The last day of the holiday should be a joyful day really – filled with satisfied smiles as you think about the blissful time you’ve been having (hopefully 😬) and how grateful you are to have had it, right?
Yet, its often ‘paradoxically’ a mournful day of bitter-sweet grief – can you relate?
Although there have been trips where I have felt ready to get back home, there’s still a sadness about leaving a place you’ve grown to call home for few days or weeks. 😢
On the whole, the last day of the holiday tends to feel like one of two extremes – a warm welcome or a sad goodbye….lets look at both sides, just to try and keep things balanced.
Last Day of the Holiday: A Hard Goodbye
You wake up with a sad and heavy heart, wishing you could rewind back to day one again.
Maybe you regret not savouring every moment just that little bit more, wishing you’d booked a few more days and realising all those people were right when they said ‘surely one week’s not enough’. 😞
If you’re lucky, you get one more shot at the breakfast (and lunch) buffet – ‘the last vacation super’, it’s all the more special knowing you won’t be getting anymore – so you eat a bit more than you would normally, making sure to try and sample all the things you overlooked before! 😋
With all your might, you try and memorise ‘that view’ for the last time. 👀
You stare ‘green eyed’ at new guests arriving at your hotel to check-in. The excitement they must be feeling – looking forward to their new rooms and exploring. Even worse, if the weather forecast for the week ahead is even better than the week you just had. The injustice. 😩
Maybe you left your packing until today, trying to prolong the denial period, refusing to accept that’s its over, understandably – but now you end up wishing you’d packed the night before, since the ten minutes you thought it would take has now gone on for nearly an hour (…hey there ‘over packers’) 👋 🙌
The last day of the holiday, is it usually a happy or sad day for you?
Once you start packing it’s like a signed and sealed deal. 🔨
The dread of all the pending airport rigamarole sets in. 😳
Panic ensues when you realise you still have currency that you can’t take out of the country – time to buy a whole load of stuff you don’t want or need…a few more fridge magnets perhaps! 🙄 Or maybe just leave some generous tips!!
You start to fantasies about a volcano emitting a suitable amount of ash, enough to ground all fights home for a few more days – how terrible it would be to be trapped in paradise for a while longer. 🌋
These feelings of dread lead you to grasp at any remaining ‘complementaries’ in your hotel room, from soaps to teabags, they’re all souvenirs now. 🙈
Maybe you’re relieved and ready to go home, to a nice bubble bath and your own comfy bed…ahh, but those sunsets, those views, and that wonderful hotel entertainment….you’re torn, mixed feelings – to stay or to go?
Thoughts of your next getaway compete against thoughts of you back at work, or in the office….and for those of us who have evolved into WFH more – well at least you can probably get all your washing and unpacking done more quickly…..washing away all that wanderlusty evidence and tidying away the memories 😅
On a slightly more serious note, an article by Intrepid Traveller Tribe offers some useful insights and tips to help if you are feeling very affected, or even depressed by the end of a travel experience: ‘How to stop Mourning the End of Your Vacation”.
With all of that said, I suspect there are some of you who literally trip over yourselves (at times) to get to the airport and get home….🤔
The Last Day of the Holiday: Oh Happy Day
Arguments and tension that you’ve been enduring because you’ve been trapped – will finally release their grip somewhat as you disentangle yourself from that holiday from hell…or simply ‘that person or those people’. 💫
There are so many exciting things happening in your life that you’re gushing to get back so you can get on with the next wonderful thing. No time to pine… 🚀
You’ve been terribly ill or badly sunburned and want to get back to your real home, to heal. 🤕
You picked up in the news that there are some dangerous political tensions brewing in the territory of your holiday, and have never been happier to flee. 💣
The ‘travel corridors’ have shifted and it’s going to create big problems you personally.😷
Or maybe you just don’t like travel, or holidays.
We’ve probably had feelings of both extremes at some point, whatever your thoughts, share them below, I’m curious – ‘the last day of the holiday’, how has it been for you?
Ellie-M
For me, it’s less of wanting to stay on my holiday (even if it’s been great), it’s more that I’m not ready to go back to work and daily life. The only plus side of finishing a holiday is getting to plan the next one as soon as I’m home!
Cherryl
You hit a very true chord there – yes, the thought of returning to work etc is what makes it all the harder 😔
Island Traveler
Wonderful post. It is always hard to say goodby to a happy Holiday and vacation. If only we can freeze it and extend a bit longer. Nowadays, I try to take short one day road trips to close to nature. Won’t be flying for awhile with COVID-19 but adventure should always be lived everyday. Take care.
