If you want to pack in a short holiday for the weekend, play your cards smartly. The best bet is to watch out for a long weekend, that is, when you have the Friday or the Monday off. You can also take leave on one of these days to extend the trip to a total of four days. But chances of getting reduced rates on plane tickets are higher in the middle of the week. If you want to save money, you should fly on a Thursday rather than on a Friday, and plan to be back by Sunday night. Of course, you don’t have to bother about this if you are staying within your state and your destination is a few hours’ drive away.

If there is a long weekend on thanksgiving, the fourth of July or Halloween, accommodation and transportation rates will hit their peak. Try traveling on the weekend directly after a long holiday weekend. This way, you can seal the best deals.

The American tendency is to throw in as many activities as are humanly possible in a three day long weekend. When that happens, you move around too much and end up exhausting yourself. You get back from your much awaited holiday more tired and haggard than you were before it even started. You have to figure out your goal. The whole point of the holiday is to unwind and relax, isn’t it? If doing a lot of running around and adventure sports are your idea of unwinding, go for it, but I suppose most people would rather sleep in, take a walk through an unknown forest trail, watch the rain, have a picnic with sandwiches and scones in a leafy park, and take in the quietness and the scent of the earth.

You could also spend time alone, if that was what you needed at home. Go shopping for yourself if it is a city you have come to, and pick up antiques and home accessories at rock bottom prices from flea markets. Swim out to the open sea if you are at a beach. Go hunting for wildflowers and orchids if you have come to the hills. Most importantly, just follow your heart. Weekend trips are a lovely way for a couple to bond all over again, so if you have someone to take charge of the kids, go away without them.