How to make the most of the Easter long weekend

If you live in Australia, there is a good chance (depending on your job), that you have a four-day break over the Easter long weekend ahead of you.

But if you’re a science nerd who also likes to optimise their life - like me - you may be wondering: How do I maximise these four days off?

I’m so glad you asked.

Here are five things you can do to have an even better long weekend.

1. Spend time looking forward to the holiday

The earlier you can start planning your holiday, the more enjoyment it will provide (and yes, I am aware that if you haven’t planned anything, it is indeed too late to implement this tip). It turns out that the highest levels of happiness we experience from holidays come from the anticipation.

Jeroen Nawijn from Erasmus University Rotterdam investigated the happiness levels of around 1,500 Dutch individuals, some of whom were going on a holiday. Compared to those who weren’t going on a holiday, happiness levels of those planning to go away were significantly higher.

So while you don’t have much time left to plan an Easter vacay, why not start planning your mid-year break and milk it for all the happiness you can?

2. Build relaxation into your holiday

There are many types of holidays and breaks that tend not to be synonymous with relaxation. There is the packing, the cognitive load, and the dealing with a million other travellers who all (rather inconveniently) seem to have picked the same destination as you. And for those with young children: let’s face it, they don’t entertain themselves.

In the aforementioned research, Nawijin found that when comparing vacationers’ happiness levels with those who didn’t go away, post-trip happiness trumped non-vacationers when the trip was a very relaxed holiday.

If you want to finish any type of holiday or break on a high, build in some relaxing activities rather than trying to jam-pack every day with activities.

3. Three to six days is all you need

Research into the ideal length of a holiday has generally found no relationship between holiday length and enjoyment of the trip. As such, Nawijn says that a three- to six-day holiday is all you really need.

So when thinking about holidays throughout the year, you might not want to use up all your annual leave in one go. Instead, consider planning four or five mini-holidays throughout the year if you want to maximise your happiness in addition to your enjoyment of each trip.

4. Staycations can provide as much joy as vacations

Research lead by Jessica de Bloom from the University of Tampere investigated whether a weekend away can be as enjoyable as a free weekend at home. She found that happiness levels were similar for both types of weekends, suggesting that Stacationers might be on to something. Not only do they avoid the hassle of packing and travelling long (or short) distances by car or plane (which is never particularly fun), not to mention the expense of going away, but they enjoy the same level of positive emotions from hanging at home.

Being a very enthusiastic Stacationer myself, this research confirmed what I had long suspected. It also reminded me that I don’t need to be jealous of my jet-setting friends.

5. Make the last day your best day

According to Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman, we need to apply the “peak-end rule” to our holidays. The peak-end rule is like a manufacturing flaw in our brain which leads to the end of an event being the part of it that sticks in our brain most strongly.

So rather than leave the last part of your trip to chance, save the activities you are looking forward to most to your very last day. By doing so, you’ll help to craft more favourable memories about your entire trip.

I’d love to hear your tips for optimising holiday time - pop them in the comments below :)

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