According to a number of studies, the feelings of anticipation and excitement when travel planning can lead to a mental health boost.
It’s also been found that people are at their happiest when they have a vacation planned.
This is especially true when you’re planning for a vacation to a destination that’s been on the top of your bucket list or even a place that’s been your go-to vacation spot (like Disney World).
And what’s crazy is that you can receive a nice mental health boost just by planning a trip as opposed to only when you’re actually on vacation.
How Travel Planning is Good for Your Mental Health
Here are some reasons why planning for a vacation can be as beneficially as the actual experience of the vacation itself.
This is all from personal experience and it isn’t backed by any research 🙂
1. Visualization
The best part about planning a vacation is visualizing everything you’ll see, eat, and experience.
Just the thought of being on vacation seemingly gives you a little serotonin boost.
I love starting the process of trip planning because it mentally transports you to the destination while getting you extremely excited for the upcoming experience.
2. Introspection
Arguably, there’s no better way to introspect than planning for a vacation.
I believe that planning for a vacation can help you learn things about yourself.
By picking a destination, you’ll immediately begin to think of things you’d want to see, do, explore, and taste.
Want to finally experience one of Epcot’s many food festivals like Food and Wine? Want to finally try some of those oh so popular Mickey Beignets? Or maybe you want to finally face your fear of heights and go on Mickey’s Fun (Death) Wheel?
Whatever it is, you can use this information to do things you absolutely love or you can use this as a way for you to break out of your comfort zone.
That said, the introspection that trip planning can encourage you to finally fulfill some of your life-long aspirations.
3. Productivity
Sometimes you just need a break to recharge, refresh, and refocus.
Thankfully, a vacation can help you accomplish all of that.
Instead of focusing on your work or projects or meetings, a vacation allows you to put all that aside but instead focus on your friends, family, and even yourself.
That’s why I believe that if you’re having a hard time being productive or you feel a little stressed out, planning a vacation and then booking one will help you get through your annoying workdays easier.
4. Budgeting
When it comes to planning a vacation, by far the most stress-inducing aspect is money because let’s be real, the last thing you want to do is blow your budget or overspend. That can put a damper on your entire trip and even negatively affect your mood.
That’s why I feel that budget planning for a trip can still be an exciting aspect of vacation planning especially if you know that you can still maximize your time and money without skipping out on the fun (and eats, of course).
Plus, if you’re not the best at budgeting your money with everyday expenses, budgeting for your next vacation is a great way to practice this skill by using it on something fun and exciting, like a trip to Disney World.
Vacation planning to Disney World is both extremely exciting and also depressing especially when it comes to the costs.
Disney World is expensive. There’s no way around it. But you can do a few things to save some money, especially on food (but I won’t go into detail about that here).
But as long as you set a budget based on the average meal costs and overall vacation price, you’ll have nothing to worry about. By knowing how much you should expect to pay at Disney World for food, tickets, and lodging, as well as discovering some cool ways to make your trip more affordable, you’ll be able to ultimately go on the vacation of the lifetime without having to stress about money while on the trip.
Overall, budget planning for a vacation can help establish the foundation to financial stability which will ultimate benefit your mental health in the long run, well after your vacation is over.
5. Socialization
One of my favorite things when hanging out with friends is talking about potential vacations we could all take. Just the look in everyone’s faces and their overall vibe is so positive and encouraging.
Honestly, just talking about trips and potential destinations brings a huge smile to my face, no matter the destination or company.
6. Inspiration
Vacation planning is a very inspirational activity for me, personally.
I have a large bucket list of places I need to visit and experience and planning for a trip to knock one of those out gives me a sense of accomplishment.
As you probably already know, I’m obsessed with Disney Parks. So planning a trip to Disney’s Aulani in Hawaii has always been on my bucket list. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I decided to bite the bullet and finally experience the tropical paradise.
This then led to me wanting to see more international Disney Parks. So what did I do after I got back from Aulani? I started planning a trip to Tokyo Disneyland.
Planning a trip and then actually going on it truly inspired me to break out of my comfort zone and experience new destinations, no matter how far and foreign they may be.
7. Creativity
One aspect of travel planning that I found very exciting was figuring out how I could use credit card points and airline miles to make my vacation affordable.
Some people may find this to be stressful, but I enjoyed it because I’m a huge believer in maximizing credit card points to get the most bang for your buck.
For example, when booking a my honeymoon to Paris and Disneyland Paris, I decided to stay at the Park Hyatt Paris Vendôme using credit card points (30,000 points a night to be exact) instead of paying over $1,000 a night during the summer. The fact that I could get such a great deal really made me enjoy staying at this hotel a lot more than I would if I were to have paid thousands of dollars for 3 nights. My excitement was unreal.
8. Personal Enrichment
When I planned a trip to Tokyo Disneyland, I have to admit that I was very nervous at first. Flying 14 hours halfway across the world to an unfamiliar destination seemed nerve-racking.
But after doing a little research about Japan and the culture, all my fear uneasiness was put at bay.
By planning a trip to a place I’ve never been to before, I realized that it would be a great way to learn a new culture.
From experiencing new foods to figuring out how to convert yen mentally to even learning how to speak a few phrases of Japanese to the locals, planning a trip to Japan was a great way to help boost my confidence.
…
Vacation planning is one of the most exciting, stress-free activities I’m absolutely obsessed with because it greatly lifts my spirit.
So if you need a little extra boost of happiness in your life, bust out Google Flights and start planning a vacation to a destination you’ve always wanted to experience at least once in your life.
Or heck, plan another epic trip to your happy place.
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