1. Exercise
A lot of people go on vacation and just totally veg out, which is understandable because you're on vacation after all, but most people also load on the alcohol, the sweet treats, the stress eating at the airport, and all the local food your destination has to offer which can easily pack on the pounds. Get back from vacation and don't unplug from vaykay mode, and you are looking at some unwanted weight gain. Exercising on vacation is not actually as hard or laborious as you may think. Instead of riding a bus/Uber/cab to see the sights, go on foot. If your hotel has a pool or gym, use it to get in a few laps, a morning burn session, or play with the kids by the ocean. Instead of elevators, take the stairs. Do something everyday that gets the blood pumping and the body moving for at least a half hour.
2. Don't Check Your Bags
It may sound impossible to you, being a woman and all, but I have never in my life checked a bag whilst traveling, even for 2+ week long stays. Airlines have an annoying habit of losing your bags, or misplacing them, and it may take days, if not all the way until the end of a short vacation for you to get them back. Learn the fine art of packing light. Utilize things like packing cubes, convertible dresses, foldable shoes, smaller versions of the products you use, and capsule wardrobes so that you can in fact fit everything in one carry on. Not only will this ensure you and your luggage arrive together, but this will allow you to spend every second of your trip once you land, doing something other than having to deal with baggage claim for a few days and will definitely save you money not having to check heavy bags.
3. Vacation Like a Local
Every place has it's tourist traps, and not all of them are terrible, but either talk to locals in person, or get the scoop online of places to see and things to do that are not in the brochure. These will most likely be cheaper to do for one, and you will fully get a taste of where it is you are vacationing that many others may never get the opportunity to. Of course, if there are safety warnings about certain areas, heed the warnings, but if you can safely get around, do attempt to expose yourself to the true local flavor of your destination. It may surprise you.
4. Turn Off Your Electronics
There is nothing worse than seeing someone supposedly on vacation still texting work, sitting in front of a beautiful mountain view, flipping through Facebook, or spending hours chatting on the phone with people the whole time about how great their trip is when they could literally be out there living it up more and having more adventures. Turn it off! Use your phone/internet only for the purposes of location finding, snapping photos, and letting people you know you've arrived or left safely. Everyone and everything else can wait. Other than those few things, look around. You paid for an amazing experience, so live it. Be fully present especially if you are traveling with loved ones whom you want to be able to make life long lasting memories of your trips.
5. Leave Your Hotel
I get it. Your hotel spa is uh-mazing. So amazing, the whole entire week, you just don't want to leave, but you should. The hotel, resort, AirBnB, wherever you stay is great, but why did you pay all that money just to never leave? You could have done that locally rather than fly a million miles to get to one. Don't miss out on opportunities of a life time, by just plopping down in your hotel and never leaving to see anything beyond it's walls. You can always mark out some days where you lounge about.
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