How To Make The Most Of A Long Weekend Trip
Us working people look forward to a long weekend as much as most kids do for Christmas. Life happens on the weekends for us 9 to 5 grinders. So the extension of our normal two day break is something we obviously live for. With the approaching Spring/Easter break right around the corner, it’s only right that we take advantage of our precious time off! Make the most of your long weekend trip by taking these factors into consideration:
Distance & Time
Because nobody likes half of a day spent in a car only to feel completely wiped by the drive. Choose a place no more than five hours away. Of course, I’m speaking from my own experience… but do know that time is a precious, precious thing on a long weekend trip. So if you’re willing to spend an extra hour or two to experience something great, then more power to you! On a normal weekend, you wouldn’t drive more than an hour or two to see something awesome. This is your excuse to go juuuuust a bit further than you normally would. Get on Google Maps and search laying out the land. Is there a city, attraction, sight or experience that sparks your fancy that also happens to be five hours away or so?
Who’s Going?
Is it a girl’s trip away? A solo adventure? Or a date with your significant other? Remember that the participants of your long weekend trip can really assist in determining what to spend your time doing! If you are going with a group, consider their tastes, interests and styles of travel.
Do Your Research!
Choosing a destination is a toughie. Most of the time, you’re left between a bunch of different routes to go with no obvious choice of where to head out to. Do your research. TripAdvisor, Pinterest and hashtags on Instagram (or these incredible travel resources) are your friends! Search for new, inventive, and possibly weird locations.
Ask yourself: What are your interests Do you really love craft beer? Research breweries to nosh in. Do you want to meet new people? See if there are any meetups in a city a few hours away from you. Do you really want to reconnect with one of your best friends from college? Research if there is a halfway point for the two of you to meet. Want to experience the great outdoors? Look to see if there are any national or state parks worth getting lost in. Okay. Not really lost… but you get the idea. Is there something you want to learn? Google classes and learning resources that are a nice distance away from your immediate area. Choose what you want to discover and get planning!
Departure & Arrival Time
Ahhhh, the dreaded early departure time. I’m a weirdo and I love that groggy-excited feeling I once got when my family was shipping off to the beach. Sure, it’s not the most relaxing start to a great long weekend trip, but it’s a necessity nonetheless. Waking up early leads to more time spent exclusively in your destination. Which means more fun to be had in the long run! I’m not saying you should exhaust yourself, just know that the early wake up call is sort of a requirement.
Pack Accordingly
I bet you can guess what I’m going to say here. Pack lightly. Go lightly. (HA… I’m, like, so punny)… Jokes aside, I wrote about my experience planning my travel capsule wardrobe here. Limiting the amount of dresses/shirts/jeans/shoes you stuff into a little suitcase frees you from lugging all of your heavy stuff all over town AND it eliminates the whole “oh my god what am I going to wear today?” feeling. Trust me on this. Look at the five day forecast for your destination, pick out your pieces, try to establish a color scheme and use mix and match pieces as much as possible, get rid of at least three items (yep, you heard me) and roll them away into your bag.
Stock Up
Podcasts! Podcasts! Podcasts! Oyyyy. I’m obsessed. And if you’re not freakishly infatuated with Invisibilia or Serial yet… I’m sorry, but get with the times! Listening to these refreshing audio storytellers makes the time fly by. If you need a break from your podcast fiend state, stream a radio station based on your favorite musician or band. Or you could go super #tbt and make yourself an old school mix tape. I always knew my knack for creating near perfect mix CDs would come in handy down the road!
Happy long weekend tripping you guys!