How To Have The Best Summer Holiday
Fair warning: This is not for you if you are a solo traveller or if you can book your own island or believe only in travelling on the power seats of a plane. Those with limited budgets, some spare time and summers where family responsibilities skyrocket can please continue reading.
Find Your Tribe. The Harvard Study of Adult Development, ongoing since 1938, revealed a key secret of happy people: those who put their relationships first. Well-being and deep friendships are directly linked, the more you invest in them, the more the return. So, the first step is to try and plan your holiday around the friends and family you most love and value. If you can somehow find a way to combine your closest friends and family with your holiday time, you’re already halfway there. Whether it’s congregating at the beach house of a friend, an annual meet-up around a pool or in the midst of a forest, a trek with likeminded pals or a driving holiday, it’s the chemistry of the group that will make the holiday memorable. Sure, you might have to rejig schedules around the busiest person’s timetable, travel across continents or fight the beach vs mountain fight, but no matter what the final destination, you know it will be worth it.
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Be Quirky, Build Rituals. Are you the quiz master of the group who will happily whip out his laptop and ask you to pick from a variety of home-crafted quizzes? Or are you the one who takes the teenagers and preteens into the ocean and lets them jump off your shoulders into the water amid loud squeals? You could be the one who loses at cards all the time. Or the one who quietly organises everything behind the scenes. Or even the one who travels across countries with ingredients for a five-course meal in their baggage. Organise group games, play team sports, go to the local restaurant for a seafood meal—build rituals you can return to the next time you meet.
Don’t Have An Agenda. Except the plan to holiday with your favourite people, of course. Go with the flow, don’t be disappointed if things don’t work out exactly according to plan. Exhale and relax your shoulders and your diet. Eat as many mangoes as you can, drink lots of mimosas before lunch and take afternoon naps. As I write this, I am holidaying with 20 people who have been friends for nearly 40 years in a four-bedroom beach house and trying my best to follow the tip I am about to share next: embrace the chaos. Note to self: Turn a blind eye to towel mix-ups, learn to differentiate between those who like their eggs runny and well-done and wake up early to use the loo. Holidays are meant to be chaotic and colourful, you need a booster dose of brown and sunny to help you get through the orderly work weeks that will follow when you get back to reality.
Be Inspired. Whether it’s your contemporaries, those older than you or the generation after you—everybody has great ideas to navigate life. You can conduct an impromptu brainstorming for your entrepreneurial venture, crowdsource a column like this one, and swap playlists, and podcast or film recommendations. Definitely ask the energetic, active people about their diets and imbibe the philosophy of the one who smiles serenely through everything. You’ll find you have a window to everything from ageing gracefully to travelling light. Don’t forget to give some wisdom too.
Share Secrets And Worries. The best part about travelling with close friends is that you can be yourself. Discard the filters, no need to show your better side. It’s time for a real catch-up. You can dramatically announce that you plan to quit your job; share the torturous saga of the business deal that just won’t go through; examine why recent relationships broke and dissect pretty much anything that is going on in your life. Once again, don’t forget to listen too.
About Technology. Try to switch off. Don’t let your device be an appendage. Use technology positively—to organise a stargazing night, play a group game or to share pictures of the day. Fix a finite time to clear emails and messages and stick to it.
Get Your Own Water. Split responsibilities. Divide tasks. Don’t skip chores on a holiday. I’m the glass police, swooping down on empty glasses, demanding to know who left the wine glass on the table. Someone has to do this job.
PS: Don’t forget to hydrate. Nope, those mimosas don’t count.
Priya Ramani is a Bengaluru-based journalist and is on the editorial board of Article-14.com.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of NDTV Profit or its editorial team.
