The Art of the Short Trip (And Why You Need More of Them)

There's a coastal town three hours from where I live. I've been there probably twenty times. I go when I'm stuck, when I'm burned out, when I need to remember who I am outside of my daily routine. One night. Maybe two. That's it. But every time, I come back different.

The Power of the Short Escape

Long vacations are great, but they're rare. We save up PTO, coordinate schedules, plan for months. Meanwhile, stress accumulates. The weekend getaway asks for so much less. Leave Friday after work. Come back Sunday night. Forty-eight hours of being somewhere else, being someone slightly different. The three-hour rule: The perfect short trip is close enough that getting there doesn't eat the trip. Somewhere you can reach in three hours or less. Far enough to feel like escape, close enough to feel easy.

The Same Place vs. New Places

There's value in both. New places offer discovery—the excitement of seeing something for the first time. But returning to the same place offers something else: continuity, deepening familiarity, a relationship with a location. My coastal town isn't exciting anymore. I know every restaurant, every walking path, every spot to watch the sunset. But that familiarity is the point. I don't go to be stimulated. I go to be settled.

The Unplanned Agenda

The best short trips have minimal structure. Maybe one thing you want to do—a restaurant, a hike, a specific experience. The rest is open. Sleep late. Read. Walk aimlessly. Let boredom happen. We're so rarely bored anymore. But boredom is where creativity and self-reflection live. A weekend with nothing planned is a weekend with space for whatever wants to emerge.

Making It Happen

The biggest obstacle to short trips is never quite getting around to booking them. Life fills the space. The recurring trip: Put it on the calendar. Once a month, once a quarter—whatever works. Treat it like an appointment. When that weekend comes, you go. Not "maybe" or "if nothing else comes up." You go. Where would you go if you left this weekend?