Travel Experts Reveal The 6 Essential Things You Should Do Before Going On Holiday
The few days, or even weeks before going on holiday can be hectic – shopping, packing – double, triple and even quadruple checking that you haven’t forgotten anything, and you can often leave your home in a mess – which turns out to be the last thing you need when you get home and are hit by the post-holiday blues.
Fortunately, travel experts at SkyParkSecure have compiled the best tips on how to best prepare your home for when you return from holiday…
- Tidy home, tidy mind
- Do your washing
- Empty your fridges and bins
- Check your deliveries
- Tick off your to-do list
- Plan your food
So, if you’re looking for ways on how to beat post-holiday blues, read on to discover how to properly prepare your home for returning from holiday. And one way to beat pre-holiday blues is by not forgetting to book your airport parking with us, to ensure you find the best deals.
Are post-holiday blues a real thing?
Post-holiday blues are definitely a real thing, and we shouldn’t feel bad for feeling them. Dr Deborah Lee, from Dr Fox Online Pharmacy explains it as “‘Post-holiday blues’ are also known by the medical term – ‘post-travel depression’ (PTD). After a holiday is over, it’s surprisingly common to feel a range of negative emotions including sadness and nostalgia.
Mood disturbance can also occur, with increased anxiety and depressive symptoms. Sufferers often also feel tired, exhausted, and have difficulty with concentration, sometimes with physical symptoms such as appetite disturbance and insomnia. It’s a funny thing as when we feel stressed, tired, or low, we often think the answer is to take a holiday. But in fact, after the holiday, there we are – quickly back to square one!”
The ‘post-holiday blues’ are due to a range of underlying factors including:
- The natural let-down after the build-up, planning, and anticipation that the holiday is over.
- Cortisol levels fluctuate on holiday. High cortisol levels are a feature of stress. After the holiday, you go back to your normal routine and your cortisol levels may well fall.
- You may have overindulged with excess holiday food and alcohol. Getting your diet and exercise routine established again can be difficult.
- You may not have slept well on holiday, so your sleep routine has been disturbed.
- You must now face the worries you left behind, including finances, looking after family, etc.
- The longer the holiday the worse the PTD. This is also exacerbated by the symptoms of travel sickness or jet lag.
How to prepare your home for a return from holiday
Tidy home, tidy mind
It can be easy to create a mess when you pack to go away, especially if you’re packing for a family; with clothes everywhere and drawers turned upside-down after looking for the travel adapters you swore you could remember where they were. Spending some time away from packing to make sure you leave your home clean and tidy will be so beneficial when you return home.
Of course, this doesn’t have to be a super deep clean – but doing the basics like washing up, cleaning the surfaces, hoovering and making sure everything is put away where it needs probably won’t take as long as you think it will, and will give you one (or several) less things to worry about when you get back.
Do your washing
whilst this might seem to go hand in hand with ensuring your home is clean, it can be easy to scoop up everything that needs washing and throwing it in the washing basket because as they say; ‘out of sight, out of mind’ but what happens when you get back and also have multiple suitcases full of clothes that need washing too?
Making sure all, or at least a decent chunk of your washing is done and dry before leaving will cut down one of the most tedious tasks that await when you return from holiday.
There’s also nothing better than returning home to clean sheets – so it’s worth cleaning some bedding and changing your sheets right before you leave, so they’re ready to crawl straight back into as soon as you are home, especially if you’ve flown late at night!
Empty your fridges and bins
There’s nothing worse than coming home to a strange smell in the home, it’s important to make sure you empty your bins right before you leave and empty your fridge of any food that might go off whilst your away.
It’s also important to check your bin timetable and leave bins that need to be collected out, or as your neighbours to put them out whilst your away, nobody wants overflowing bins!
Check your deliveries
If you have any repeat subscriptions, such as milk delivery or meal boxes make sure to put them on pause so you don’t have food going off on your doorstep – this can also be a huge indicator that nobody is home. For items that aren’t perishable, if you feel comfortable – have them delivered to a neighbour instead.
Packing and preparing for your holidays can usually involve a lot of shopping, make sure that any refunds and returns are done before you go away, in case the return window runs out whilst your away, which leads onto our next tip…
Tick off your to-do list
Making your life easier for when you get home isn’t just about making sure your home is tidy, but also making sure any errands and ‘life admin’ is done before you go away, this includes running any errands, sending any letters and parcels and paying any bills that need to be paid before you go away.
Plan your food
Whilst there will likely be a lot of food in your fridge that will need to be thrown out, especially if you’re away for a while – it’s always good to have a food shop planned and snacks in for when you get back. You could schedule a food shop to be delivered the day you get back, or if you’re worried about flight delays, a click and collect order – at the very least, it’s worth having a detailed shopping list so when you do have to go, you can be in and out.
Keep long-life snacks, or even frozen meals in so you have food as soon as you’re back you have something to snack on, there’s nothing worse than getting back from a long day of travelling on an empty stomach and having no food.
SkyParkSecure worked with Dr Deborah Lee, ex-GP Practitioner from Dr Fox Online Pharmacy
Photos by:
Paola Chaaya – Unsplash | roam in color – Unsplash
