“I love day trips around L.A. I’m a huge Disneyland junkie – I go almost every other weekend.”
Jessica Lowndes, Actress
Advantages & Disadvantages of Weekend Trips
Weekend trips have become quite popular over the past decade.
In fact, many people love spending their weekends away from their homes in order to unplug from their stressful daily life.
While there are many advantages to weekend trips, there are also some problems related to this kind of short vacation.
All pros and cons of weekend trips are discussed in the following.
Audio Lesson
Advantages of Weekend Trips
- Weekend trips can help you to relax
- Weekend trips can be fun
- Especially exciting if you have a family
- You can tell your family and your friends about it
- Weekend trips can broaden your perspective in life
- You can expand your overall knowledge
- Can help you if you are currently bored in your life
- There are numerous options for weekend trips
- You can try new foods
- You can experience different lifestyles
- You don’t have to cook on weekend trips
- Weekend trips can be a sort of short vacation
- You can leave your responsibilities behind for a while
- Weekend trips are good to explore cities
Weekend trips can help you to relax
One key advantage of weekend trips is that they can help you to relax from your stressful daily life.
In fact, many people in our current state of the world feel stressed on a regular basis since they often have to work long hours and also have to take care of their kids at the same time.
Hence, if you are one of those stressed people who just need a break from time to time, weekend trips can be a great way to lower your stress level and therefore also to improve your overall health level.
Weekend trips can be fun
Weekend trips can simply also be quite much fun.
It can be really enjoyable to just sit in your car or to go on a plane and go on a short trip.
You will see many different things and if you switch your destinations on a regular basis, chances are that you will never get bored during your trips.
Especially exciting if you have a family
Especially in case you have children, weekend trips can be a great way to spend your time since your kids can see many different things, experience new cultures and also learn a lot during your trips.
In fact, if you have young children, they will also become quite excited when they hear about your next weekend destination and will really look forward to it.
You can tell your family and your friends about it
Many people also really like to brag about their weekend trips among their family and friends.
For many people in our nowadays society, it is also quite important to post pictures on social media and to make their friends envious.
Thus, if you are one of those people who like to brag in front of others, chances are that weekend trips are a good way to go for you.
Weekend trips can broaden your perspective in life
Since you will see so many different places during your weekend trips, chances are that this will also broaden your overall perspective on life in general.
Our experiences greatly affect who we perceive the world and it is therefore crucial that we make as many different experiences as possible in order to really understand how the world works.
You can expand your overall knowledge
Another benefit of weekend trips is that you can also greatly expand your overall knowledge.
Since you will talk to many different people during your trips, you will learn a lot and will also keep part of this knowledge when you come back home.
In turn, you can also educate your relatives and your friends about what you learned on your trips.
Can help you if you are currently bored in your life
Many people also feel quite bored in their lives.
They wake up in the morning, go to their boring job, come home late and fall asleep.
Over time, this daily routine can become quite annoying and if you just need a break from time to time, chances are that weekend trips are a great way to do so.
There are numerous options for weekend trips
Thanks to our modern technology, you also have numerous different options regarding where and how you want to spend your weekend.
You can just search on the internet and you will find numerous different weekend trip options and tour operators.
Hence, it has never been easier to go on short vacations since you can figure out everything you need to know for it online.
You can try new foods
If you choose a destination where people live quite differently compared to what you are used to at your home, chances are that you will also be able to try many new dishes and foods.
This can not only be quite tasty, it can also give you some inspiration regarding what you want to cook when you come back home.
You can experience different lifestyles
If you choose rather exotic weekend trip destinations, you can also experience many new lifestyles over time.
In fact, life back at your home is just one way among many other ways of life and many people just don’t realize that.
Consequently, weekend trips can also help you to broaden your horizon in this regard.
You don’t have to cook on weekend trips
Another upside of weekend trips is that you don’t have to cook while you are traveling.
You can just go to a restaurant and try new local food.
Moreover, you also do not have to wash the dishes, which can be quite nice from time to time.
Weekend trips can be a sort of short vacation
Weekend trips can also be considered as some sort of short vacation.
In fact, you will do many things that you are used to on a regular vacation.
The biggest difference is that your vacation will be much shorter.
However, you can still relax and unplug from your stressful daily life in order to reload your batteries for new demanding tasks yet to come in the future.
You can leave your responsibilities behind for a while
For many people, it is also quite important to leave all their tasks and responsibilities behind for a while.
In fact, many people do not really enjoy their normal lives and in order to escape from their sad lives, weekend trips are a quite good option to do so.
Weekend trips are good to explore cities
Weekend trips are also a great way to explore different cities.
Especially if the cities are not too big, one weekend will be enough to see most of the attractions and therefore, rather than spending a long vacation there, weekend trips may be a great way for this sort of destination instead.
