You have been planning, packing and waiting for your vacation. It feels like it will never get here as you count down how many more days you have left until you get to leave. When the day finally gets here, you have one more obstacle to overcome before getting to relax and enjoy your destination, the trip there. The trip there can simply be described as the long agonizing wait to get to your destination before you get to start enjoying yourself and even though you return home the same way, why does it go by faster the second time?
GETTING THERE
You get to temporarily leave behind your work and your problems and will have nothing else to do but to enjoy yourself while you are gone. Who wouldn't be excited about that? This excitement and anticipation is why the trip there is taking for what feels like forever. You are so excited and eager to get there that you cannot concentrate on anything else to keep your mind preoccupied. Because your mind is doing nothing else but waiting, you keep looking at your watch and the time is creeping by.
There are a number of things that can help the time go by a little faster and get you to your vacation, not faster in reality but faster in your mind. Bring along activities that will keep your mind off your vacation temporarily. But, don't bring things that require you to think. You mind is already on vacation and trying to do things like crossword puzzles or work that you may have brought with you, will just leave you frustrated when you can't get yourself to think straight.
Bring things that will entertain you but not require you to think, like your MP3 player so that you can listen to music. The best thing that you can bring is a portable DVD player. Watching a movie will relax and entertain you at the same time, it will also make the trip there go by in no time.
COMING HOME
You are relaxed, you enjoyed your time away and you don't want to go back to your normal life. The fact that you don't want to go back makes time go by faster, there is no longer any anticipation slowing time down. You know what to expect when you get home and what you have waiting for you does not create the same excitement that thinking about your vacation did.
Also coming home from vacation your mind is busy with the new memories that you have created. You may be going through the items that you purchased while you were there, thinking about what you did or you could just be so relaxed that you are sleeping. No matter what it may be your mind is being preoccupied with other things besides looking at your watch every 5 minutes. So without the excitement and anticipation that the trip there was filled with, the trip back undoubtedly goes by much faster.