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It’s Time To Start Planning Your Post-Pandemic Travel – In Your Head

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Experts agree it will still be a while before we can travel safely but that doesn’t mean we can’t start planning. In fact, for our mental health, psychologists say we should.

“The mere act of researching and planning a trip can make you happier,” says psychiatrist Dr. Jeff Ditzell. “By giving you something to look forward to, it triggers an influx of dopamine in the brain, which increases happiness.”

Dr. Ditzell compares the joy of anticipation to waiting for Santa Claus when you were a child. “Do you remember that feeling of excitement about what was to come?” he asks. “It put you in a good mood for the whole month of December. And, honestly, don’t you remember the lead up being a bit better than the actual day?”

Although the psychological benefits of travel planning have been proven in numerous studies, one of the most interesting – and surprising – confirmed Dr. Ditzell’s comparison to anticipating Christmas, discovering that travelers were actually happiest before their trip. It was the delayed gratification – the time spent reading about a destination and imagining themselves enjoying the food, the sights, the culture there – that had the greatest impact on their happiness.

According to Dr. Ditzell, it’s also the human interaction – which is more important than ever during the pandemic. “We are social creatures, and the planning phase of a trip gets us to connect with people,” he explains. “You might reach out to your social network for recommendations, which sparks conversations that bring up happy memories for your friends and get you excited. When we have positive interactions with people, we tend to exude more optimism, which makes us happier overall.” 

It seems that travelers inherently understand the joy of planning and have already started their research.

“Consumer appetite for travel is as strong as it has been since the start of the pandemic and many people are already actively planning their next big trip - even for trips more than four months out," says Shibani Walia, senior research analyst, Tripadvisor. “A whopping 65% of travelers in the U.S. will spend more time choosing a destination this year.”

So where are they thinking of going?

“Tulum, Mexico is rising in popularity, and we have also noticed a spike in luxury villa rental requests for Caribbean island destinations such as Turks & Caicos, St. Barth’s, and St. Lucia, where travelers can stay within their own bubble instead of having to interact which others at a hotel,” says travel advisor Cynika Drake, President of Lavish Lifestyles Concierge. “The focus has shifted to more private experiences shared with family and friends traveling within their group versus exploring areas the way they did pre-pandemic.”

Although I have tried not to even think about travel over the past year, I feel like there’s finally a light at the end of the tunnel – vaccines by the end of May! – and I can let myself at least start planning where I want to go when it’s safe. The first flights I take will be to see family but after that?

I’ve noticed that, post-pandemic, I’m mostly interested in returning to places that are meaningful to me. This feeling is a little weird to me but it also feels right. It’s hard to imagine traveling internationally any time soon but, in my heart, here are the top five places I’m dreaming about:

. Viking cruise. I will literally go anywhere with Viking and I miss the joy of waking up in a new country every couple of days on one of their gorgeous ships. Their world cruise is still my big bucket list item, followed by the Arctic to Antarctica, but I want to return to Norway with them and I’d love to travel down the Nile on their new river ship. I would happily do their new Mississippi River cruise until we feel totally comfortable traveling out of the country again.

. Churchill Northern Studies Centre. It surprises me how often I think about this place, where I have never been so cold in my life yet felt so present and at peace standing outside in the middle of the night experiencing the Northern Lights. I want to go back for polar bear season, and I also want to return to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights on my way home.

. Paris. My husband and I adore Paris. Our favorite trip there was in January ten years ago, and we vowed to only go back in winter from now on, when there are no crowds and we can walk into every museum without waiting on line.

. Fogo Island Inn. I’ve always wanted to visit Newfoundland (in celebration of our beloved dog and after sobbing through Come From Away three times) and when I discovered this stunning, remote hotel, it immediately headed to the top of my travel list.

. Miraval. For both our mental and physical health, we try to visit Miraval as often as we can. We miss the classes, the food, the beautiful surroundings, the spa! If we can actually travel by the end of the year, that’s where we’ll be heading for the holidays.

I do think we’ll be traveling domestically before we head internationally again, and I’m craving the music and food of Nashville, the culture and food of New York, the quirkiness and food of Portland, Oregon.

Meanwhile, I’ll be drooling over Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, ordering from Goldbelly, doing puzzles of the cities on my travel list, and starting to create my dream itineraries.

I feel happier already.

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