It feels like we just got here.
How often have we all said that when a vacation is coming to an end? We blinked and it’s the last day. And then when we get home: It’s like we never left.
Well, it doesn’t have to be that way, according to researchers who have studied the way people can make vacations feel both longer and fuller.
It starts with the anticipation. Even before a vacation begins, our minds start playing tricks on us. A group of researchers found that when people focus on how long a trip will last (as people often do), they come to feel as though the start and end are basically simultaneous.
“This belief that positive events are going to go quickly and feel short can be exacerbated when we think about the ending,” says Gabriela Tonietto, assistant professor of marketing at Rutgers Business School and a co-author of the study.
