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The Joy of Going on Holiday

To celebrate a family member's significant birthday, we have just enjoyed a lovely weekend away. I have been trying to work out exactly what makes going on holiday such a nice experience. I mean objectively, why do we look forward to spending lots of money to stay in someone else's house?

The place we went was just about an hour's drive away, so the weather and scenery were not that different to what we experience at home. The activities we took part in included:

  • An outdoor playground
  • Going for short walks
  • Swimming
  • Relaxing while the 3 year old was in a supervised soft play.
  • Eat out at various restaurants

These are all things that we could do closer to home. Is it simply the novelty of doing so in a different place?

Does having clean bedsheets1 make up for the stress of packing a bag and traveling to the hotel?

Does having someone else cook breakfast make up for the restriction of when you can eat?2

Is there something magical about going away? Perhaps because you are away, you cannot do anything on your backlog/Todo lists and so you are truly given permission to not work on those things?

Or perhaps it is to do with actually spending time with loved ones.


  1. Changed by someone else
  2. Small children want to have breakfast long before the hotel breakfast opens. Many teenagers and adults would probably sleep in longer if they could.
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