by Kat Wohlford

Today is National Plan for Vacation Day, I am joining the initiative to encourage Americans to still plan- or even book-future vacations, or to simply keep the dream of travel alive. Sadly, this initiative is taking place amid challenging times, but we can still plan for much happier days ahead. The pandemic continues to smash hopes on people’s ability to travel comfortably about, this year’s National Plan for Vacation Day is going to take on a special meaning for so many of us in the hospitality and travel industry. In some shape or another we all witnessed the very real hardships that many have endured due to this ongoing pandemic, 2021 National Plan for Vacation Day is the perfect opportunity to look ahead into future travel. If you’re not comfortable getting on a plane just yet, you don’t have to. Consider a road trip or a staycation just for you. Plan on some sort of travel again.

American workers left a record number of vacation days on the table in 2018—768 million days, up 9% from 2017—according to research from the U.S. Travel Association, Oxford Economics and Ipsos.

Project Time Off, a national awareness campaign, aims to change that statistic. They, along with hundreds of organizations participate each year by encouraging a healthy attitude around taking time off from work for vacation time—including setting time aside in the beginning of the year to plan for vacation. They’re continuing this movement to encourage Americans to plan their time off in advance.

Vacation days are yours to use, and missing out on vacation time simply because of poor planning can contribute to unintentional burnout. I know that burnout all too well. Whether you have your own business or work for someone else, taking time to properly plan out your vacation time can alleviate so much worry about taking time off from work. And an important step to ensure you maximize your vacation time is to actually carve out time to mindfully plan a vacation by using a travel advisor.

Even psychologists across the board say that the motion/thought of planning a vacation, puts you in the same mind set as going on one. Planning gets you ever closer to your vacation. Psychologists also agree that time-off can help strengthen personal relationships, broaden horizons and inspire creative thinking, improve professional performance, and promote better health.

The travel industry continues to come together, working with health and medical experts, to reach a collective adaptive agreement on a core set of health and safety guidance that will continually evolve in their businesses. Much like science, changes are happening everyday and the travel industry is continuing its ongoing efforts to adapt to new findings on keeping everyone safe.

Not sure where to start with planning that vacation? That’s okay, I am a TRAVEL ADVISOR. I have so many options to choose from. JUST ASK!!! We cost you nothing extra, just provide us all the info from the start and we do the work for you. Planning in advance with a travel advisor allows you to really think about the locations, activities, and amenities that they want and secure their reservations before providers are sold out. In short, people who use travel advisors take more of their total vacation time, take longer vacations, and are happier. Travel advisors travel the world, looking at everything, from the size of the rooms in hotels and cruise ships to the dining options on-site and nearby. If they haven’t personally been where you want to go, they know someone who has. They can answer your questions quickly and correctly. Let us do the work and plan your vacation on our time. Like any professional advisors out there, we really do know more than you do.  You can cut your own hair and perk your own coffee, but a professional can do it better. You can plan your own vacation, too. Good luck with that.

The one take away from this post, when you are ready to travel again, travel advisors will be here. If you are not comfortable just yet to board a plane, there are options waiting for you. It is up to you to work on a plan on future travel. After the turbulent year of 2020, we all deserve a little more than visiting the living room after working remotely all day from the kitchen table. As an addition to your resolution this year, I kindly ask that you include planning on traveling again. Don’t be afraid to use your PTO time for you. Let’s make plans to travel again.