Back to work and feeling blue? Don’t be down in the dumps, check out these handy tips for beating the post-vacation blues and re-find your happy place!

Staring out of a rainy office window daydreaming of sandy beaches and far-off adventures is not fun. I’ve been there.

Coming back from vacation can be tough.

Your everyday life hits you in the face with a sharp slap and your next vacation seems a lifetime away.

But don’t be glum! Check out these 10 tips for beating the post-vacation blues and re-find your happy place!

1. Break  up Your Routine

Take a new route to work, go somewhere new for lunch, anything to break out of the monotony that’s making you miserable.

2. Do a Day Trip

Taking a road trip to someplace new can give you that same feeling of adventure and discovery as flying to the other side of the world. Brilliant!

3. Take up a New Hobby

Whether it’s language classes, painting or pottery, taking up a new hobby will inject something fresh and new into your life and distract you from your boredom.

4. Frame Your Photos

Don’t focus on how sad you are to be home, rejoice in the good times. Frame your travel photos, reminisce about your trip and take a mental trip back to vacation happiness.

5. Treat Yourself

A massage, new shoes, a big steak… Treat yourself to something nice, a sure-fire way to make you feel good.

6. Make a Grateful List

Remind yourself of all the great things in your life. Actually make a list -  it’ll leave you feeling incredibly grateful and perhaps even a little spoilt.

7. Book Another Trip

Sure you probably spent a bomb on the last vacation but have a look around for some cheap flights and book a little trip. It’ll give you a fixed date of something exciting to look forward to.

8. Write a Travel Article

Channel your love of traveling into something positive and write up an article about your trip. You might even get published, now that WOULD be cool!

9. Throw a Party

Organizing a fun party for all your friends and family will surround you with all your favorite people and remind you how great it is to be home.

10. Make a Travel Wish List

Write down all the places in the world that you’re burning to get to. Use the Web for inspiration if you need it.

Focusing your travel objectives might lead to unexpected opportunities to fulfill your dreams, you just never know!

Suffering from the post-vacation blues right now? Got more tips for bouncing back? Post up your comments below, we want to hear from you!

Coming soon, 10 sure-fire ways to get an upgrade. Fancy flying first class? Sign up for free updates and stay in the know!

Hitting the road this Labor Day? Steer clear of road-trip hell by checking out these 20 common holiday driving blunders and get it right this year!

It all sounds very nice in theory doesn’t it? Hop into the car, speed off onto the open road with the wind in your hair for a fun-filled Labor Day road trip.

Unfortunately it doesn’t always work out like this, I’ve certainly had some road trip shockers that’s for sure.

But this is the year to turn it all around! Check out these 20 sure-fire ways to screw up your Labor Day road trip and get it right this time!

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1. Neglect Your Vehicle

It seems pretty obvious that you should give your car a maintenance check before you set off on a long road trip but you’d be amazed how many people don’t think of this.

Oil, water, wipers, headlamps, brakes – check it all out!

2. Drive Dirty

It’s not the nicest experience being stuck in a filthy car for 7 hours so why not give it a clean – inside and out? If not now, when?!

3. Be Spontaneous

Road trips and spontaneity are not the most comfortable of bedfellows.

Plan, plan and plan some more.

Get tips and recommendations from friends and use an road trip planner online to work out ideal destinations, distances and driving times.

4. Believe “Breakdowns Don’t Happen to Me”

Let’s hope you don’t break down but you just might.

Pay up for roadside rescue, if the unspeakable happens, you’ll be overjoyed you did.

5. Leave Your Papers at Home

License, registration, insurance – put the documents in your glove box. Now!

6. Jump in the Car with Anyone

You receive a last-minute offer to bunk in on someone else’s road trip, great!

But you need to STOP and THINK: “will I enjoy being stuck in a tin can with these people for many, many hours”?

If the answer’s no then DON”T GO!

7. Join the “Follow the Signs” School of Thought

Believe it or not the road people didn’t have you in mind when they made their signs.

Get a map.

