8 Ideas for How to Spend Your Vacation Days in 2020
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Planning vacation days can be hard in a normal year, let alone a year with the covid pandemic. Many are wondering when we can travel again and when international travel bans will be lifted because vacation days are piling up! Even with all the uncertainty of when we can travel again, it’s important to take your vacation days.
Time off has many benefits: feeling refreshed, reconnecting with family and friends, and returning to work more creative (just to name a few!). To gain these benefits, time off should be thoughtful. Spending it on your couch watching TV (while definitely needed some days!) generally leads to dissatisfaction.
Now more than ever, we could use the benefits of intentional time off. Below are 8 ideas of how to spend your vacation days. Feel free to combine elements of each suggestion into your favorite kind of day. And get your family and friends involved – if only virtually!
Day Trips:
You can bottle up the goodness of travel into just one day by creating an adventure!
- Take a hike (see the Alltrails app for ideas near you) + pack a picnic
- Go kayaking or paddleboarding on a local lake + stop for ice cream at a local shop
- Hit a bike trail + stop for lunch at a café along the way
- Visit a local garden or arboretum and have a picnic
If you live in Minnesota, check out the day trips I plan to take this summer. My friend Lindsey of Look About Lindsey also has many great ideas around Minnesota.
At Home Spa Day:
Plan a whole day of self-pampering! Start your morning slowly with a tea or coffee. Set the ambiance with candles, fresh cut flowers and fairy lights. From there, enjoy the following:
Facial: my favorite natural skincare lines are Tata Harper, Eminence and Soley Organics. I’ve learned a ton in the last couple months from Tata Harper Skincare’s guided facial videos and you can follow along too. Each is about an hour long and they’re saved on IGTV. Order products in advance so you have what you need the day of! Here’s a $25 off referral code if you’re interested in Tata Harper products.
Bubble Bath: with salt and flowers: I usually just use bath salts from Fresh Thyme but Mama Medicine has awesome bath ritual inspiration if you want to take it up a level! It’s also nice to light some candles and totally unwind. My favorite candles are beeswax from The Foundry Homegoods. For soothing sounds during your bath, search “meditation” in Spotify. Those songs always make me releax and feel like I’m at a spa!
Pedicure/Manicure: put together some hand and feet masks (Target sells some by Aveeno that I enjoyed), a pumice stone, clippers and a new nail polish color to get in the summer spirit!
Massage: this is easiest if you have a partner and are willing to exchange massages. Set up some fairy lights and/or candles, make some tea and perhaps cucumber infused water and give each other 20 minute massages! If you live alone, there are many self-massage techniques too! Check out a list here.
Volunteering:
Some people spend part of their vacations volunteering – building a community center or school, serving at a food shelf, etc. – you could find a similar opportunity in your community. Volunteer Match is a great search site for opportunities in your local area! Volunteering can also be helping our family, friends and neighbors by watching their children, getting their groceries, bringing them a meal, etc. Some of my favorite organizations in Minnesota are Second Harvest Heartland, CLUES and Habitat for Humanity.
Foodie Day:
If you enjoy trying new foods on vacation, map out a day to try new restaurants in your area! Pick different spots for breakfast, lunch and dinner and plan walks in between (you have to build that appetite back up)! For one of the meals or even for a snack, you can take a cooking class online. My friend Lizanne of Lizanne Lately has a great post about some awesome cooking classes (amongst others) she took on Airbnb Experiences! I would include Boludo and Sencha Tea Bar on my foodie tour of Minneapolis!
At Home Wellness Retreat:
Have you ever wanted to go on a wellness retreat? While it would be magical to do one in Bali or Tulum, you can create a magical day in your own home! Below is a sample itinerary you could follow:
- 8AM: Meditation (Airbnb Experiences has one with a Buddhist monk you can do live! Otherwise, I enjoy the Mindfulness in Eight Weeks podcasts by Michael Chaskalson).
- 9AM: Journal with a hot lemon water or other hot beverage of choice. Here are some great journal prompts to get you started.
- 10AM: Take a yoga class (check out CorePower or Modo Yoga)
- 11AM: Make a smoothie and enjoy with a fancy straw or umbrella!
- 12PM: Take a walk somewhere peaceful around your neighborhood
- 1PM: Take a HIIT class (check out Barry’s or my local favorite is Chris Freytag)
- 2PM: Make a delicious and nutritious salad for lunch (Crisp and Green has a great menu for those local or else you can use it as inspiration!)
- 3PM: Work on something creative (e.g. a craft or drawing). Skillshare has some great classes and here’s a link to one artist focused on teaching you to draw nature. For other ideas, check out this list. Tie dye is also big again!
- 5PM: Wind down with one more yoga class
Backyard Resort Day
I love a good day relaxing by the pool. If you don’t have a pool, your backyard, patio or even a local park grassy area will do. Use a relaxing chair or else order yourself a fun new beach towel! Bring a hat, sunscreen and pick out a new book. Make some fun pool themed snacks and drinks to enjoy throughout the day. Don’t forget the little umbrella for your drink!
Nicole of Where to Peanut has the right idea with getting a little inflatable pool for her backyard! Haleigh of Wherewewentnext also has a great outdoor space that includes a hammock.
Future Travel Planning Day
Planning your travel bucket list can feel like an overwhelming task but research shows that you actually derive a lot of happiness from the planning stage of a trip! Take a day off to focus solely on planning future trips. We don’t know exactly when we’ll be able to travel again but we know that day will come again and how great would it be if you knew where you’ll go with a plan already in place! Check out my article for help in putting your travel wish list together. You could also spend a day putting together other inspirational lists, such as dream careers or books you want to read!
Domestic Trips
With some states starting to reopen with enhanced procedures to keep people safe, there may be a possibility of domestic travel later this year. We’re saving some of our vacation days in case this becomes a reality for us. In order to dream about where you’d like to visit domestically, check out this article for 6 ideas.
No matter what you choose for your vacation days, block your calendar, inform your employer and follow through! When you take trips, you make reservations and block your calendar. Do the same here and enjoy your well-earned days off from work! Let me know in the comments how you plan to use your vacation days!
Happy Planning!
