I truly don’t understand why vacations cause people so much anxiety.

You’d think planning a break from real life would be the easy part. And yet, for many people, vacation planning becomes a full-blown stress spiral: endless lists, frantic Google Maps pins, arguments about itineraries, and the quiet terror of “doing it wrong.”

Here’s my radical philosophy:
Find a great five-star hotel. Park your ass. Everything will be fine.

Somewhere along the way, vacations stopped being about rest and started being treated like achievements. People want to optimize their trips. Maximize destinations. Minimize downtime. Squeeze every ounce of value out of every hour as if leisure were a competitive sport.

But travel isn’t a performance review.

The most relaxed, memorable trips I’ve ever taken had very little to do with how many cities we saw and everything to do with how we felt while we were there. When the hotel is beautiful, the service is intuitive, and the setting does some of the emotional labor for you, the days take care of themselves.

You don’t need twelve reservations and a laminated itinerary. You need:

• A comfortable room
• Good food
• A spa
• Somewhere nice to walk
• And permission to do absolutely nothing

That’s it. That’s the list.

When people get stressed about vacations, it’s usually because they’re trying to solve too much at once. They’re afraid of missing out. Afraid of regret. Afraid that if they don’t see everything, the trip somehow won’t count. So instead of resting, they manage. Instead of enjoying, they perform.

Meanwhile, our biggest vacation stress is making sure our spa treatments end on time so we don’t miss the free cake at the Adler at 4 p.m.
That’s the kind of problem I’m willing to have.

Luxury, to me, isn’t excess. It’s simplicity. It’s letting someone else worry about the details so you can remember how to slow down. It’s choosing one beautiful place and allowing yourself to actually be there.

So if you’re planning a trip and feel your blood pressure rising, here’s my unsolicited advice:
Pick one wonderful destination. Book a hotel that knows what it’s doing. Unpack once. Sit down. Breathe.

The world will still be there when you get back.
The cake, however, will not.