Cherryl
That’s a great tip – I’m going to try and make more of an effort, there are lots of simple and adventurous things to explore without getting on a plane once we put our minds to it.
I have no idea how long it will be before I fly again but certainly not this year, that’s for sure!!
Stay safe & best wishes 🤗 🔆
Two Tickets To
Always a shame to have to wrap up a holiday, but (before Covid, at least!) there was usually the promise of planning the next trip once we got back – that’s what we would always cling on to!
It helps if the flight back is in the afternoon or evening, so that you don’t have to feel like you’re rushing out of the door and straight onto the plane. A chilled final day breakfast can be a real treat 🙂
Cherryl
I agree with you – planning the next one helps a lot😊 and flying back first thing in the morning would be brutal..I think I only ever did that once…had to be up before the sun rose, and it was stormy rainy weather that night/morning as well to make it worse 😞
Thanks for sharing on here💫
equinoxio21
vacation? vacation? Oh, that strange custom at the beginning of the 21st century, right?
Hope all is well.
Cherryl
Yep!! 🤔 I’m curiously enjoying hearing and reading about the trips people have been taking recently though…all’s well thanks, I hope the tropics is treating you well too 🏝🔆
equinoxio21
Some people have. I’m too old to risk my neck in an airplane full of Trumps and Johnsons… 😷
equinoxio21
I wish! “tropics” is on the coast. End of year in mexico city has great light and sun. Rainy season is over. But it gets chilly at night. It was 12C this morning. It can go down to 2C in December. But I’m not complaining. The light is gorgeous. 🌞
Cherryl
2C in Mexico – wow!!😯 I guess it’s nice to have a cooling off period but I never imagined this for Mexico….just googled ‘snow in Mexico’ – so it does happen occasionally!! You learn something new every day!! 🔆 🌎
equinoxio21
It’s Mexico city. Altitude is 2250 metres. Above 7,000 ft. That’s why it gets chilly in the “winter”.
Now you want heat all year round? Drive to Acapulco of fly to Yucatán. We spent last year’s Xmas and New Year in Akumal, near Playa del Carmen. Don’t quite yet know what we’ll do this year…
Cherryl
Lovely to have options and choose where to go (movement restrictions aside, if any) – Mexico seems a lot more diverse that I thought…😊
equinoxio21
It is. Very varied. From beach to snow. I managed to climb a mountain nearby called Popocatepetl (Unpronounceable) when I was still in my mountain climbing days… 5,200 metres. er… in feet…9,900. My highest (The I stopped!)
Cherryl
Wow that’s an impressive climb hats off!! 🗻
equinoxio21
Mountain climbing was nice. But there is a time for everything… 😉
NattyTravels
I’m ok when it comes to the last day of the holiday if I have a early flight. If I don’t get an early flight i hate the waiting around, the envy of the new arrivals and the fact its always better forecast when I’m leaving.
Cherryl
You’re probably right about early flights – otherwise the waiting around is hard because you can’t ‘really’ relax – clock watching and wondering if you’ve packed everything etc…then when you need something you have to go diving into your luggage again- exhausting!!😝
loveourtravelsxx
I am always mega sad on the last day a don’t want to go home but I suppose it just means your another day closer to the next trip!
Cherryl
You’re right – ‘another day closer to the next trip’ that’s a good way of looking at it 🔆😊
Tanya Kohl
I usually want a vacation to start over on the last day. Then I feel bummed it’s over when I arrive home initially. Then slowly get back into the flow of things.
Cherryl
Its surprising how quickly it wears off – as if the holiday had never even happened 😊
Hannah Gandhi
The last day is the worst…you try to cram as many activities as possible and enjoy yourself but deep down you are sad about going back to reality 😊💫
Cherryl
Yes, no matter how much you try and get the most out of it, the day seems to go way to quickly – every time 😩
Hannah Gandhi
Absolutely. I couldn’t have put it better myself! And somehow, 2020 seems to be dragging 😂😩
Cherryl
Lol yep, it really has been one long month of March…I’m looking forward to Christmas just to change the vibe a bit 😝
Hannah Gandhi
I like your thinking! Nothing like some Christmas sparkle to lighten the mood 🥰
Tony "T-Bird" Burgess
I hate the last day of a vacation because it means coming out of a bubble where you have been sort of isolated from the normal cares of daily life.
Cherryl
I’m with you there, that lovely bubble of escapism suddenly bursts 🔆✨