According to Newsroom, 100 million Americans scheduled a family vacation in 2019. The travel industry is bouncing back after the pandemic, and more Americans are scheduling more frequent and longer vacations. You may have taken short vacations because of time and money considerations, but now you are embarking on a long vacation. It’s best to prepare early for coming home after a long vacation.
A long vacation will be a great opportunity to reset, connect as a family, and set priorities for your next life phase. According to Allina Health, vacation will reduce stress, improve your mental well-being and increase your family relations. However, it has to end eventually. Now you’re back at home, how do you bounce back? In this article, you’ll learn how to maintain these benefits by preparing for coming home after a long vacation.
How to Make Coming Home After a Long Vacation Less Challenging
Even though vacation time is a great time for a reset, returning home to a list of chores isn’t the best way to come home after a long vacation. You can make coming back less challenging by pre-planning what you want to come home to. The following five tips will help you plan for coming back home after a long vacation less challenging.
1. Leave Your House Clean
Imagine spending your days in a well-tucked bed, opening to fantastic views only to crumpled bed sheets, a smelly fridge, and dirty floors. Not exciting! This is why you should make sure your house is clean before you leave. If you’re exhausted, you can look for a cleaning service to ensure your house is spotless when you return.
Empty the dustbin. Consume all your perishable foods. Ensure you leave the laundry basket empty. Leave the air freshener on so that when coming home after a long vacation, you won’t have a difficult time adjusting.
2. Choose Car Parking Early
If you’re leaving your car at home, ensure you park it in a dry and secure place. You could cover it with a car cover to prevent dust accumulation. If you are leaving it outside in a car shed, ensure the car shed has no leaks and your home has an alarm system.
You may opt to leave your car at the airport. Take a picture of where you’ve parked your car. Alternatively, you can look for private parking because it’s more convenient.
3. Plan a Simple Menu Before Leaving
Unless you’re making your meals in an Airbnb, you’ll likely be eating outside during vacation. It’ll take a while to adjust after coming home after a long vacation. So it’s best to plan a simple menu you can follow before adopting it. Avoid having fresh supplies in the house because they’ll go bad or lose taste if you store them for too long. Plan for simple meals that are easy to prepare.
4. Set Up the Alarm System
Your home is more vulnerable to burglaries when you’re away because thieves have few hindrances. You could take some practical steps to keep your home safe, including not posting about your travel plans on social media. Leave your alarm system on and inform your security firm and the police if you plan on being away for more than a week.
5. Pay All the House Bills
You’ve come back energized but tired, especially if you travel far. The last thing you need is a pile-up of bills. Before leaving, pay all the bills, such as your rent, internet charges, and waste disposal. That will give you enough time to bounce back after coming back from a long vacation.
9 Services You Need After a Long Vacation
Long vacations are beneficial for you and your family, but they’re also intense, and your body, car, pets, and house might require some servicing before things can go back to normal. The transition will be less challenging if you apply the tips above. Now that you’re back, here are nine services you need when coming home after a long vacation.
1. Check In On Your Body
Multiple studies have shown the multiple health benefits of vacationing, including better heart health, lower cholesterol, and better sleep. Yet your body might need a reset if you have a long vacation. For example, if your trip included plenty of hiking and sightseeing, you might have developed lower back pain.
So you might want to check your body to give it a reset. Some simple practices, such as a warm shower and exfoliating, will give your skin a fresh feel while opening up your spores. You might require a chiropractic adjustment appointment if you’re having back problems.
Rehydrating is critical in replenishing your body, especially in a high-temperature zone. That will prevent you from having headaches. Ideally, your body should feel much better on vacation and not worse. However, if you have musculoskeletal problems, you can seek physical therapy services.
2. Check In On Your Car
If you left your car at home, you could do a test drive to ensure everything is working optimally. If you had quite a long vacation, check the fuel levels and possible rusting in the fuel tank. You can check your car in a local car wash to get the accumulated dust from the interior and exterior of your car.
It’s also likely that you traveled in your car. You’re not alone. Most Americans travel by car during vacation. According to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, only about 5-6% of trips are by air, while almost 89% are by personal vehicles. Long drives will impact your vehicle.
So it’s essential to check your car at auto mechanic services. They’ll check if the wheels are aligned, the brakes are working, and the tire pressure is optimal. Spending more time on the road, especially when other people are also traveling, makes you vulnerable to crashes and fender benders. So, planning an appointment with an auto mechanic when coming home after a long vacation is strategic.