Plan your route.

Sure, you can use GPS but take the map too. Just in case.

8. Starve Your Family/Friends

Food and drink is important. Gas station food sucks. Bring your own.

9. Put Style over Comfort

It’s not a fashion parade. You’re sitting in a car. For hours. Dress comfortably. Slip-off shoes are great for all those “in the car, out the car” stop-offs.

10. Forget that Children Get Bored

Don’t expect the kids to sit like angels in the back for hours on end. It’s just not going to happen.

Games, puzzles, crosswords, car games. Have some ammunition in your armory – you’ll need it.

11. Sentence Your Passengers to Silence

Singing along to your all-time favorite songs is one the very best things about road trips.

Sort out the tunes before you go and get ready to belt it out!

12. Be the Hare not the Tortoise

Your road trip is meant to be fun and enjoyable. And, at the risk of sounding like your mother, it’s a marathon not a sprint!

You’ll lose time along the way (possibly even hours) but don’t sweat it. It’s not worth it.

Break up with your trip with stop-offs every hour and half.

Your passengers will love you for it.

13. Assign Rigid Roles

The driver will get bored of driving and the navigator will get bored of navigating.

So swop.

Much more fun for everyone.

14. Become a Road Trip Dictator

Consult your fellow road trippers about diversions and activities otherwise your bossiness will spoil everyone’s fun.

Get the kids involved in tracking your route. It will keep them occupied. Maybe.

15. Be Slap-dash with Gas

Don’t wait until you’re running on empty until you think about filling up. You can never be sure when the next gas station will appear.

Cool widgets like this Gas Calculator helps you work out exactly how far your fuel will take you. So there’s no excuse!

16. Be Stingy with Bathroom Breaks

If someone really wants to go then let them.

Refer to Hare and the Tortoise and Road Trip Dictator points above!

17. Work Yourself up into a “Lost Frenzy”

Yes getting lost can be stressful and sometimes scary but panicking/shouting/blaming your significant other isn’t going to help the situation.

Breathe, relax, get some perspective and I guarantee you’ll find your way. Eventually.

18. Be a Traffic Fool

Tailback misery, it’s not fun. Set off early, come back late. Even better, take an extra day either side of the holiday weekend.

19. Get Arrested

A sure-fire way to screw up your trip if ever there was one.

Don’t speed, belt up and don’t get arrested.

20. Take the Whole Thing too Seriously

Let me remind you again that this whole thing is meant to be FUN. If you happen to pass a cool place to stop off, take a detour and if it works out that way (shock, horror) change your route.

What’s the worst that could happen?

Got more road trip tips or Labor Day disaster stories?? Post up your comments below, we want to hear from you!

Coming soon… How to Beat the Post-Vacation Blues. Don’t miss out, sign up for free blog updates below.

Don’t let high gas prices confine you to a stayvacation this 4th of July. Check out these great road trip ideas, all using less than one tank of gas!

I love a good road trip.

Sadly, the AAA is predicting a 2.6 percent decline in auto travel from last year, owing to the steep rise in fuel costs.

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But we can’t have this!

Wherever you are in the US, dust off your road map and check out these fantastic 4th of July road trips –  we guarantee you won’t use more than one tank of gas!*

All road trip destinations taken from Tripbase’s cool Road Trip Planner – give it a try for inspiring road trip ideas perfect for YOU!

New York City, New York

1. Nantucket, 4 hours
2. Vineyard Haven, 4 hours
3. Portsmouth, 5 hours

Los Angeles, California

4. La Jolla, 2 hours
5. Carlsbad, 2 hours
6. Rosarito, 3 hours

Chicago, Illinois

7. Madison, 2 hours
8. Sheboygan, 3 hours
9. Fond du Lac, 3 hours

Houston, Texas

10. New Braunfels, 3 hours
11. San Antonio, 4 hours
12. Fort Worth, 5 hours

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

13. Alexandria, 3 hours
14. Virginia Beach, 5 hours
15. Charlottesville, 5 hours

San Francisco, California

16. Monterey, 1 hour
17. Carmel, 2 hours
18. South Lake Tahoe, 3 hours

Boston, Massachusetts

19. Newport, 1 hour
20. Portland, 2 hours
21. Burlington, 4 hours

Jacksonville, Florida

22. Saint Augustine, 1 hour
23. Hilton Head Island, 3 hours
24. Clearwater, 4 hours

Got more great ideas for awesome US road-trips? Post up your comments below – we want to hear from you!

