Bringing the Holiday Home
Blog post
8/16/20267 min read
Bringing the Holiday Home
I love going on holiday: switching off, the detachment from one’s daily routine, the discovery of new things, the time to try something different. But I also love coming home. Recharged after the rest and recuperation, and even a little bit rewired. I still marvel at how a holiday can sort you out and bring back vigour into your life and a spring in your step.
A key element in making our homecoming a good experience is giving ourselves time after we return before getting back into the work routine — easing ourselves back in, so to speak. For us, that means planning a return date that allows for a day or two at home to unpack the holiday. I know it’s not always possible: if you’re trying to achieve a reasonably priced holiday for a family, sometimes that does mean awkwardly timed flights that get you home immediately before you have to go back to work. But when we’ve not had to do that, we’ve actively sought dates that allow us some time at home afterwards, sometimes even cutting the holiday short by a day!
Unpacking the holiday
I really enjoy the homecoming routine. Saying hello to your home again. Your own bed! Taking time to unpack and putting everything away calmly gives you the opportunity to reflect on your time: the highs that will become cemented memories, the lows which we hopefully learn from. I like putting all my holiday clothes through the wash and sorting through and putting away all the toiletries. Maybe there are a few grains of sand in the grooves of your wash bag, or moisturiser that needs wiping away, while you put it all back in its place.
A self-care moment
A self-care morning or evening has become important to me after a holiday. Despite feeling good, thanks to the extra rest, your skin and hair might have suffered during the holiday: extreme sun exposure and daily salty or chlorinated dips will take their toll. I like a relaxing soak, a hydrating face mask and to give my hair a moisturising treatment when I come back. It can be nice to refresh your pedicure and manicure too, either at home or by booking into a salon. After even a few beach days my soles have hardened and heels cracked. I don’t see this as pampering, but as caring for the (ageing!) body that carries me every day. Not vanity, but a necessity. A Dead Sea salt bath is very soothing to sun-soaked skin and helps calm the insect bites that I’m prone to on holiday; and I know that dealing with some dry skin patches early on will prevent eczema breakouts that can take months to heal if left unattended. If you’ve been hiking or trying out some water sports, a soothing massage when you get home is perfectly reasonable, not an indulgence.
Back to the garden
Another homecoming activity for me is to give the garden some attention. Even if we have people minding it and watering while we’re away, I always want to get in there and spend a morning giving it some TLC!
This year, because of the hosepipe ban, we didn’t have anyone in to water. I set up various self-watering hacks — pots standing in containers of water, upended bottles slowly dripping into pots, string wicks soaking up water, that kind of thing — and left it to chance.
It’s looking pretty parched after the temperatures we’ve had, but it’s okay. The roses need a good deadhead, the wisteria needs more long whippy shoots cut back, and the dried-out plants need cutting down. I always enjoy getting back to my garden.
The financial reckoning
A less touchy-feely homecoming routine, but one I undertake now, is doing the financial reckoning. I was never one for accurate holiday budgeting in the past, but I’ve been doing it properly for a few years now: sitting down beforehand and forecasting all the possible expenses to be incurred, guesstimating eating out, souvenir shopping, etc. A bit like work, I know!
I felt a lot of resistance around this. I believed it would be restrictive, but I guess really I didn’t want to face what things cost: it’s a holiday, and we deserve it!!! But ultimately, doing this has a calming effect. It doesn’t make any of it cost less, but pricing up a week or two away, or a long weekend, gives me a feeling of being in control, and that vague anxiety around spending dissipates.
I’ve learned that I’m pretty good at forecasting, as often the final reckoning is pretty much on the money. I enjoy totting up the scores on the doors these days. And it provides a useful blueprint for future trips.
Back to the new routine!
Whilst I love a break from routines, I appreciate getting back to them as well. And holidays provide inspiration for tweaking them because of something you did differently whilst on holiday. We’re leading our most joyful, expansive lives on holiday: enjoying good food, leaning unapologetically into as much rest as we need, taking in a lot more culture if that’s on the cards, or maybe trying out new sports and physical activities. So it’s a good time to notice what makes us feel great. I like to see how I can do more of it in my day-to-day life, reminding me of my time away and stretching out that holiday vibe as much as I can.
My main driver for a good holiday is a slow morning. Waking up without an alarm, taking time in the morning, maybe to meditate, maybe to do some yoga, lingering over my morning coffee with my journal before pottering around pulling together a relaxed breakfast. My current go-to breakfast started out as a holiday breakfast: enjoying luscious peaches and melons on Crete, with some creamy yoghurt and Cretan honey. I change the fruit according to the English seasons now: rhubarb in the spring; berries, peaches and melons in the summer; figs in late summer; plums, pears and apples in the autumn and into winter; maybe bottled, puréed or frozen berries after that. With an addition of oats in the colder months and porridge in the depths of winter. But it started out as Cretan yoghurt and peaches.
