travel stress

How to Avoid Stressed-Out Vacations

Published March 21, 2014 | By Clark Norton

A Galapagos iguana, best seen on a stress-free guided trip. Photo by Clark Norton

Do you come back from vacation more stressed out than when you left?

Based on a survey of world travelers by author Shawn Achor and “happiness researcher” Michelle Gieland from the Institute of Applied Positive Research, “poorly planned and stressful vacations eliminate the positive benefit of time away,” as Achor recently wrote in the Harvard Business Review.

(See my previous post on travel and happiness for more detail on these findings.)

Achor contends there are four main ingredients that you should add to your vacation mix to result in a happy travel experience:

* “Focus on the details”: Nearly three quarters of travelers found the most stressful part of travel to be “figuring out the details,” according to Achor. “Travel uncertainty, transportation, wasting time figuring things out on the trip, and being unfamiliar with the location”… Continue reading →

When Vacations Don’t Make Us Happy

Published March 20, 2014 | By Clark Norton

Is this your idea of a low-stress vacation? Photo by Clark Norton

Happy International Day of Happiness! I just found out that this is the second annual such day, boosted by the United Nations, which must be timed to coincide with the first day of spring — in the Northern Hemisphere, at least — and its sense of renewal (even though as I look out my window, snow is still covering my upstate New York landscape).

So I thought it appropriate to revisit the issue of whether or not travel makes us happier. Earlier this year I reported on findings that travel, in general, does make us healthier and happier than those who don’t travel, particularly as we age.

“Travelers,” one study found, “report higher satisfaction with regard to their stress levels and their physical health and well being.” It cited travelers’ reports of beneficial effects on “mood and… Continue reading →

Posted in Baby boomer travel | Tagged Shawn Achor, travel stress, Vacations | Leave a comment

According to government and private surveys:

Leading-edge baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1955) and seniors account for four out of every five dollars spent on luxury travel today.
Roughly half the consumer spending money in the U.S.--more than $2 trillion--is in the hands of leading-edge baby boomers and seniors.
Baby boomers (born 1946-1964) travel more than any other age group.
When asked what they would most like to spend their money on, baby boomers answered “travel” more than any other category, including improving their health or finances.