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Abstract

short trip, you don’t have to experience any of these things. You get to be grateful to explore someplace new for a few days and then you get to head back home.</p><p id="bc91">Trips of any length can be tiring, mainly due to the travel there and back. But short trips aren’t as exhausting as long trips.</p><h2 id="0041">Cheaper</h2><p id="97f0">When you are away from home for a long time, it comes with a lot of expenses. You need to pay for hotels or Airbnbs every night. You will probably eat most of your meals in restaurants, which becomes quite expensive. You pay for museums and other activities and experiences. It adds up really fast, even if you travel on a budget.</p><p id="f475">When taking a shorter trip, you reduce your expenses.</p><h2 id="550c">More targeted</h2><p id="f7a0">When I travelled to Italy, since we were spending a long time there, I felt compelled to see as much as possible. Instead of selecting the things I truly wanted to see, I made a list of everything there was to see and we went down that list. Not only was it exhausting but we didn’t really appreciate the things we were seeing. It was mostly a matter of checking them off the list, of saying that we had seen them.</p><p id="7da3">In contrast, when I travelled to Warsaw recently, I only had two days in the city. Therefore, I was very selective in what we saw and did. We visited one museum and then spent the rest of our time walking around different parts of the city and eating great food. It was a much more enjoyable experience.</p><p id="c878">When you only have a short time to explore an area, you pick and choose what you want to see carefully.</p>

Options

<h2 id="a2f3">More than enough</h2><p id="1fac">When planning a short trip, I sometimes ask myself if it’s really worth travelling for such a short amount of time on location. However, I’ve found that, for most places I visited, two or three days is more than enough. You won’t get to see everything there is to see but, as stated above, that’s a good thing.</p><p id="7fa0">In two or three days, you are able to get a sense of the place and see the things you are drawn to. And then you get to go home and resume your life.</p><h2 id="ee9d">Easier to get back home</h2><p id="26a6">Coming home after being away for over a week is difficult. Your plants might be dead. There is a layer of dust on everything. Mail and emails have accumulated. You feel like your brain has forgotten how to not be on holiday.</p><p id="6d0f">Coming home from a short trip is much easier. You might have a few more emails to deal with than usual but nothing too bad. And you can get right back to work with no issues.</p><p id="65db">I believe that short trips have a lot of value. They are a great place to see the world without too many constraints.</p><p id="cea7">I do think that some trips need to take longer. If you have the opportunity to settle in a place for a few weeks/months, it will be an experience like no other. If you are taking a beach holiday, simply relaxing on warm sand, you might wish it lasted forever.</p><p id="cd17">However, if the objective of your trip is to experience something new, see a part of the world you don’t know, eat local food and get a sense of the vibe of a different city, all you really need is a few days.</p></article></body>

The Advantages of Short Trips

Less planning, less fatigue, more enjoyment

The author and her husband at the University of Oxford Botanical Gardens during a weekend trip (photo by author)

It sometimes feels like travel doesn’t “count” unless you’re gone for at least a week, if not several.

However, I’ve recently been experimenting with both long and short trips. And I’ve found that short trips can be vastly superior to longer trips.

Less planning

A short trip is easier to plan than a longer trip. You mostly need to figure out a way to get to and from your destination and a place to stay for the few nights you’ll be there. You don’t need to plan for transportation between different locations. You don’t need to plan a million activities. You only need to research a few restaurants and a few places to see.

You also do not need to take too much time off work or find a place to board your pets for a long period of time.

Less fatigue

Long trips can be exhausting. You feel compelled to spend every day exploring, walking for hours. You don’t sleep as well as in your own bed. You are far away from your stuff, your routines, etc. After a while, you start to miss home. Eating at restaurants stops being exciting. You resent having to go see and experience really cool things. You are tired and your legs hurt.

When taking a short trip, you don’t have to experience any of these things. You get to be grateful to explore someplace new for a few days and then you get to head back home.

Trips of any length can be tiring, mainly due to the travel there and back. But short trips aren’t as exhausting as long trips.

Cheaper

When you are away from home for a long time, it comes with a lot of expenses. You need to pay for hotels or Airbnbs every night. You will probably eat most of your meals in restaurants, which becomes quite expensive. You pay for museums and other activities and experiences. It adds up really fast, even if you travel on a budget.

When taking a shorter trip, you reduce your expenses.

More targeted

When I travelled to Italy, since we were spending a long time there, I felt compelled to see as much as possible. Instead of selecting the things I truly wanted to see, I made a list of everything there was to see and we went down that list. Not only was it exhausting but we didn’t really appreciate the things we were seeing. It was mostly a matter of checking them off the list, of saying that we had seen them.

In contrast, when I travelled to Warsaw recently, I only had two days in the city. Therefore, I was very selective in what we saw and did. We visited one museum and then spent the rest of our time walking around different parts of the city and eating great food. It was a much more enjoyable experience.

When you only have a short time to explore an area, you pick and choose what you want to see carefully.

More than enough

When planning a short trip, I sometimes ask myself if it’s really worth travelling for such a short amount of time on location. However, I’ve found that, for most places I visited, two or three days is more than enough. You won’t get to see everything there is to see but, as stated above, that’s a good thing.

In two or three days, you are able to get a sense of the place and see the things you are drawn to. And then you get to go home and resume your life.

Easier to get back home

Coming home after being away for over a week is difficult. Your plants might be dead. There is a layer of dust on everything. Mail and emails have accumulated. You feel like your brain has forgotten how to not be on holiday.

Coming home from a short trip is much easier. You might have a few more emails to deal with than usual but nothing too bad. And you can get right back to work with no issues.

I believe that short trips have a lot of value. They are a great place to see the world without too many constraints.

I do think that some trips need to take longer. If you have the opportunity to settle in a place for a few weeks/months, it will be an experience like no other. If you are taking a beach holiday, simply relaxing on warm sand, you might wish it lasted forever.

However, if the objective of your trip is to experience something new, see a part of the world you don’t know, eat local food and get a sense of the vibe of a different city, all you really need is a few days.