I never thought I would be one to say that I spent one summer traveling way too much! But here I am, thinking back to the summer of 2019. I got a little overzealous in planning adventures for that summer and I don’t want you to make the same mistakes that I did! So, keep reading to learn why I feel like I traveled way too much over summer break years ago.
Why I Won’t Ever Spend the Whole Summer Traveling Again
Summer Flew By
I was away so much that it felt like I didn’t even have a summer break. It was like one day school dismissed for three months, and I blinked and was back at work. I mean, it usually already feels that way, but when you’re gone the majority of the summer, it’s even worse!
I Didn’t Spend Time with Family & Friends
Unless family or friends were traveling with me, I didn’t see anyone that summer. At least not in the good quality time kind of way that we all need together. My kids missed out on spending time with their friends, too.
I Got Homesick
Believe it or not, we actually really like being home. Besides being at the ballfields with our boys, you can usually find us at home when we aren’t traveling. So, when I was away the majority of the summer, I really started missing home and our typical routines.
Nothing Got Accomplished
If you’re anything like me, you might have a big to-do list for your weekends or work breaks. I always have a ton of things I want to get accomplished during the summer breaks. None of it is ever fun stuff, that list usually consists of cleaning out closets and doing yardwork. But none of that got done this particular summer and it left me feeling stressed when school started back up again in the fall.
I Got Behind on Housework
It felt like when I was home I was there to unpack, do laundry, and repack us again. Laundry was just about the only housework that was done. So, when it was all said and done and summer was over, I had a lot of catch up work to do!
I Didn’t Eat Well or Exercise
Eating on the road is often something that I really enjoy. I mean, who doesn’t like it trying new foods and not having to cook and do dishes? But, I found myself really missing a good, home cooked meal. We love to spend our time at home grilling outside and trying new recipes. I really missed that. Not to mention, I ended up not making very healthy food choices and didn’t feel very good. And, I didn’t get any exercise in. I gained at least ten extra pounds traveling this summer.
I Was Extremely Tired
I never sleep the best when traveling. I love coming home to my own bed for a good night’s rest. So, being away the majority of summer left me feeling extremely exhausted and fatigued.
I Spent Way too Much Money
I definitely spent way more money than I typically ever spend on traveling. While I am pretty good at finding budget hotels and free activities, a lot of our funds went to feeding us while we were gone. If you’re wanting to save money, then I suggest not spending the whole summer traveling!
What to Do Instead
I still believe that traveling is such a valuable pastime and I have big dreams to see and do it all! But instead of traveling all summer, I recommend taking about half the number of trips or less. What we do now is usually only one big family trip. And if we can swing it, we’ll take a trip with friends or family, and we try to get away every other year on a couple’s trip. This gives us the majority of the summer at home, but we still get our feel of adventures during our break!
We also take trips throughout the year, during our school breaks and over long weekends. We love traveling over the slow season! Traveling throughout the year prevents us from trying to pack in too much over the summer.
And even though I did have a blast while I was away, I felt like I needed a vacation from all of the vacations! If you’re curious about those six trips I took, you can find them all below! I was not blogging at this time, so I don’t have a post about every one of these trips, but am linking the ones I did write about.
Road Trip to St. Louis & Branson, MO
Girls Trip to Chicago
Road Trip Queen 