How To Have a Good Vacation
My cousin and I were doing a post-mortem of my last vacation and why it was not as much fun as the previous one. Here's what we came up with:
Too Grown-up: Preserve the child in you. Reject the convention that if your age is greater than X, you have to act all grown-up and dignified and serious. Do silly things. Play with water. Who cares how you appear? Be spontaneous, be alive, be happy!
Camera: At the risk of exaggeration, I think cameras should be destroyed. You pay more attention to preserving a moment than enjoying it first-hand in real life. I think our lives are full of distractions and activities that we forgot to enjoy ourselves without defining it as an activity ("photography"). Out with the camera.
Over-scheduling: Don't schedule too many events, like visits to relatives. Keep a lot of time free to spend with your loved ones. You're not on a diplomatic mission. Tell people you're not going to visit them, and leave a substantial amount of time free.