Here’s How to Avoid Ruining Your Labor Day Weekend

As Labor Day approaches, the instinct is to squeeze every last drop out of summer. See the places you didn’t get to. Try the restaurant everyone mentioned. Get that tan. Take the cute pics for the ‘gram. But the real win for LDW is actually to slow down and embrace what summer vacation is actually about—luxuriating in doing absolutely nothing. Spending a career in travel I can attest that though it’s incredibly rewarding, it can also be totally exhausting. Here are our tips on how to make the most, or least, of your last few days of summer this holiday weekend. 

Draw a bubble

Our editor-in-chief spends just as much time on the road as I do, and his sage advice is to draw a 90-mile radius around where you live, and let that be your boundary for where you can travel. The moment you start driving over 2 hours, you’ve fragmented the weekend into drives and arrivals and logistics. It’s not restrictive. It’s liberating.

Thomas J. Story

Consider a staycation

There’s nothing like seeing your own hometown with fresh eyes. Think of places you take visiting friends, museums you haven’t seen, or a restaurant you’ve always wanted to book. Take the time and money you’ll be saving not going somewhere and spend it on a true staycation for the ages. 

Pick just one scheduled activity

This weekend isn’t about “maxxing” or building an itinerary. Select one high energy investment, whether that be dining at a destination restaurant, a big hike, a wine tasting, or a spending the day at a further flung beach. That’s it. Everything else is free time, allowing for lingering breakfasts, afternoon reads, slow spritzing by the pool, and enjoying an afternoon nowhere particular. 

No Coulda Woulda Shoulda

“We should check out that town.” “We should see what else is around.” The word “should” is the voice of obligation pretending to be fun. Notice when it appears. Replace it with the actual question: “What do we actually want to do right now?” The answer is usually: nothing. And that’s the point.

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Get the timing right

AAA data is your friend. If you’re driving, leave Thursday or Friday before noon, or Saturday between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. On the way back, hit the road Monday before 10 a.m., or Tuesday after 1 p.m. It’s a bummer to have an alarm on the weekend, but it’s worth not white knuckling it through traffic.  

Unplug after dinner

Not the whole weekend, just the evenings. No documenting. No checking in. No optimizing the experience into a story. The weekend stops being something to capture and becomes something you actually inhabit. 

Take Tuesday morning off

If you can swing it, return to work on Tuesday afternoon instead of Monday. You get one more quiet morning at home, or if you decide to take it as your drive day you get to sidestep the mass exodus.