7 Reasons to Take a Day Off after Traveling
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7 Reasons to Take a Day Off after Traveling

Travel Blog | Travel Tips

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7 Reasons to Take a Day Off after Traveling

In this post, I will go over the 7 reasons why you NEED to take a day off after traveling. Like many of you, I love traveling as much as I can. What I don’t like is the way I feel when I get home from traveling. I like to call it the “Travel Let Down”. The trip is over and that sucks. And then I have to go back to work or back to “normal” life which in most cases isn’t nearly as exciting as traveling. So what I like to do is take a day off in between traveling and going back to “normal” life. This helps me to get my head back in the game and reacclimate. Below I will share with you some of the reasons why you should take a day off after traveling and a few ways to help with this process! Enjoy 🙂

1. Relax/rest

When I get home from a trip, even if I just sat on the beach the entire time, I always feel a bit tired. Anyone else with me on this? So having a day off after travel to just rest and relax is always a must. This will help get you ready to start your week feeling good and not exhausted and burnt out. Here are a few things I like to do:

  • Take a bath
  • Read a good book
  • Take a nap
  • Watch a good movie

2. Catch up on Laundry

I don’t know about you but any time I travel I end up creating tons of laundry no matter how long the trip is. I hate starting a new week knowing that I still have a ton of laundry to do. So this is one of the things I like to knock out as soon as I get home. This way I can start the week fresh knowing it is all clean and taken care of.

Here are a few tips to help get your laundry done in no time!

3. Reconnect

For many of us travelers, we have kiddos at home, or if your traveling for work you leave your significant other behind. On my day off after returning from travel, I like to spend as much time with them as possible. I take my time to reconnect with everyone. See what I missed in their lives and share with them stories from my trip. Here are a few of the things I like to do:

  • Make lunch/dinner together
  • Read books together
  • Have a movie night
  • Go to the park (if its warm with the kiddos)

Love my dresses? Get the white one here and the peach one here!


4. Look at souvenirs

I am a huge fan of getting practical souvenirs when traveling. And bringing something back for my kiddos of course. Check out some of the gifts I got my son, Liam over the years- here! My favorite thing to do once I return home from a trip is to look at all the cool souvenirs I got while away. This is also a good time to share a little story about each with my family. The day off after travel gives me this opportunity.

Here are some of my favorite souviners to get no matter where I am:

  • Christmas bulb
  • Coffee Cup
  • Decorative item
  • Themed photo frame
  • Postcard


5. Let your clock readjust

For many travelers, your destination may include a time change of a few hours or in some cases many hours. When you get home you may be feeling a bit Jet Lagged. Jet Lag is caused when a traveler rapidly moves from one time zone to the other with interrupted sleep. This can cause the person to feel really tired and not at all themselves. Having a day off after travel gives you a chance to readjust back to your normal time zone. You may even need to take two days off! The worst thing you can do is head back to work or normal life still on London or Tokyo time.

Here are a few ideas on how to “cure” Jet Lag!

6. Let your guts get back to normal

I am going to be pretty real with this one. I normally take the opportunity to eat and drink tons of food on a trip that my stomach is just not used to. I’m talking fried foods, pasta, exotic foods, and in some cases lots of frozen cocktails. These reaks havoc on my digestive system On my day off after traveling, I like to let my stomach settle back down a bit. I hate going back to work feeling like crap! Here are some of the things I like to do to help this along:


7. Rejuvenate

I am normally pretty sore after a long plane ride and traveling. So I like to rejuvenate my body to I can feel my best before returning to normal the next day. Here are a few of the things I like to do to help rejuvenate.

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About the Author

Sara Moore
Travel Blogger at WanderMoore | Website | + posts

Hi my name is Sara and I am the creator of WanderMoore! 🙂 I started WanderMoore in early 2020 after leaving a full-time job in the Communications/Marketing field to stay home and raise my kiddos, Mila and Liam. I wanted something fun to work on in my free time and WanderMoore has become one of my biggest passions! Thank you for reading my post! I can't wait to share more of my travel adventures with you 🙂

36 Comments

  4. Emma

    You’re so right. I’m usually so focused on maximizing vacation time that I’ll arrive home late one day and go back to work the next. I don’t want to “waste” a vacation day sitting at home. But often you need to just relax and readjust. I’ve found sometimes at least doing a half day that first day back is good. The only real one I regret was a red eye from Hawaii arriving at 7am and I worked that day. Never again

  5. Lacey

    I totally agree, you should always take a day off after a trip! I always have so much laundry, unpacking, and organization to catch up that by the time I’m done I feel exhausted. It helps to have that extra day to settle back into your normal routine.

  10. Ashley

    Great list! My friend has a policy that she always gets a pedicure after returning from a trip (to recover from all the walking old streets we do in Europe lol). The first thing I always do is edit photos. 🙂

  11. Kay

    Yesss I have recently become a convert of having a rest day between my vacation and going back to work. It really is nice to ACTUALLY relax and unpack – sometimes I need a break FROM my break haha!

  16. Sophia Bawany

    We always plan our returns so that we land on a Sunday for the same reasons! We always end up saying we need a vacation after a vacation, your reasons are spot on. Sharing with my other friends to prove we are not the only ones! 🙂

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