Vacationing for better mental health

If you’re reading this post during a time of social distancing, now is the time to plan and prepare for your next journey!

When thinking about steps you can take to improve your mental health, don’t forget to consider the often overlooked benefits of taking a vacation. Whether you’re interested in the natural beauty of a state park or looking to let your hair down in a big city, getting away from your normal surroundings could be the change of routine that you need. 

born-wild

Mental health is an all encompassing term that refers to your social, psychological and emotional wellbeing. Your grasp on such things is how you either foster or sabotage interpersonal relationships. It dictates how well you cope with stress and challenges and, more importantly, how you recover from them. It is important to know that you don’t necessarily need a masters in mental health counseling to take steps to strengthen your psychological happiness.

Traits

Being mentally healthy doesn’t simply mean that you are not inflicted with certain illnesses of the mind; it’s much bigger than that. Having good mental health means you enjoy life. You are confident and secure in who you are and you enjoy living your life to its fullest. You know what makes you happy and you aren’t afraid to pursue it. Being confident with who you are will make you less apprehensive about trying new things and meeting new people. You won’t be discouraged from adapting to any changes that life throws at you; instead, you will take it in your stride. Having a strong mental position allows you to bounce back from adversity and take life’s curveballs in your stride. You know how to adapt, be flexible and strike a balance between work and play. 

It is important to understand that even with the best mental health you will have stress and anxiety. It’s not necessarily what life brings you, it’s how you deal with it. Life is full of ups and downs. It is normal to experience stress, sadness and disappointment; in fact, it is unavoidable. The most important thing is to remain focused and positive. Even if you don’t readily see the solution to whatever you are going through, being able to tell yourself that you will get through it and overcome it is the biggest part of overcoming adversity. 

Get Away

Whereas it is commendable to be a hard worker and dedicated to your career or profession, it is also important for your mental health to get away and have a change of scenery. When you plan a break, whether it’s a week or two vacation or just a weekend away, you have something positive to focus on. Allow yourself the opportunity to get excited about what your upcoming event may entail and the memories that you will make. When it comes to true happiness, that is found in actual experiences as opposed to objects or things you may be able to buy. You can’t put a price on memories with those you love.

When you are feeling depressed, it is common to withdraw from interpersonal interactions. Even though you may think that solitude will help you because you don’t feel like you can face being social, it’s one of the worst things you can do. Human beings are social creatures. You need human interactions. When you feel low or sad, even though a phone call may help you, the best solution is to visit with a friend or family. Allowing yourself to share the in person company of a close friend who is a good listener and won’t judge or criticize what you have to say. 

The journey to good mental health begins with being self-aware. Evaluate your life and interactions and make sure you are still enjoying things you always have. Don’t be afraid to reach out if you are feeling overwhelmed. 

Packing for a Family: Tips and Tricks to Ease the Load

Packing for family vacation is not for amateurs!

Packing for an entire family can be daunting (not to mention time consuming). First there’s the pre-trip laundry, sorting, and folding. Then there’s the piling of bags in the car or airport security drop-off. And even after that, there’s all the time wasted digging through suitcases trying to find that toothbrush or pair of shoes or jacket you just know is in there…somewhere.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve probably lost years of my life in this manner while packing for a family of five. I’d like to think I’ve learned a thing or two in the process, however. The following are my favorite tricks and tips I’ve discovered the hard way:

Pack an extra bag. It seems counter-productive to pack an extra duffel or pack when you can barely fit everything in as it is, but every natural law of travel dictates that what goes in will not fit back in at the end of your trip. Why? We organize less, fold less, and buy more as our vacation proceeds. Folding an extra tote or duffel in your luggage ensures you have a little more wiggle room (although admittedly more to carry, too) on your return trip. I’ve noticed that CSN Stores has many packable bag options on their site (with stores selling everything from modern bedding to outdoor furniture), one of which I’ll be reviewing here next week.

Keep important stuff accessible. When we road trip, one of our mesh laundry bags does double-duty as a stuff sack for everyone’s jackets and shoes. When they peel and kick them off upon entering the car for a long stretch of road, in the bag they go, stored on the top of the suitcases so as to be easily retrieved when we make a pit stop. Likewise, when we’re flying, those pesky quart-sized baggies stay at the very top of our carry-ons until we’re through security.

