It doesn’t really matter if you travel with nothing but a backpack or stay at a luxurious hotel: every travel experience can positively influence your health and give you a significant endorphin boost. For several people, the joy it brings can outweigh other vital events in their lives, like getting married or having a kid. And research conducted by Booking.com proved that people value traveling so much it even topped the list of things which bring them the most happiness in life!
To get the proper results, Booking.com has interviewed 17,000 people that came from 17 countries so that they could get a more diverse attitude toward traveling. Respondents confirmed that very few things could replace going on vacation when it comes to happiness. For example, 77 percent of the people said that they book a holiday when they need to brighten up their mood immediately.
The most intriguing part of the study is that people claimed they value traveling way more than they do their partner and even happy events in their life. Forty-nine percent of respondents said that they felt a higher level of happiness when they planned and went on holiday than they did on their wedding day!
Almost half of the people interviewed said that going on a date with their significant other does not lift them emotionally as much as traveling does. Forty-five percent claimed that getting engaged didn’t give them as much of an emotional boost as traveling did. Even having a baby doesn’t provide 29 percent of the respondents with enough of an endorphin rush!
It also turned out that people appreciate new experiences more than possessing lots of material things. Seventy percent of respondents said that going on vacation provides them with satisfaction that lasts more than the happiness they get from buying stuff.
It appears that people are ready to sacrifice their comfort for the sake of having new travel experiences. For instance, 56 percent of respondents would instead go on vacation than buy new clothes or gadgets, and 48 percent of them are ready to postpone home improvements to visit new places.
Surprisingly, for 72 percent of the respondents, it’s enough to start planning a vacation to feel happier. For example, 80 percent feel more excited when they look at a map and choose places they’d like to visit.
Six out of ten respondents feel an emotional boost when they read hotel reviews and imagine their future trips. Nevertheless, nothing can replace shopping: more than half of the respondents said that buying clothes for a vacation was one of their greatest mood-lifters!
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