We should be relaxing in a place as idyllic as this
We're barely out of January, yet we're already thinking about Summer and our summer holiday.
But does this break more stress than it's worth?
Experts have pinpointed the exact moment when Brits finally relax and begin enjoying their holiday - 21 hours and 31 minutes after arriving at their destination.
The stress of booking, preparing and travelling makes for an exhausting first day when people spend most of their time recovering from the journey, unpacking and settling in.
The study of 2,000 people revealed the average time most holidaymakers begin to unwind is the second day when people start to get their head around the currency, their body clock starts to adjust to the different time zones and they get more of a sense of their surroundings.
A third of Brits say it takes them well in to the third day to really start to relax as it takes them a while to get out of work mode and forget the office. While a quarter said they only managed to truly relax for 48 hours of their holiday.
In comparison they spend just five hours and 29 minutes planning their holiday and picking their destination. More than a third start thinking and worrying about the hassle of travelling home within 72 hours of arriving at their destination. Despite this 80 per cent said the main reason they went on holiday was to relax and unwind.
Marie Chenailler of global holiday rentals company HomeAway.co.uk, which carried out the poll, said: ''We work the longest hours in Europe so holidays shouldn’t feel like hard work too.
"Along with the stress of travelling, early breakfasts, tourist crowds and fights for sun-loungers can just add to holiday stress, but this needn’t be the case.
"But we really need to learn how to switch off during our precious holiday time so we don’t end up wasting nearly a whole day fretting about things and returning home more stressed than when we jetted off. It seems we get so carried away with planning and researching our holiday, we forget the reason we're going on a break in the first place. Maybe having more help from partners, letting kids do their own thing and trying to forget about worries at home will all help to unwind that bit quicker. Yet there are things that you have no control over – like delayed flights making for longer journeys and any hiccups along the way."
Top causes of stress on holiday
1. Travelling
2. Not knowing the language
3. Worrying about money
4. Other tourists
5. Not knowing where things are
6. Knowing they will have to go back to more work
7. Trying to keep everyone happy
8. Unpacking
9. Working out the currency
10. Arguing over what to do
11. Having to do things at certain times
12. Not having enough privacy
13. Fighting over sun loungers
14. Kids arguing
15. Not being in control