How Vacations Help Us Manage Stress and Strengthen Family Bonds

In this episode of Rollin’ With the Dolans, Patrick and Tamekia Dolan share a spontaneous weekend getaway that turned into one of their favorite family memories. From discovering “glamping” near the Grand Canyon to bonding with their kids under the stars, they talk about how even short trips can ease stress, refresh your mindset, and bring families closer together.

They also break down the five ways vacations can improve your mental health — from reducing anxiety to improving sleep and boosting creativity — all without breaking the bank.

If you’ve been putting off that trip or staycation, this one’s for you.

👉 Listen now and tell us how you unwind and recharge!

Don’t miss an episode—subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform. Find more at rollinwiththedolans.com or search #rollinwiththedolans on social media to join the conversation.

Transcript

Welcome to Rolling with the Dolans. I'm Patrick Dolan.
 And I'm Tamikia Dolan.

Our podcast focuses on the joys and challenges of blending families, our interracial marriage, parenting children of multiple ages, and the journey of entrepreneurship. We share our daily life experiences with a positive but real perspective.

And today's topic is... you sound like a radio host.
 Okay, what is today's topic?
 We are going to focus on how vacations help you manage your stress and anxiety.
 Yes. Okay. What prompted this conversation?
 Probably our last little adventure.
 Okay. Let's talk about it. You first?
 No, you first.

So, we decided to do a camping trip because it was a Saturday, and my day was slow, which is abnormal for being in the salon. Also, our 17-year-old did not have work, which is abnormal, and our 15-year-old did not have a basketball tournament, which is also abnormal. So, I texted Mr. Dolan and was like, “We should go camping.”

And what did we do?
 Mr. Dolan did some research and found a couple of options for me to choose from, and one of those options was glamping.

How do you spell glamping?
 G-L-A-M-P-I-N-G, I believe.

Okay, and the definition of glamping is basically a modified form of camping where you're not really camping, but it’s like you're pretending to camp in a nicer environment.
 Yeah, I would say it’s like glorified camping.
 Yeah, would you say that?
 Yeah, like bougie camping.
 Yeah, it’s all done for you. You just show up, and it gives you the look and feel of camping, but without all the work.

Yeah. So, this place was in Williams, Arizona. Was it 20 or 25 minutes from the Grand Canyon?
 Around 30, about 25.
 Okay, it seemed pretty quick—so 25 to 30 minutes from the Grand Canyon. They have these cute little… I describe it as a dome. Do you describe it as a dome?
 Correct.

Basically, it’s all open. There was a king-size bed, and then up in the loft area there were a couple of beds for the kids, and we brought a couple of air mattresses. There was no TV. There was a full bathroom, which was super nice, but just one bathroom versus what we’re used to at home, which was different. But that worked out too, right?
 Yeah.

And then we brought some snacks—not as much food because there was food on-site. There was a food truck and s’mores. What else?
 They had lots of stuff for the kids to do. The activities—like the jumping thing—were what they liked the most. They had cornhole, ring toss-type games, frisbee golf, a lot of different activities.

Chess—what was the chess like?
 The big giant chess pieces that you play outdoors.
 Yeah. And then they had a musician at night.
 Yeah, that was probably my favorite part. What was your favorite part?
 I think the entire thing—putting it all together—is what I liked. Yeah, the whole experience. It’s more of an experience going there versus just going to a hotel.

Yeah, and just for the record, was it Clear Sky Resorts?
 Yes.
 Would you do it again?
 Oh, absolutely. Highly recommend it.

From one to ten, what would you say your experience was?
 I’d say easily a ten.
 What?
 Yeah.

I think it’s the entire experience. You could sit there and nitpick—like, “Oh, I would’ve done this or that differently”—but when you put everything together, it’s definitely worth it.
 Like all the memories.
 Yeah, all the little details. They have the different activities, and the kids can be self-occupied. You do feel like you’re camping in some way, but you also feel like you don’t have all the effort and work involved with real camping—like setting up tents, cleaning, and packing everything back up.

