Get Happy Planning that Next Great Vacation!

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Planning and anticipating a trip can be almost as enjoyable as going on the trip itself, and there’s research to back it up. A 2014 Cornell University study delved into how the anticipation of an experience (like a trip) can increase a person’s happiness substantially—much more so than the anticipation of buying material goods. An earlier study, published by the University of Surrey in 2002, found that people are at their happiest when they have a holiday planned.

Amit Kumar, one of the co-authors of the Cornell study, explains that the benefits are less about obsessing over the finer points of an itinerary than they are about connecting with other people. One reason? Travellers “end up talking to people more about their experiences than they talk about material purchases,” he says. “Compared to possessions, experiences make for better story material.”

The quotation above is taken from a National Geographic article linked here.

There's no great secret hidden in that article.

All travelers know it all instinctively.

As for non-travelers, they may suffer without knowing any better, if they choose.

I have been reluctant to recommend booking a cruise the last couple of months before having any realistic expectation of when this pandemic will end, because frankly I had no idea it could possibly stretch on this long.

Yes, people have been dying with a diagnosis of COVID-19, and according to the CDC, deaths in general are up signficantly this year, so don't misunderstand this to be me encouraging you to take unnecessary risks, especially if you have serious underlying health issues.

The greatest health risk rests among elderly people in poor health, and in particular those confined to nursing homes.  Statistically, age 65 is where health departments make the standard break to higher mortality rates, but perhaps like me you feel considerably younger than your chronolgical age.

I'm certainly not going to tell you to think of yourself as decrepit if you still have plenty of get-up-and-go.

In any case, cruise lines have been pressured by governments and lawyers to delay and delay and delay.  I don't see wide-spread re-opening until we have a readily available vaccine, though smaller ships, especially those that stay within regions, seem most likely to come back to full operation first.

By extention, that means river cruises should go to the top of your bucket list, because they are small ships, tend to be more specifically regional and always include a complimentary excursion in each port.

Besides, river cruises are fantastic, as long as you find room in your budget to go.  With different promotions like free or reduced air, European river cruises price very competitively with ocean cruises and land trips.

And there's generally free-flowing local wine and beer with lunch and dinner.

Past guests, including Julie and me, love river cruising.

While you can't board a river cruise ship today, here are links for the next port in our virtual Danube river cruise, this time in Regensburg, a port on many cruises where Julie and I spent a couple of nights pre-cruise.

Maria Theresa and the Habsburgs, Pt. 4: Bavaria

Regensburg, Bavaria

Grab a relaxing beverage, and dream a little about a day when you will be free to travel again.   Escape to Bavaria for a few minutes.

And then, let me know where you want to go in 2021 or 2022.  Let's get a trip on the books for you so you have a dream trip of your own to visualize now and remember should you find yourself in a nursing home in the futute.

Get happy now by planning what you will travel next year.  

Wes