Exercising outside
I remember the first time I took a yoga mat on holiday, to the Alps in the summer, staying in a ski resort in a little wooden cabin, and trying out some sun salutations with a view of Mont Blanc. A wonderful start to my day, or relaxation after a walk in the mountains. I think nothing now of flinging the yoga mat into the garden first thing for a stretch or strength workout. I got told off this time as I insisted on taking my dumbbells to Normandy, convinced I would do my strength routine a few times. I didn’t! And my husband was vindicated, but he did find the dumbbells useful for a little fixing project during our stay!
Eating outside
Eating outside is a no-brainer on holiday. I would dearly love a view one day to rival some of the beautiful settings we have breakfasted and dined in front of. But for now, soaking up every bit of summer sunshine while I can at home is very much part of my daily routine.
Shopping for fresh food
Shopping for fresh food is part of my weekly routine, making the most of our local farmers’ market. But once it was a holiday treat. I’m proud to say I think our local one rivals many a French market that I’ve been to and easily provides the joy of picking up the best, the freshest, the most seasonal produce to cook with.
Incorporating time by water
I always feel refreshed and recharged spending time by water, whether that’s being by the seaside or trying out white-water rafting on a river, windsurfing or boating on a lake. An outdoor swimming pool cuts it too, as long as it’s not too crowded.
Incorporating downtime and naps
This is the hardest one for me, as I’ve never been one to nap. I’ve always seen it as a waste of time. Holidays help you get out of the productivity mindset that a lot of us have. A lie-down after a lunch with wine, in a cool room, curtains drawn against the heat of the day; drifting off on the beach to the sound of the waves and French chatter; or in front of a crackling fire if you’re in Ireland, warming up after a swim in the Atlantic — even in August.
Keeping up the reading time
Untrammelled reading time is a holiday joy for me. Reading a book in a day or two. Weaving more reading time into everyday life always makes an ordinary weekend seem like a bit of a holiday. (Except before one of the major book fairs — London, Frankfurt — when it feels like cramming for an exam!)
Bringing the food home
A key way to prolong my holiday vibe is to incorporate the cuisine of my holiday into my everyday life. Leaning into the melon-jambon, olives, peppers and tomatoes of Provence, or the Greek salad, feta and watermelon of Greece, makes perfect sense in August — all beautifully seasonal produce, light and summery.
I’ve just come back from Normandy, and it’s a less obviously summery cuisine, but with apple season about to burst forth, I can see myself serving salads in a cider-vinegar vinaigrette and meat and fish in cider and cream sauces as autumn beckons. Maybe I’ll rustle up a Normandy tart or two!
Pictures
This used to be a coming-back-off-holiday ritual for people: taking the film to be developed. It doesn’t happen any more. I was chatting to someone at a photography exhibition recently who lamented the demise of the photo album, with everything now captured on our phones. Me too. I know we stick them on Instagram, but it is lovely to go over them once home. I’m planning to see if any are worth blowing up and framing. There is the view from this Normandy house out over fields and meadows to the south that I think will be a contender. I will give it a try, as a regular reminder of the lovely time here.
Music
Do you play any particular tracks on holiday? I often curate a list to fit the vibe of the holiday. This holiday I’ve woken up to the harmonies of Ravel and Debussy whilst enjoying the cool of the mornings, and danced to French ’60s pop every evening with my apéritif! I’ll carry on for a bit — or bring it out whenever I want a hit of Normandy in the future.
Scents
And finally, scents are the classic memory unlocker! I used to buy body lotion and shower gel in a particular fragrance and carry on using it after the holiday to prolong the memory. I took The Body Shop’s Olive range on holiday to the Languedoc over twenty years ago and can still recall relaxing in a cool bath in a beautiful bathroom, with muslin curtains fluttering in the breeze and the golden early-evening sunshine streaming in. (Before an apéro of Muscat de Rivesaltes and grattons de canard...) Or another holiday to Normandy and Brittany with The Body Shop’s Oceanus products.
It’s harder to do when flying somewhere, as you don’t want to be weighed down with heavy bottles. Latterly, I buy local products in situ as part of the holiday shopping and carry on using them at home. Less effective, perhaps, but it works for a while.
Whether you are still on holiday, or back from it, I wish you bonne continuation either way — savouring it and stretching it out a little further.
