made me wonder, if I crunched some numbers and had to pro-rate my travel budget, how much does a day of happiness cost? What say, the cost of a fortnight’s elation by the hour? (Apparently, the fleeting after-effects of my last Disney cruise cost me almost $600 a day – without the overpriced souvenirs!) Put another way, what other kind of investment yields only potentially two weeks of value for every one week of resources expended? Not to mention the very real chance that after mooning over the event for months and spending a year or more in savings, you’ll be no happier than the guy out with the flu for a week?
Would we really spend our hard earned cash to return home no cheerier than before we left? I’d like to know (I don’t yet have access to the long version of the report) if the Dutch researchers asked their subjects if they were still planning another vacation in the future, anyway. You know what they say, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice…Could I quote the study to get my money back on that “cruise with memories to last a lifetime?” I mean, apparently scientific evidence now proves it will be gone before the trial size deodorant I bought.
One of the researchers, Jeroen Nawijn of Erasmus University in Rotterdam, did offer his insights into some of the possible reasons why travelers deflate so easily and so quickly. In sum, those traveling either never really let go, or have to pick up the pieces too quickly when they return. He suggests that returning to a heavy workload caused by absence, and readjusting to all the nuances of the daily grind — commuting, kids in school, grocery shopping — are responsible for erasing that post-holiday glow. Add in the fact that many of today’s breaks aren’t truly to be considered R&R, with folks being only a text message or cellphone call from the office, and you’ve pretty much documented a recipe for someone doomed to post-holiday stress.
So, can we ever really get away from it all? Maybe not, but the researchers also had some advice about how to boost your chances for making that vacation feeling last a bit longer:
- Plan several short holidays throughout the year instead of one long one. (If nothing else, you boost your happiness by increasing the number of planning sessions).
- School districts should be more flexible to enable families to stagger vacations.
- And, a shot to the tourism industry – travel managers should try to provide vacations that are as stress-free as possible. (Does any travel manager promote a stressful vacation?)
To add my two cents worth – plan sensibly so that you don’t overdo it physically or overspend your budget (worrying about the cost is a big post-vacation downer)!
And, in answer to one of my earlier questions, the researchers didn’t think the research was skewed by the nationality of the participants. Although they allowed that it’s easier for the Dutch to take international vacations than Americans, they believed the results would hold up regardless of citizenship.
Of course, maybe your travel plans run less to pleasure-seeking pursuits and more toward the mind enhancing. Other studies seem to show that vacations make you smarter! A study by the US Department of Education found that kids who traveled over summer break did better in reading, math and general knowledge than their peers who didn’t go anywhere.
The original intent of the study was to justify year-round school schedules, but the results proved how invaluable travel can be in expanding horizons and fostering learning. (The study followed slightly more than 21,000 school children through fifth grade). Students who routinely traveled scored higher on assessment tests, and the number of days spent on vacation positively impacted academic achievement.
Our travels make us more aware of the world around us, more accepting of other cultures and more respectful of our histories. So while visiting New Orleans might not have you whistling Dixie for long, it might stimulate your brain cells and make you a better person.
