There have been times when I have returned from a trip and felt that I needed a break to get over the break. Happened to you too ? Well after almost many such breaks I finally put some “learnings’ into practice and for once in my life I returned from a holiday and was ready for daily grind ..well almost. Here is what helped me this time to get back into the groove
1 . Clean your house before you leave or at least make your bed : My packing is always last minute, I am always rushing to find the hat I picked in the last trip or the lovely silk scarf which will go fabulously with all dresses , end result house it topsy turvy and I just have time to lock the door and run. This also means that when I return and I am so tired and one look at the mess and all I want to do is to run away. So the tip this time was to clean up at least the living area before I left and also since we were reaching back late in night , I made the bed. Once back, the house look good enough for at least not to make me call housekeeping and run away J I peeled over the bed covers and slept my jet lag away.
2. Account a ‘break in’ day : So typically our holiday ends on Sunday and we have to be back in office by Monday. This time we actually returned on Saturday that gave us a day to unpack , chill , load up on grocery water the plants and gently get back into the groove, by evening we were feeling so good and relaxed that we actually caught a movie and slept early . Monday was not too terrible for once.
3. Arrange for food : You know what time you would be arriving home so arrange for breakfast / lunch / dinner accordingly. After all these days of eating out , home food is what one really craves for and ofcorse kitchen is not the first place you want to be in. Personally , we are lucky to have a place our area that delivers homemade food . In case you don’t have any such place ask your friends and family nearby. My mum and Aunt live within couple of kms and they have a wonderful arrangement going on , whenever any of them travels the other ensures that hot food is delivered at her place on arrival day. You can have a similar arrangement , in case your friends don’t travel much you might want to ‘repay’ the favour by babysitting for them or taking them out for a nice meal or better still inviting them for dinner while you prepare the new exotic recipe you learnt on your trip. Win - Win for all.
4. Unpack right away : A huge point of contention with my husband always. Whenever he is back from a trip (and he travels a lot – 20 days a month !), he simply unpacks right away, putting clothes in washing machine and such, and I always hated it. Gradually I have realized that this is probably the right way. I may not do the laundry right away but I do put away clothes batches to be cleaned later and clean up the suitcases to be stored away. This also ensures that if I bought perishables (And I always buy local food), they are stored properly and not found stinking after couple of days.
I followed all these tips after a 2 week break this time and somehow the ordeal of getting back to daily routine was not that painful. Try it this time when you are heading to your spring / summer break and you just might be as glad as I am.
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