This is nowadays the real reason why we are so fond of vacation

The sun on your skin, pink flip-flops on your feet, the beach that seems endless. You just need it every now and then.

Other people around you, not spending your Tuesday between the four walls of your office and having a bite to eat that you've never tasted before. Being abroad does a person good. Being away from home has its advantages. We are out of the daily grind and we have a break from work. A bit of warmth, in the Dutch winter. Or a week of snow fun in the Alps. Also something you can't do at home. But that is no longer the reason in 2018 that many enjoy a vacation so much. No. It's something completely different.

Because what we used to not struggle with but now do, is the whole mobile world. We are always ‘on’. This causes many people to stress, as numerous studies show. Our phones ring all day, we constantly feel the pressure to post something fun on social media and we email our boss until we go to bed. We wake up to a stream of apps and missed calls. The calendar flashes on your screen. Appointment here at 09:00, appointment there at 10:30. That is also somewhat expected of us, in this time. And that is precisely why vacation is more important than ever: the phone is inevitably on airplane mode for those few days, those few weeks. We are not there. We are not online. We have no wifi. Sorry, not sorry.

Vacation has become more than ever a moment of rest. Especially if you approach it smartly and only use your phone to capture vacation pictures. Which you only share with others once you are back home. No emails, no messages from your boss that you need to respond to immediately, no friends complaining that they haven't seen you in so long and when you will make time for them again. Even the gym app is turned off. Because the nice thing is: you really can't be online all the time. It's not an excuse, it is so. And everyone understands that. And so you get away with it, answering a question from your colleague a week later.

It is increasingly being said: being offline is the new being online. There are even hotels that are intentionally wifi-free and ask if you want to hand in your phone at the check-in desk at the beginning of your visit. It has become a real hype to completely ‘tune out’. We get it. Talk to people who really matter. You are actually cool when you enjoy the moment again. Look around you, hug a palm tree, run into the sea with your clothes still on. Fall off that surfboard, who cares. It does you good. You feel rejuvenated. You live.

Then you are completely zen again to answer those 392 missed messages. With all love. And with a new profile picture of yourself on a surfboard, that much is true.

FACTS

• Most hotel rooms in the world can be found in Las Vegas
• The shortest flight you can book lasts only 2 minutes. You fly from one Scottish island to another
• The most expensive hotel room in the world is in Geneva and costs you over 78,000 euros per night. Something about becoming poor while sleeping, so to speak