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We took a mini summer vacation, did you miss us? (Just lie and say you did). Coming back from vacation can be tough. It’s easy to stay in vacation mode and get overwhelmed by everything when you come back. Fortunately there are a few things you can do to get back to business after vacation.

Take Care of Things Before You Leave

This is much easier said than done.* Why bother going on a vacation if you’re going to be super stressed beforehand? But you don’t want to come back to a huge mess either. Prior planning makes coming back from vacation a gazillion times easier.

At work make sure all your bases are covered. Make a list of on going projects and make sure you have a coworker to cover them for you.** Also clean your desk/work area – you don’t want to come back to a mess, it’ll just stress you out.

At home try to make your house/apartment/room as clean as possible (or as it’s going to get) so you don’t come home to a disaster zone. If you have pets and aren’t taking them with you make sure you have arrangements for their care. Same goes for plants or anything else that needs to be taken care of. Make sure everything’s turned of before you leave, you don’t want to stress out thinking about how high your electricity bill is going to be or if you left the oven on.

Ease Back Into a Routine

Mentally shifting from vacation mode to life mode is easy if you took care of things before your vacation. But if you didn’t take care of things or were rushed it can be a bit jolting to have to go back to reality after vacation. There’s no point in going on vacation if you’re going to be more stressed out when you get back then when you left. Don’t try to do everything at once, ease back into a ‘normal’ mentality instead of forcing yourself back into it. Take a few hours at work (if you can) to catch up with what you missed when you were out of the office then begin to tackle projects. At home don’t try to do all the cleaning at once, instead do it piecemeal, etc.

*Like arranging guest bloggers or writing posts ahead of time. Oops.
**Make sure to bring something back/get a small gift for your awesome coworker who was nice enough to cover for you.

Ah, the great outdoors – you get fresh air, peace and quiet and solitude. It’s a great place to unplug and relax. While camping is a great way to enjoy the outdoors it can also be idyllic for making out. We don’t recommend finding a make out partner while camping (unless it’s at a campground). There are a few ground rules to follow.

1) Make a Campfire

A nighttime campfire is romantic. If there’s not a drought warning (listen to Smokey – forrest fires are unromantic) make a contained campfire to snuggle up next to your make out partner. Bonus points if you make s’mores; negative points if you tell ghost stories.*

2) Check Your Sleeping Bag

You don’t need any new friends from nature joining you on your make out. Check your bag before slipping in with your partner to make sure no bugs or other critters have decided to join you.

3) Secure Your Tent

Again, you don’t need new friends, i.e. critters, joining you. Make sure the tent is secure. You also want to make sure the tent is soundly put up – a fallen tent is a total boxdryer.

4) Keep it Down

Just because you’re out in the woods doesn’t mean you should make a ton of noise. You don’t want to attract animals, park rangers, fellow campers or serial killers.

* We love ghost stories, but they totally take us out of the mood while camping. All we can think about then is how the amorous couple is always getting killed off in horror movies.

Vacations are always good… but they aren’t always full of making out. Sure, if you go to Cancun for Spring Break, you’re pretty much guaranteed some action. If you go on vacation with your special someone, there had better be some action! But if you take your precious vacation days to spend time with your family or a group of friends, or if you’re just on a business trip, it can seem like you’re sacrificing some good make-outs. But it doesn’t have to be that way! Travel offers some unique opportunities to make out with all sorts of people – you just have to look for your chance. Where should you be looking? Let’s go over some typical vacation scenarios that could end in making out.

1. The Hotel Bar

This one is obvious, and particularly good for business trips. If you’re stuck in a tiny town with no night life, or got in late and don’t want to leave your hotel again, head down to the lobby bar. The people you’re going to encounter here generally consist of frumpy middle-aged tourist couples, businesspeople, and that special class of drifters who have all sorts of random reasons to be drinking alone at a hotel bar. These people aren’t alone by choice (unlike the loners you see at local bars), but because they don’t know anyone in town. That is opportunity in a nutshell. Plus, you’ve already got a key for a room upstairs…

2. Poolside

Busy pools are breeding grounds for sparking make-out chemistry, especially the kind of pool that offers tequila sunrises with little umbrellas. Everyone’s already scantily clad, so nudity is on the mind. Everyone is in a laid back mood, lounging and relaxing, so a potential mate should be in an approachable mood. Plus, flirting is almost a given – strike up a conversation and play in the pool! Just don’t splash the ladies too much, they might not want to mess up their hair. If you’re with your friends, try working as a team – challenge a group of the opposite sex to a casual game of water polo.

3. Asking Directions

This one can be a long shot, but if you’re charming enough or just plain lucky, it can work out. See a local hottie? Ask for advice. Play up your need of guidance. Slip in that you don’t know what there is to do around here, o you heard the margaritas were great but don’t know where the best spot to get them is. At the worst, you might find a local gem you would have otherwise missed.

4. On the Trail

Hiking is great for making out (if you don’t mind your partner being a little unshaven). Frankly, there’s just not much to do at night except get drunk and make out. Your job is to supply plenty of alcohol – a really persuasive reason for another group of hikers to settle down at your campfire. One way meet potentials is to ensure that you’re making camp for the night at a populated campground, but then you’re making camp at a populated campground, and that’s no fun. A much better plan is to, when you encounter a potential make-out partner, fall into conversation at a scenic overlook. The scenery is ready-made conversation, and it’s easy to swing that around to “maybe I’ll see you tonight, where are you planning to make camp?”

We love spring. However, springtime doesn’t always love us. So on days like today (it’s rainy and miserable here in DC), we can’t barbeque like hipsters. There are, however, plenty of things to occupy you without lounging around in front of the TV.

Board Games

Too few people realize that when you’re too old for Candyland, there are still some great board games out there. Risk is a personal favorite of the Edukatorz. Scrabble is another good one, and research has shown that crosswords ward off Alzheimer’s, so it’s healthy, too. Just don’t use proper nouns, that’s cheating.

Casual Sex

If you’ve got a significant other, good for you. If you’re not so lucky, call up a friend in the neighborhood and propose some sex with no strings attached. If you don’t have a friend nearby, you can always masturbate.

Binge Drinking

Play drinking games like a frat boy! You’re not driving anywhere, right? Also, remind us to post some good drinking games sometime soon. If you’ve got a well-stocked bar and a few friends over, it’s also a great time to experiment with different cocktails (here, try a Manhattan!).

Napping

Everyone needs a good nap. Rain is a good excuse for it.

Take Out/Cook

If you’ve got a well-stocked fridge, spend the day making something ridiculously complicated or that requires slow cooking. Baked beans, braised short ribs, cassoulet, roast meats. If you aren’t into cooking, it’s a good time to check out the neighborhood take-out options.

Plan a Vacation to Somewhere Sunny

Nothing will make you feel better than thinking that you’ll shortly be lounging around on a Carribbean beach. Even if you aren’t actually going to book a vacation, planning all the details of how you would go about it if you could afford it is still a fun game and it’ll definitely take your mind off the rain.