Disadvantages of Short Weekend Trips
- Weekend trips can be costly
- Can lead to significant pollution
- Implies the emission of greenhouse gases
- Weekend trips by plane are especially harmful to our planet
- You have to pack and unpack many things
- May not be necessary
- You may have many nice spots near your home
- Your flight back home may be late
- Weekend trips can be problematic if you have pets
- Weekend trips can be stressful
- Many people just try to escape their problems
Weekend trips can be costly
Although there are many advantages to weekend trips, there are still some downsides related to this concept.
For example, one problem or weekend trips is that they can be quite costly.
Especially if you go by plane and are rather inflexible in your schedule, chances are that you will have to pay plenty of money for your plane ticket and also for your hotel.
Especially if you want to go on weekend trips on a regular basis, this can add up to large amounts of money over time.
Can lead to significant pollution
If you go on weekend trips, you will often also pollute our environment.
Sure, every one of us causes some level of pollution.
However, weekend trips are not crucial to stay alive and are rather a luxury.
Hence, if you want to reduce your ecological footprint, you may also avoid short vacations.
Implies the emission of greenhouse gases
Another disadvantage of weekend trips is that going on those trips also implies a contribution to climate change.
If you use a plane or also your car, significant amounts of greenhouse gases will be emitted into the air, which in turn speeds up global warming.
Weekend trips by plane are especially harmful to our planet
If you really want to go for weekend trips, make sure that you avoid using a plane since planes are much more harmful to our environment compared to the use of cars.
Even better would be to use your bike instead of your car to make your behavior even more environmentally-friendly.
You have to pack and unpack many things
Another downside of weekend trips is that you will have to pack and unpack many things on a regular basis.
This can eat up a lot of time and you may still forget some things which you will have to buy at your destination.
May not be necessary
Opponents of weekend trips often also claim that these sorts of trips are simply not necessary at all.
Hence, in the eyes of those people, people should rather spend their time at home or in the local neighborhood instead of going on a short vacation every weekend.
You may have many nice spots near your home
In fact, many people also live in quite nice areas. If you are one of those people who live nearby forests or the mountains, there might be no need to travel long distances for weekend trips since you will have beautiful nature almost next to your home.
Your flight back home may be late
You may also experience serious problems with your return flight.
If your plane is late or cannot fly at all that day, chances are that you will have to stay at your short vacation destination for longer than you expected.
In turn, you may miss important meetings at work the next day and chances are that your boss will not be happy with you at all due to that.
Weekend trips can be problematic if you have pets
Also in case you have pets, weekend trips may be rather problematic since you will often not be able to take your pets with you.
In such a case, you will have to get a pet sitter and this might not be possible in a spontaneous manner.
Moreover, dog sitters cost money and your weekend trip may become even more expensive due to this.
Weekend trips can be stressful
Although many people go on weekend trips with the goal to reduce their stress level, they may actually come home even more stressed than they were before the weekend trip.
This is due to the fact that there will only be quite limited time for weekend trips and many people want to see too many things.
In turn, they will stress themselves quite a lot and the trip will not be relaxing at all.
Many people just try to escape their problems
Weekend trips are also a measure for many people to escape their personal problems.
While this can work in the short run, problems can only be solved if people work on it.
Hence, if you use short trips to escape your problems, you may want to use this time to figure out the real problem instead of going on weekend trips.
Top 10 Weekend Trip Pros & Cons – Summary List
| Weekend Trip Pros | Weekend Trip Cons |
|---|---|
| Weekend trips can be relaxing | Weekend trips can be costly |
| Can be fun with your kids | Weekend trips can contribute to global warming |
| Weekend trips can be fun | Can cause serious pollution |
| You can unplug from your daily life | Weekend trips can cause time pressure |
| Can help you to experience new cultures | You have to pack and unpack things |
| You can try new foods | You may get home too late |
| Can help you experience new lifestyles | You may miss important meetings |
| You can leave your boring life behind | May be problematic if you have pets |
| Weekend trips can broaden your horizon | Weekend trips can even increase stress levels |
| Perfect to explore new cities | Some people just try to escape their problems |
Should You Go On Weekend Trips?
We can conclude from the previous discussion that there are many advantages and disadvantages to weekend trips.
In the end, you have to decide for yourself regarding whether this sort of traveling is in line with your preferences or not.
However, if you decide for going on weekend trips, at least make sure that you make your travels as eco-friendly as possible.
Sources
https://www.dangerous-business.com/planning-tips-long-weekend-trip/
https://www.off-the-path.com/en/weekend-trip/
https://ordinarytraveler.com/weekend-getaway-planning-tips
About the author
My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people of all ages about our environmental problems and how everyone can make a contribution to mitigate these issues.
As I went to university and got my Master’s degree in Economics, I did plenty of research in the field of Development Economics.
After finishing university, I traveled around the world. From this time on, I wanted to make a contribution to ensure a livable future for the next generations in every part of our beautiful planet.
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