3. Check In On Your Garage Equipment
Your garage serves multiple purposes beyond being a parking space for your car. Your garage equipment, from your treadmill to lawn mower, lives there. When you leave for vacation, some equipment may accumulate dust and thus require some inspection.
Check your garage equipment by first doing an inspection. Check that there’s no visible damage to your equipment or that none is missing because of a break-in. You can then check some of the equipment with professionals. For example, you can check your lawn mower with a lawn equipment maintenance company.
4. Check Your Home for Animals and Insects
There’s no better time for animals, pests, and insects to make your home their habitat than when you’re aware. Some animals are aware and cautious of human interaction and will show up when your family is asleep. It would be prudent to ensure you don’t give them a chance to breed by cleaning your house thoroughly before leaving and disposing of any food waste.
You can contact pest control experts, such as mosquito extermination companies, to make coming home from a long vacation less challenging. They’ll respond by destroying breeding grounds for destructive pests such as mosquitoes. Sometimes it will take some time to notice that your house is infested.
Problems in the house, such as cracks in the foundation and ceiling, can make infestation much easier. In the long run, you might think about how to do maintenance to seal the loops. In the meantime, you can look for local animal removal services to eliminate rodents and snakes that might have made your home their habitat when you were away on vacation.
5. Check In On Your Pets
Your pets have missed your snugs and play. Now you are back from vacation. It’s advisable to check in on your pets in one of the reputable veterinary clinics. It doesn’t mean they’re sick. Checking in on them will give you peace of mind that they have been taken care of and didn’t develop any health conditions.
If you travel with your pets, it’s good to ensure that travel doesn’t affect their metabolism or sleeping patterns, especially in different time zones. If you cannot get the same food your pet feeds, a visit to the veterinary clinic can guide you on the best supplements.
6. Check Your Home’s Wiring
Before leaving the house, it’s best to leave all the appliances off unless you have a home caretaker. In your absence, some problems may develop that damage your electrical system. For example, rodents can chew and damage your electrical wiring system while you’re away. According to the National Fire Protection Association, fires caused by faulty wiring lead to $1.4 billion in losses and kill about 420 people annually.
If you notice some problems with electrical wiring, such as the smell of burnt wires, electrical sockets becoming too hot, or sudden electrical appliance shutdowns, it’s time to call in an emergency electrician. They’ll ensure your electrical system returns to normal working conditions before you can get back to work.
7. Check In On Your Backyard
The grass is like your hair or nails; no matter how you cut it, it sprouts back after some time. Depending on the grass in your backyard, you have 10-30 days to grow back. It’s also likely for weeds to grow along with it. So checking in your backyard when coming home after a long vacation is essential.
You could pick up the mower, gloves, and boots ready to maintain your backyard. Or you could call a reputable landscaping company to leave your backyard looking well-maintained. They’ll remove the weeds, water your potted plants and do lawn care.
8. Check Your Bank and Credit Card Statements
You’ll probably use your credit cards to make most of the payments while on vacation. Double-check your statements to ensure no hotel or service provider double-charged you. If you expect a refund, check to ensure none is missing. You could also make sure there are no unauthorized payments.
Another reason to check your credit and bank statements is the growing concern over identity theft. According to Consumer Affairs, 22% of American adults were victims of account takeovers. Being on vacation makes you vulnerable to credit card misuse, for example, after a few shots with friends. Call your bank if you notice any discrepancies in your bank account balance.
9. Check in with Your Personal Groomer
You’re already used to your barber, manicurist, or hairstylist. Coming home after a long vacation may mean that you haven’t done any professional grooming, especially if you’re sensitive about having new professionals doing your hair or nails. So check in with your groomer.
They can do complete grooming, for example, shaving or styling your hair according to your specifications. Traveling to extreme temperatures may have affected your hair and skin, so procedures such as exfoliation and steaming might give you the reset you need.
Final Thoughts
Vacation time is among the most exciting times for most people. However, you can find it challenging to bounce back after a vacation, especially if it is extended. You can prevent this by preparing before and having a line-up of services to make it easier to return to your normal schedule.
While vacation will recharge you for the next phase, you’ll need to service your body and assets after being away for an extended time. The checklist will help you mentally plan for coming home after a long vacation. The servicing will help you reap the benefits of a long vacation for a long time. Which servicing will you start with?