Organize clothes by outfit. To make getting out of your hotel room every morning a breeze, consider packing by outfit, grouping each kid’s shirt, pants, underclothes, and socks for each day and placing them in large zip-lock plastic bags or recycled clothing store bags. (This works best for very small children, whose clothes still easily fit in a gallon-sized zip-lock bag.) In the mornings, skip digging around in everyone’s suitcase for a complete outfit and just toss each child the bag labeled with that day’s date. Not only will you save room, but clothes stay cleaner. Plus, you can always find a use for the used plastic bags while traveling.

Pack designated laundry bags and use them. Large mesh laundry bags are less than $5 at most stores and worth their weight in gold. Not only do we use ours for storing bulky items like jackets or towels, but we hang one on the bathroom door handle of every hotel room as a portable hamper. Once you have more dirty clothes than clean, simply designate one suitcase for laundry storage and transfer clean clothes to another suitcase. The best part of this plan: the ease of unpacking when you can toss full suitcases of clothes straight into the washing machine once you’re home.

Think outside the box (or toiletry kit). If you plan to stay in one place for a week or more (think home rentals or Disney especially), skip the individual toiletry kits and bring a portable shoe organizer. Yes, you read that right! (The type that hangs from the back of a closet door.) Place bathroom essentials and beauty accessories in the plastic or mesh pockets, and hang the whole unit on the bathroom door. You save valuable counter space, and everyone can find their toothbrushes, medications, and shaving cream easily. (This tip is a must if you have little girls with tons of hair accessories!)

Do you have a tried and true packing tip? Share it with Pit Stops for Kids readers in the comment section below!

Cruising Options for Families of 5 and More

Inside the Disney Cruise Line Terminal
Image via Wikipedia

If your family doesn’t fit the standard travel industry mold of two adults and two children, you’ve probably experienced frustration at one time or another while booking vacations, hotels, and the like. I know I have, and I ‘only’ have three kids!

Cruise lines especially seem to make it difficult (and costly) to book for a family of more than four, but there are tips and tricks for clearing these hurdles and finding the best deal for your larger family.

Hurdle #1: Online reservation systems only offer you expensive suites. Maybe you don’t want the most expensive sleeping option on-board, but as soon as you punch in 3+ kids into a cruise lines’ online system, all economic options are instantly closed to you. I’ve been there. Often, more options are available, but it takes speaking to an actual human being. Pick up the phone and call the booking company or cruise line. In most cases, two adjoining rooms housing 2-3 people are cheaper than one large luxury cabin housing 5+ (plus you gain an extra bathroom). On some ships (rumor has it that Disney Cruise Lines is one), some standard cabins are larger than others (such as if they’re located on the end of a hall or on a corner), and sleep 5 or more at the bargain cabin price. To get these, however, you have to ask for them specifically (or use a travel agent…a good one will know to do so).

Hurdle #2: All cruise lines are not created equal. There’s more than one fish in the sea (pun intended), so keep your options open. Consider booking though a company like discountcruises.com, which works with multiple cruise lines and can therefore offer discount cruises for your family from a larger pool. On their site, you can browse which cruise lines are currently  running promotions in which kids cruise free (under age 12), and can read reviews on the best ships for kids.

Hurdle #3: Package deals are not always one-size fits all. Read the fine print on any package deal in which kids cruise, stay, or eat free. (This is especially true for off-ship excursions.)  They’re often designed for families of four, and will charge extra for additional children. (We’ve learned this the hard way when booking hotel/theme park combination tickets, for instance.) Ask ahead of time if this will be the case, and get the ‘a la carte’ price for the extra kid or kids. Sometimes it’s worth coughing up the extra dough, but often it’s not, and another package might be better for you. If the deal in question is limited to ‘kids free with participating adult’, consider the price difference if you invite extra adults along (maybe Grandma and Grandpa) to even out the grown-up to kid ratio.

Hurdle #4: Families of 5+ feel alone. Despite the travel industry’s insistence that families only come in packages of four, larger families are rapidly becoming the norm. To get other tips and vacation-planning strategies, check out sites that cater to larger families such as Six Suitcase Travel, where you’ll find lists of hotels, vacation homes, and restaurants that consider big families to be the standard (and charge you accordingly).

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