We’re coming up on the holiday season and I’m going to be doing some traveling. There are always so many things I think about when traveling for the holidays – what time of day am I going to travel, what am I going to wear on the airplane and will that work at my destination, what clothes am I going to pack, what presents am I going to pack, and what presents am I going to either ship or just have delivered at my destination, to name a few. But there is always one pivotal question – how many books am I going to bring on my holiday vacation?
I’m sure that every reader has asked themself this question while packing for a vacation. You don’t want to bring too many books, because then you are taking up valuable space in your luggage. But you don’t want to bring not enough books, because there’s nothing worse than sitting around and having nothing to read. It’s quite a dilemma in my opinion. There are a lot of things to consider:
How are you getting to your destination?
I fly, so not only do I have the whole plane ride to read, but I always have time to and from the airport and while waiting at the airport. I usually end up having about 8-9 hours of reading time, round trip, which is more than enough time to read one book.
How much downtime are you going to have while on vacation?
I always read at night, no matter where I am. It is something that I continue to do even while I’m on vacation. I usually read anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour at night so that equals another few hours of reading time. Plus, when I visit my family for the holidays I usually have an hour or so each day where we just hang out and do whatever we want. So that is more reading time.
How long is your trip for?
Obviously, if my vacation is only for a couple of days, I’m not going to bring as many books as I would if my vacation was a week or longer.
What kind of books are you bringing to read?
If you are reading War and Peace, you probably only need to bring that book on vacation. If you’re reading short stories, you might want to bring some extra reading. Personally, I usually read fun, light books when I’m on vacation. I’m in my vacation mentality so I don’t want to work my brain too much by reading something heavy. I usually plan for my books to be around 300 pages or so.
But don’t worry if you run out of books to read.
Needing to find something to read is a great excuse to visit a local or used bookstore while on your vacation. You might find something new to you since you are in a different area than your regular haunts! Additionally, airport bookstores are great for browsing and you can always find the newest popular book to read.
All of this is to say that I usually bring 3-4 books for a week-long vacation. You might think that’s a lot or you might think that’s not enough but I have found it to be a suitable number of books. Also, I usually pack physical books as well as my kindle. I love bringing my kindle because it has so many books on it so I always have a selection of books to choose from. Plus, if I decide I am not liking any of my books, I can check a book out from the library or buy it online and have it delivered instantly to my kindle. No waiting is necessary!
But the most important thing is to enjoy your vacation whether you spend it reading or not!
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