the washington post
.
thursday, august
1
,2019
MD
4
BY HELEN CAREFOOT
The worst part of a vacation is
usually when it ends. Catching
up at work and home can be a
jarring switch from carefree
lounging on the beach. Here’s
how to contend with the worst
parts of returning to daily life
without losing that vacation
glow.A suitcase full of dirty clothes
Unpacking after a long trip
can be difficult, but experts say
it’s best to get it out of the way as
soon as possible and take small
actions to make unpacking easi-
er. The first thing Margarita
Ibbott, an Ontario-based former
professional organizer and travel
writer who blogs at Downshift-
ingPRO, does when she gets
home is place her suitcase in her
laundry room (she never takes it
directly to her bedroom, she says,
in case of bugs or dirt) to air out
before she tosses her dirty
clothes into the wash. She tries to
do this within 24 hours of getting
home.
Before she leaves for a trip, she
does enough laundry to clear
space for her post-trip loads and
lightly tidies the house to avoid
coming home to chaos. “I’m ada-
mant about this,” she says.
(Rashelle Isip, a professional or-
ganizer and founder of the Order
Expert, also recommends a gen-
tle cleaning — enough to get rid
of clutter on tables and counter-
tops — to “give the eye a place to
rest.”)
Sara Bereika, co-founder of
Abundance Organizing, advises
her clients to clear a space for
their suitcase before they leave so
there’s no excuse to not unpack.
“I can’t tell you how many times
people have left a suitcase out
because they say they have no-
where to put it,” she says. To
make organizing after the trip a
little easier, Bereika, who often
helps clients pack before trips,
advises people to buy small zip-
per pouches and storage bags for
smaller items such as toiletries
that can live in a designated spot
in the bathroom or closet to
make unpacking easier. When
they return from a trip, all they
have to do is place the pouch
back in its designated spot before
the next trip.Returning to a hot house
During summer vacations,
Chuck Khiel, vice president of
Fred Home Improvement in
Bethesda, Md., advises leaving
your air conditioning running to
maintain airflow and decrease
moisture instead of turning it off
completely. “The idea while
you’re gone is to run it so the airin the house passes back through
the system,” Khiel says. If no one
is staying in the house, he says,
it’s not necessary to have it on full
blast. “If you keep it at 70 de-
grees, do 75 or 76 degrees,” he
says. When you return, Khiel says
it should take about 15 minutes
for a well-maintained unit to cool
a house down; a larger home
might take a little longer. Many
modern units have a helpful
“away” or “vacation” mode.
If you have someone coming
by to check on your home while
you’re away, he suggests having
the person wave their hand in
front of a vent to check for
airflow.Security lapses
It’s understandable to worry
about leaving your home or car
unattended for an extended peri-
od. Before you leave, double-
check that all windows and doors
lock properly for both your house
and car. Piles of unopened mail
and packages are a sign nobody
is home and could encourage
thieves. Enlist a neighbor or
friend to pick up mail and pack-
ages while you’re away, or have
the Postal Service hold your mail
or packages. (You can also stop
newspaper delivery while you’re
away.)
“The most common request
we get is to check on a resident’s
home while they are on vaca-
tion,” D.C. police spokeswoman
Brianna Jordan wrote in an
email. In the District, residentscan file a request for an officer to
periodically check on their home
by calling their police district
and asking to speak with a patrol
service lieutenant or captain;
check with your local depart-
ment to see whether this service
is offered where you live.An empty fridge
After a tiring day of travel, the
last thing most people want to do
is trek to the grocery store.
Before leaving, Ibbott stocks the
pantry and freezer with food that
could make an easy dinner or a
snack upon her return, such as
pasta and pasta sauce. And in the
week before her trip, she makes
sure to eat any leftovers and
perishables in her refrigerator
that could spoil.
To ease back into meal prep-
ping, Isip recommends buying
prepared ingredients and re-
structuring your grocery list
around staple items that can be
used for multiple meals, so you
have options when you return.
