It's National Plan for Vacation Day. Where in the Berkshires should you visit this year?

January 2022 has felt like a tough month for many of us, but we’re almost at the end.

Sure the temperature is below freezing, and there is more snow on the way to keep us homebound on the weekends. But each day, the commute home from work gets a little brighter. Warmer days are coming. What better day to make plans for the upcoming year than today, National Plan for Vacation Day?

According to the U.S. Travel Association, National Plan for Vacation Day is celebrated on the last Tuesday in January. It’s a day to encourage Americans to plan their vacation days for the year ahead.

Ramble on: Community warms up for annual Mount Greylock trek with fun, festivities in Adams — Suzy Helme and Tim Martin serve up craft beer from Bright Ideas Brewing.
CAROLINE BONNIVIER SNYDER - THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE

Since 2015, the travel industry and partners began tracking vacation usage through surveys and found many Americans are not using their earned vacation time off, which they say can negatively affect mental health, personal relationships and job performance. The most recent survey data from Destination Analyst 2021 found more than 68 percent of American workers felt at least moderately burned out. Avoiding burnout was the top-rated motivator to book a trip in the next six months.

From these surveys, they have found that those who take time to plan out their vacations are more likely to use their days, while workers who do not premeditate these plans are likely to let these days go unused altogether. Destination Analysist 2021 found American workers left an average of more than four days or 29 percent of their paid time off on the table in 2020. Don’t do that!

“National Plan for Vacation Day helps highlight the importance of taking time off to travel — both for our personal health and wellbeing and for the overall economic prosperity of our nation,” the NPVD mission webpage reads. "Together, using #PlanForVacation, we will remind Americans to commit — and take — their days off.”

So now that we agree we’re going to use our time, where are we going and what are we going to do? Whether you're planning single days off or longer, check out our list of links below for some inspiration right in our own backyard — no airfare required.