Disclaimer: some of my clients are like, “You guys are always going on vacation!” But most of the vacations we do are on a budget. I feel like this one went a little over our budget, but do you think it was worth it?
 Yeah. And it’s not really that bad when you look at it. Normally, if we go to a hotel now, we’d need two rooms.
 That’s true.
 And the food was less expensive—or some was included—that we didn’t even expect.
 Yeah, like the breakfast and all the activities. We didn’t have to go anywhere; everything was on-site. So it ends up being worth it.

Just think about Disney—you go there, and obviously there are a lot of attractions and things like that. It’s not the same scale, but you don’t even get to stay overnight, and you’re paying three to four times as much as we did for one night.
 That’s true. So that one night, just in case anybody wants to know or decides to go, was $400 per night. But we were able to have Patrick, myself, and the four kids there. I don’t even know how they all ended up sleeping up in the loft. We wanted one to be downstairs with us, but they all wanted to be together, which was pretty nice too.

Okay, so the whole purpose of this podcast—are we finally going to get there?
 Yeah.
 What was the topic again?
 How vacations can help you deal with stress and anxiety.

Okay. Mr. Dolan pulled up an article on Union Health that talks about five reasons a vacation might be the best thing for your mental health.

For us, to make ourselves not feel as bad about vacations, we look at it as a priority. Would you agree?
 Definitely.

So, the five things are: stress reduction, increased productivity, worry reduction, interpersonal growth, and improved sleep quality.
 I don’t get the last one at all.
 Improved sleep quality?
 Yeah.
 Oh, I definitely do—because if you think about it, you can sleep better knowing that you have less stress. So you sleep better, right? You’ve had less stress because you went on vacation.
 It says vacation time promotes better sleep patterns, benefiting both mental and physical well-being.
 Yeah, that makes sense. Do you not agree?
 No, I would strike that one myself.
 Oh. But everybody’s different.

I think there are different benefits for everyone in different situations. Like this one in particular—since it was more spontaneous—it didn’t give us that anticipation of “Hey, we’re going on vacation soon,” which I think helps me. You know, like, “We have three more days until vacation.”
 Yeah, that’s true. The planning, anticipation, and excitement help.

But this one definitely gave us interpersonal growth.
 You felt that was the main one?
 Yeah—the memories and experiences we talked about.
 It says exposure to new people and cultures during vacation can foster empathy, tolerance, and understanding, contributing to personal growth and better relationships. I think there was a lot of bonding with the kids.
 Yep. And even the people there—that was part of it. The customer service, the staff—they were definitely into high levels of interaction, customer service, helping people, and they seemed very sincere. So all that contributed to it.

Yeah. Increased productivity—I also think vacations help encourage you to do more once you get that break. Normally, when we go on vacation, that’s a huge thing for us. Increased productivity, because our minds can relax and we can focus on how we want to be creative for the next business adventure. But this time, because it was last-minute like you said earlier, I don’t think that happened for me.
 Yeah, definitely.

And the big thing we’ve talked about before with staycations is the fact that it gets us out of the house, right? It gets you out of the routine of thinking, “I have to do this, I have to do that.” Sometimes you might come back later and think, “I’ve got more on my plate now,” but at least temporarily, it gives you time not to be staring at laundry piles sitting next to you or dishes on the counter that you need to put away.

Okay. Did you want to say anything else to wrap this up?
 I think we can go back and remind couples about the importance of going on vacations—staycations, even if it’s just an overnight—how important that is.
 Yep. Just try to figure out a way to get out of the house and do something different. Because if you get stuck in the same routine and pattern, things can get more stressful and anxious. Even if you just do a day pass—lots of resorts have day passes too.
 I think we should probably do that more. We usually just do the full staycation.

All right. Anything else before we wrap it up?
 I don’t think so.

Okay. All right, so until next time—
 Thanks for listening today! Wherever you found this podcast, we encourage you to join the discussion. If you’re on YouTube or anywhere else you can chime in, tell us your thoughts—we’d love to hear from you.
 Yes, and until next time, have a relaxing week.
 A magical week.
 A magical week? How’d you get “magical” out of that?
 Oh, it just came to me.
 Okay. All right—until next time. Bye-bye.