Weekends go by so fast, but they feel longer when you do something different, change up the scenery…and maybe even get out of town. You might think a few days isn’t long enough to take a meaningful trip, but it’s all in how you do it. Staying close is the easiest option, but it’s certainly not the only one. You can consider destinations that only require a short direct flight, or even look for weekend cruises — Royal Caribbean’s weekend trips sail from ports that are just a short plane ride away. A successful quick getaway removes some of the most stressful parts of travel (delayed departures, lost baggage, a jam-packed itinerary) and replaces them with open-ended flexibility, allowing even the shortest vacation to actually feel like one.
Don’t Travel Too Far
The last thing you need cutting into your already-short trip is travel time, whether it’s a long car ride or intercontinental flight. Stay within a fairly short flight or car ride — no more than three or four hours — so you get as much time as possible at your destination.
If flying is part of your trip, then you might even want to check the flight’s track record for being on time before booking. The Department of Transportation considers any flight not at its gate within 15 minutes of its scheduled arrival time to be late, and major airlines are required to publish each flight’s ontime percentage rate online. You can also check third-party sites like FlyOnTime, FlightStats, or FlightAware.
Don’t Overload Your Itinerary
Some trips are all about doing as much as possible, but a weekend getaway is the time to take things as they come. Pick a few things (one to three per day) you really want to do, or choose a trip that makes activities incredibly convenient. On a Royal Caribbean cruise, you can go from simulated surfing to a virtual-reality bungee trampoline to a Broadway play without leaving the ship.
You could also be wild and put nothing — nothing! — on your schedule. That’s well within your rights as a vacationer. Sleeping in, ordering room service, and lounging the day away are self-care activities we should all appreciate.
Stay Near Restaurants, and Stores
Tempting as the picture-perfect vacation rental on the edge of town might be, it’s not always the most convenient location. Unless you’re planning a rural getaway — if that’s the case, look for a hotel that offers just about everything — you’ll want to stay where the action is.
This will be easy to figure out in small cities and towns: Action tends to congregate in one part of town, and most, though not all, hotels will be near it. But bigger cities will require some research before booking a place to stay, and you’ll have several neighborhoods that look like top options. You might be tempted to book the hotel or apartment that’s the most equidistant from everything you plan to do, but don’t do that at the expense of the location itself.
The location-choice factor is another reason why cruises are so convenient. They’ll not only bring the food, shopping, entertainment — even the ocean — to you, but also take you to multiple ports, allowing you to experience several destinations in one trip. Wherever you go, you’ll want to be somewhere you can walk out the door and feel inspired and energized…so that by the time you leave, you really are.
This is paid content produced for an advertiser by New York Brand Studio. The editorial staff of New York Magazine did not play a role in its creation.