Coming up… the world’s most stunning lake vacations. Don’t miss out! Sign up for free blog updates via email or RSS below.

*Some of the destinations may not be accessible by car, and may require ferry or additional transportation.

Looking for a road trip planner or ideas for your driving trip? By popular demand, Tripbase is pleased to announce the arrival of our brand new road trip planner that will help you find the best driving trips for your next vacation.
You can set your parameters either by driving mileage (how many miles you want to go) or by time in hours and then get driving trip ideas based on the things you like, where you want to go and your budget.

So why take a road trip?
We’ll give you 3 good reasons.

1. Road trips are better for the environment than flying

Road trip vacation planning, thanks to greater environmental awareness, is becoming more and more popular. People are choosing to go on greener vacations by staying closer to home and taking road trips instead of flying. According to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, even a road trip from coast to coast (around 3,000 miles) releases fewer greenhouse gases than flying. This is because the greenhouse gases released by airplanes do more damage than those released by vehicles lower to the ground and contain additional harmful gases, like methane and nitrous oxide.

Let’s take a look at one example. If a family of four drove from Atlanta to Los Angeles, the emissions would be about 300 grams per mile, around 900 kilograms for the round-trip road trip.
This translates into about 225 kg of carbon emissions per person. For a long-haul flight, the emissions released are calculated at about 180 grams per mile per passenger.

So if you took a round-trip flight across the country (about 2,700 miles), your emissions would be close to one ton per person! That’s almost four times as much as driving provided you are sharing the car. Shorter flights are even less efficient so you release even more carbon emissions on flights with lower mileage. Planning to visit family in Ohio? Don’t pollute the environment with flights to Cleveland, take a road trip!

2. Road trips are cheaper than flying

Beyond being better for the environment, road trips are often cheaper than flying — especially
if you’re in a group. Even with gas at all-time highs, road trips for more than one person are
still more economical than flying because higher fuel costs have also affected airline ticket prices.

For a round-trip road trip across the country, you will spend about $850 (gas is calculated at $4 a gallon).
Now, if it’s just one person, it’s cheaper to fly since you can buy round-trip airline tickets for
about $450. But if at least two people are on the road trip, it’s cheaper to drive. If you’re driving somewhere within a short flight from home, it’s almost always cheaper to drive.
For families and those traveling in groups, the savings are even greater.

3. Road Trips and driving trips are fun

This may be the best reason of all. If you’ve never been on a road trip or a driving trip, you’ve missed out. All those hours in the car along the open road give you a chance to stop in stunning national parks and cool cities across the country. Or, if you’re going somewhere close to home, it’s a chance to discover a new place in a completely different way than just flying in and out. Just imagine all the streets and highways waiting to be discovered!

A road trip is also a great way to spend quality time with the whole family or go on a romantic adventure with your partner. And with so many different driving trip possibilities, the options are practically endless. As an added bonus, you won’t have to wait in long lines at the airport, deal with extra charges for every ounce of luggage or get frustrated by hours going through security.

So for your next vacation, why not consider taking your time and driving to your destination?
Visit Tripbase’s road trip planner to find driving trip ideas that cater to you.

In our upcoming blogs, we’re going to be writing about specific driving trip ideas — including
the best California road trips and cross country road trips as well as great motorcycle and rv driving trips.

To read a detailed scientific study commissioned by the climate care organization that
provides a great explanation about how aviation greenhouse gas emissions are calculated visit:

http://www.climatecare.org/media/documents/pdf/Aviation_Emissions_&_Offsets.pdf