Buying ingredients for your fa-
vorite dishes can be a nice perk
when you return, too, she says.
She also suggests scheduling gro-
cery delivery the day after you
get back to save a trip to the
store.Going back to work
A little preparation before you
leave can smooth your transition
back to work, Isip says. If it’s
possible, reserving a day at home
to attend to tasks such as sortingmail, cleaning and laundry could
be helpful. “It took time for you
to unwind and it takes time to get
back to your day-to-day affairs,”
she says. If that’s not possible,
she recommends returning in
the middle or end of the week on
a less stressful work day.
Before leaving for vacation,
reflect on what will help you
enjoy the time off and manage
your responsibilities when you
return, says Charles Samenow,
associate professor of psychiatry
and behavioral sciences at
George Washington University’s
medical school. He advises pa-
tients to decide which tasks need
to be completed before they
leave, which can be delegated
and which can wait. Then make a
plan to get those non-negotiables
out of the way. Is it better for you
to log off entirely and face it all
upon your return, or would a
periodic check-in help you enjoy
your time more? If thinking
about the email accumulating in
your inbox will distract you from
your trip, checking in could ease
some stress. A frequent traveler
himself, Samenow “is a checker”
and sets aside about 30 minutes
early in the morning to look
through email and check in with
his team before logging off com-
pletely.
Samenow advises breaking
down your post-vacation to-do
list into manageable steps based
on urgency. “It can really jolt
your system to go from complete
relaxation and focusing on lovedones and activities to a high-
pressure deadline that you’re not
physically or mentally ready for,”
he says. You probably won’t be
your freshest after traveling, so
saving high-stress meetings or
projects for later in the week
could be helpful.
When you return to work, Isip
recommends reserving about an
hour of the morning to go
through your inbox. When doing
this, Isip recommends “looking
at the big picture” and scanning
for necessary emails that you’re
mentioned in; sort by sender or
mute long threads you’re not part
of to minimize clutter and pin-
point tasks that warrant your
attention. “You’re not going to sit
and relive the last three weeks,”
she says. In your personal inbox,
she suggests bulk-deleting pro-
motions and other emails that
won’t be useful upon, such as
missed editions of daily newslet-
ters or offers for sales that ex-
pired while you were away.Post-vacation letdown
The “post-vacation blues” isn’t
a scientific term or a recognized
condition, but Samenow says the
end of something joyous can
sometimes bring about a sense of
loss or even a low mood, irritabil-
ity or sleeplessness. It’s normal to
miss a pleasant experience, he
says, and these feelings usually
subside. To prevent them from
impairing your ability to func-
tion, manage expectations and
don’t hinge the entirety of your
happiness and well-being on the
vacation, Samenow says. “The
expectation should not be that
I’m going to come back from
vacation a changed person, ready
to hit the ground running and
tackle everything on day one,”
Samenow says. “Vacation is won-
derful, but it’s not a cure-all.”
Samenow recommends re-
suming your normal routine as
soon as possible; stick to routine
meal and bedtimes, and don’t
skip regular activities such as
workouts or appointments. “Re-
sume normal life and don’t let
the fact that you’ve been away
consume everything so you’re no
longer taking care of yourself,” he
says.
Ibbott suggests making relax-
ation part of getting back in the
swing of things. When she re-
turns, she likes to unplug from
her phone and go for a walk
around the block or accomplish a
small, manageable task — maybe
sorting through mail or remov-
ing irrelevant cards from her
wallet or purse. “Sit down for a
moment and take in what you
just did and bring yourself back
to a time that wasn’t stressful.”
[email protected]Ever had the post-vacation blues? Here’s how to avoid them.
ISTOCKArriving home after a relaxing vacation can be jarring, but it doesn’t have to be. A little preparation —
whether it’s with groceries or work — can go a long way to make the transition back smoother.Home