Spring Bank Holiday in the UK (Memorial Weekend in America) is upon us this weekend! Woohoo! More time off and hopefully more sunshine and fun for all of us! All of this is good, but what if you have been invited to lots of events and wonder how you can get through all of them enjoying every moment, without breaking yourselves and your bank balance?
I have been invited to 1 hen party and 3 birthday parties this weekend. As fun as all of them sound, I am personally worried about how I will survive without causing too much collateral damage.
I have therefore decided to share my 7 tips with you so that we can all enjoy this wonderful weekend ahead and feel great afterwards:
1. Planning is key
Whether you are travelling to a wedding, birthday or another country this weekend, planning is a must! Lack of planning can potentially stress us out unnecessarily. Arrive at your destination cool, calm and glamorous to enjoy the occasion.
- Check for any engineering works on train lines and road closures before you travel.
- Are your visas still valid and do you have at least 6 months before your passport expires? Don’t do what I did on my way to Miami, arriving at Heathrow and realising my US visa had expired. Luckily it was approved at the very last minute when I applied online to catch my flight. (Not so lucky for my cousins another time when their passports expired and they had to cancel their holidays – twice!)
- Enjoy the airport lounge/duty free but don’t do what I did and miss my train to Paris despite arriving in plenty of time. I saw the train leave and thought I was on the next one! Keep an eye on your flight/train time.
- Dress for the weather (I am in London after all!)
Planning can save you time and your bank balance too.
2. Have enough battery on your phone
I know that this sounds like common sense. Whenever I see the 20% battery warning on my phone, I can feel my body temperature rising a little.
If you think that by jumping into an Uber, you won’t need your phone anymore then think again. My friend had a terrible experience which I won’t explain here but make sure you have enough battery to get into your own home, just in case you have locked yourself out.
Also, did you know that Uber collects data on how much battery you have left on your phone and they have done enough research to know that people are more willing to pay a higher rate to get to their destinations when they have low phone battery? They claim they don’t charge those people extra but who really knows for sure? (Read more here: Uber Knows When Your Phone Battery is About to Die)
- If you don’t need it, turn Bluetooth and wifi off your phone.
- Close all of the unnecessary apps on your phone.
- If you have any iPhone, turn off Location Services for apps where you don’t need your phone to know where you are.
- Dim the brightness on your screen.
- Go on airplane mode when you don’t need signal.
3. Everything in moderation
Everyone knows this but in the heat of the moment, you might just have another drink, another slice of cake. Another one turns into another two, and so on. With my busy weekend ahead, I will make sure I keep myself hydrated and practise yoga too.
- For my friend who is slowly trying to quit smoking but struggling, how about only taking x number of cigarettes out with you and set that as your limit?
- If it is food you are worried about, plan your meal ahead by finding out what you might be eating. You can spend more time looking forward to your food and you are less likely to make impulsive decisions that you may regret later. You are also more likely to eat those 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day.
- Remember to hydrate! I am not good at remembering to drink water in between alcoholic drinks and often regret it when I feel the side effects. If you are like me then ask your friends to remind you when you are out and watch out for the sneaky ones who keep topping up your glass.
- Get enough sleep. My fun level diminishes if I haven’t had enough sleep. Plus, those selfies won’t look as good as they can be without beauty sleep.
4. Wear sensible shoes
This applies to men too! If you are going to wear new shoes, try and wear them in beforehand. Shoes can make or break my fun for me.
For ladies, I am not just talking about heels but ballet pumps too. They are really bad for our feet.
5. Sunscreen!
You might not think to put it on, especially if you live in UK and Ireland where sunshine feels like a scarcity. 20 minutes of natural sunshine is great for our vitamin D levels but if you plan on spending a prolonged period of time outdoors under the blazing hot sun, sunscreen is more important than you think. No amount of anti-wrinkle cream can diminish the damage that strong sunlight has on our skin and a lot of skin damage does not show on our skin. To look after ourselves:
- Apply sunscreen with both UVA and UVB protection between SPF levels 30 and 50, regularly as indicated on the bottle. For further information, please refer to this article.
- Apply lip balm with UVA and UVB protection (Our lips can get burnt too!)
- Sunscreen does not give us full protection. If you are spending the weekend in a very sunny location, try and wear hats and spend time in the shade.
- Wear sunglasses with UVA and UVB protection. If you don’t have a pair, it’s a good excuse to go shopping.
6. Do you HAVE to go to all of them?
It might be my star sign but I find it hard to say no when someone invites me to go out and have fun. However, having too much going on can sometimes ruin my weekend. Is it feasible to go to all of them? Will the fun level diminish if you attend everything you have been invited to? It might be my age talking here…
7. Do what makes you happy!
This might sound a bit silly but are you going to spend your entire weekend making yourself happy, or people around you happy? Will you be spending it with people you really want to see, or with people where you will be on your phone, checking Facebook, crushing candies and wishing you were somewhere else? Yes – we all have commitments to go to sometimes that we aren’t 100% keen on.
Try and keep things on an even keel by taking time to do what makes you happy, whether it’s colouring, singing in the shower or doing a headstand.
Happy weekend everyone and stay safe! Namasté.
I would love to hear your comments on this.
