Still stressed from the holidays?
It's been a couple of weeks since then, but a new survey indicates many persons are. And more women than men apparently are affected.
If you are, the best way to recover, according to the survey, is to take a vacation.
According to the survey — a special holiday edition taken by (you guessed it) Princess Cruises — some two-thirds of the respondents said they needed a vacation to recover from the holidays.
More women (65 percent) than men (56 percent) said they needed a vacation.
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We're not sure what the results of a similar local survey might be, but there's an indication from one travel agent that findings likely would be similar.
"The telephone almost broke down with a huge number of calls post-Christmas from persons seeking vacations," said the agent. She added that near the usual close of one work day she still had 19 calls to return — and did.
Most of the callers, locally at least, sought trips to favorite sun-spots, particularly to Mexico and various Caribbean islands. Costs of most of these trips were significantly higher — particularly airfares — than if they had been booked a couple of months earlier.
"Despite the higher fares, business has been great," said the agent. "But there usually always are savings if you book early."
Why are people stressed out from the holidays, despite the fact they are a joyful time to spend with family and friends?
The busy-ness of the season does cause some stress, according to the survey findings. When asked what causes holiday stress, women cited cooking special meals and hosting holiday parties, while the answers from men were shopping for presents, attending parties and receiving unwanted gifts.
And more than two-thirds agree that hosting family is hard work, with women feeling more so than men — 72 percent vs. 65 percent.
When asked what type of post-holiday vacation was most desired, warm weather definitely was preferred, with nearly two-thirds (64 percent) featuring a beach visit. Some 61 percent said they could also handle an ocean cruise.
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(FYI: Maybe that's the reason the Post-Bulletin trip to Hawaii in February is so popular, since it combines both beaches and an ocean cruise. It's sold out with 80 passengers.)
The survey, a part of Princess Cruises' "Relaxation Report," reported that the least-desired vacations were visiting a theme park and skiing.
Another airport in Beijing OK'ed
China has approved a third airport for its capital, Beijing, in a bid to reduce congestion and chronic flight delays, the Associated Press reports.
The massive new facility will be located some 30 miles south of the city center and take five years to build. When completed, it will handle some 72 million passengers a year, taking the pressure off Beijing Capital International Airport, in the city's northeast sector, that is the world's second-busiest, handling 83 million passengers last year.
A second airport, Nanyuan, is a former military airport with limited capacity.
The new airport's construction budget is about $13 billion, according to the AP.
