Bonjour mes amies! I’m beginning to feel like a broken record when I say I have traveled the world in less than trois jours. Vintage mes amies will remember my jet-setting escapades. Pre-pandemic, this was a common occurrence pour moi.

Avec an extremely short attention span and now deux enfant (one of whom has multiple special needs); I never feel comfortable staying away long. Versus mulling over what I could do if I had weeks to travel, I simply enjoy what I have, which means (at times) ridiculously long flights for a short time away.

Each petit voyage has been worth every second of jetlag.

I’ll link previous vlogs ranging from how to travel avec only a carryon, why I only travel avec un carryon and the perks of petit voyages.

An inflexible time restraint resulted in my most recent trip, 72 Hours in Dubai. Oui mes amies, you read that right. A treize heures flight going and quatorze heures returning but avec un glimpse of my Dubai vlog (click here to watch) you will know that I utilized every second.

Maintenant, tips for making the most of petit voyages.

Be realistic with:

1. Your Body. Are you willing to fight through severe jet lag? Depending on your destination and what time you arrive, it would behoove you to do as the locales do. Pour moi, that means when I land, if the locals are going to bed, I go to bed. If the locals have breakfast and start their day, I follow suit. I would be remiss if I did not voice how difficult this can be depending on your health, age, and other factors. In my vingtaine, I could do this without a second thought. Mais maintenant, there are times when I feel every second of the time change. As challenging as it was, I DID NOT go to sleep when I landed most recently in Dubai. I (stylishly) pushed through.
2. Your Expectations – How much can you do in X amount of hours? Are you physically able to get from one location to another rapidly? Without causing undue stress mentally or physically? If you tend to have a Type A personality, and everything must be extremely timed, short, long-haul trips may not be the best option.
3. Things That Are Outside of Your Control. One of the (many) scary components of such short stays are the things that you cannot control. If your flight is overbooked or delayed, this can deduct hours or even a day from a three to four-day trip. In addition to transportation delays, COVID has dramatically affected how we travel. Again, if you are a highly calculated Type A personality, are you mentally prepared not to know if you can embark on your voyage because of COVID testing protocols. Pour example, on my most recent trips to Montréal and Dubai, and I wasn’t confident that I was “cleared” to go until 12 hours before my flight. Many international flights require passengers to produce a negative COVID test less than 48hrs before departure.
4. The “Purpose” of Your Trip. It’s almost impossible to “have it all.” Is this long-haul petit voyage solely to check the location off of your bucket list? To see as many sights as possible, or to relax upon our arrival? Adapting a proper mindset has always made the “mission” of my short stay, bearable.
5. Packing. If you are an overpacker, reevaluate what you “need” for un petit voyage. I strongly recommend that you carry on. I have written beaucoup blogs about why I carry-on and how to pack accordingly. Lost luggage, extreme airport lines, and the cost of checking in (depending on the class and airline you travel), the pros of only carrying on quickly outweigh the sacrifice of traveling light.

I do hope that these tips will help prepare you for a long haul petit voyage. As always, if there’s more that you’d like to know, be sure to leave me a comment below.

What’s the longest flight you’ve taken for the shortest stay?

Ciao for now 💋