The unexpected benefits of last-minute holidays

The unexpected benefits of last-minute holidays

If you haven’t planned your holiday yet, you’re not alone. But don’t let the stress of booking cheat you out of your relaxation time.

“We plan, god laughs” - Old Yiddish Proverb.

For most of us, despite our efforts, life rarely goes to plan. That project at work overruns, your partner's job means they struggle to schedule, something happens in your family, whatever the reason, many of us end up being unwilling, or unable, to make plans.

The COVID pandemic showed us we live in the age of the “just-in-time” supply chain. We have got used to postponing our decisions until the last minute. Decisions about what we want to eat, what we want to buy, what we want to watch, and, of course, what we want to do with our time.

This planning aversion impacts our lives in various ways, particularly when it comes to taking our holidays. A whopping 65% of workers in the UK and Ireland don’t use their full holiday allowance each year, and 25% of people say they find planning holidays very stressful.

Luckily, this is exactly why last-minute holidays exist. Got holiday allowance left to use? Do not despair. Don’t overthink it. Just book it and thank us later. There are lots of online travel agents that can find you fantastic deals to sunny spots all over Europe. In researching this article, we compared the leading 10 online travel agents and we found that On the Beach last-minute holidays consistently offered the best value, on average, across their trips, so we will use them as a baseline for the packages and prices in the rest of the article.

I’m only coming out for one (hour by the pool)

Why are so many of our favourite nights out the ones we don’t plan? The ones where we just go for one drink, with a friend, and that one turns into two, and before we know it, it’s 3am and we’re doing a blindfold kebab taste test.

The reason is simple. Expectations are the enemy of good times. The more we expect life to unfold in a certain way, the more likely we are to be disappointed when it, inevitably, doesn’t. To make the most of our time and connect to our own natural joy, we need to be in the present, which means not comparing the present moment unfavourably to some other version of it we have already constructed in our heads.

This is precisely why I try not to find out too much about a film before I watch it, and it’s precisely why last-minute holidays can be so great. All that choice, all those expectations, reduced. Let’s just see what’s available and pick somewhere.

Even if you don’t believe in holidays, believe in yourself.

The internet is full of articles extolling the benefits of one holiday destination over another. Here’s why Portugal is great. Here’s fifteen reasons to spend time in Odessa, etc., etc. Of course, each of these places has its merits, but the truth is that if you’re in a good mood, have good company, and are open to it, you can have a fantastic holiday almost anywhere. Of course, we’re not recommending drinking cocktails in war zones or taking selfies while trekking through famine-stricken countries on the verge of civil war, but honestly, especially if you’re struggling to plan something, the truth is any tourist-friendly destination will offer an abundance of things to do, see, eat, drink, and experience.

The single biggest factor in how much you enjoy your holiday isn’t where you go, or how many stars your hotel has, it’s you. It’s the attitude you have, the expectations you have, and the people you take with you.

The great thing about a holiday, any holiday, is that it can very often be a chance to remember that you are the creator of your own experience. So with this in mind, if you’re someone who struggles with making decisions, just pick somewhere, anywhere, and make it work for you. The power is inside you, and has been all along.

Your boss wants you to take that holiday.

If you’re someone who tends to avoid making decisions and planning things, for example, holidays. You might rationalise it to yourself by saying things like

“Oh, I’ll just get more done at work if I don’t go”

“I’ve got too much to do here”

“I can’t afford the time”

Or even…

“I can’t afford the trip”

But, research shows that people who use all their holiday allowance are more productive than their desk-bound colleagues and, actually, more likely to be promoted. Yes, as counterintuitive as it might seem, spending more time at work might actually be bad for our productivity. Overwork increases the risk of burnout, which ultimately diminishes our ability to think creatively about the problems we face, hinders our capacity to find new solutions, and reduces our productivity.

So, go ahead, take that holiday. You don’t even have to spend a long time planning it. Just find someone to go with, click through to On the Beach last minute holidays and book somewhere. In the long run, it will pay for itself when you get that promotion and even your boss will thank you when you come back refreshed and ready to kick ass.