Here’s how to make planning your next vacation stress free

Travel and Lifestyle Expert, Jennifer Weatherhead Harrington, shares some tips on how to make planning for your next vacation stress-free

Many Canadians are counting down the days for their next vacation and a travel expert says there are stress-free ways to plan for your summer destination.

Travel and lifestyle expert, Jennifer Weatherhead Harrington, told CTV Morning Live planning for a vacation can be consuming, as it takes time to plan, budget and find that perfect timing. She says a global travel application called Skyscanner found that 65 per cent of Canadians spend “more time planning a trip than they do thinking about where they’re going to live,” noting that it’s a long time to feel stressed.

“There’s this new term that’s floating around. It’s called wander lost instead of wanderlust, and that’s kind of when you’re experiencing that overwhelming feeling when you’re planning your trip where you’re starting to stress out about things,” she said.

She says a neuroscientist, Doctor Faye Begeti who’s also known as the brain doctor, has teamed up with Skyscanner to help make planning those trips less stressful. Skyscanner and Dr. Begeti came up with five hacks that can help you keep that wanderlust instead of the wander lost feeling, she added.

Narrow down your choices

Weatherhead Harrington says narrowing down the choices helps reduce the time and energy that you’d be wasting on choosing where to go.

Make big decisions first

She recommends booking the things that take the most mental capacity first, such as booking the flight and the hotel.

“So, narrow those down first, and then you want to make your big decisions first and tackle those ones,” Weatherhead Harrington added.

Balance your mental energy with the right vacation

She stresses the importance of balancing your mental energy with the right destination.

A beach vacation can be your perfect option, if you’re feeling stressed out and aiming to unplug during the vacation. Meanwhile, a little more adventure, such as a city escape, should be your go to if “you’re under stimulated,” Weatherhead Harrington suggests.

Leverage your anticipatory dopamine

“And then there’s something called your anticipatory dopamine,” she said.

“So, you want to leverage this because this is all those good happy feelings that you get when planning the trip. You want to make sure you do that by having a mood board, keep all those tabs open. If you’re having a tough day at work, look at those and get inspired again,” Weatherhead Harrington explained.

Break out of your routine on your vacation

One way to feel excited about your vacation is to break out of your routine, she says.

Getting the best deal possible can also remove some financial barriers to your next vacation.

“(Skyscanner) has a flight alert system that you can set up on your phone. So, they will let you know when your flight prices are going up and down, so you don’t have to take all that time checking and rechecking each time,” Weatherhead Harrington added.

“They also have tons of inspiration on there for trips that will inspire you to maybe go to destinations that you haven’t been to before. Sometimes you can save a lot of money by not going to the most popular spot, and they give you a lot of options there.”

Skyscanner is a flight, car rental and hotel search engine. It scans the top airlines and travel providers across the net, allowing you to compare flight fares and other travel options.