There is no better feeling than knowing that a dream vacation you have spent months planning is just around the corner. What gets your heart racing will depend on who you are and where you’re going, but how long you get away for could maximize the benefits of that break. 

A report published in the Journal of Happiness Studies found that our general level of satisfaction dramatically increases from the moment a holiday starts but peaks roughly on the eighth day. “It takes some time to wind down after a stressful work period and acclimatise to vacation,” the researchers concluded. They also noted that after the eighth day, our contentment slowly fades away, plateauing around the eleventh. 

But it isn’t that simple. One potential flaw with this popular study is that only people w...