Work Vs. Wanderlust: The Two Don't Always Have To Be At Odds With Each Other Breaks lead to breakthroughs, and if bleisure travel is what gets you to do that, then it's certainly something worth prioritizing.
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As a journalist, I consider one of the best parts of my job to get the opportunity every now and then to travel to different locations around the world for a business trip, or, as we call it in the media world, a press trip. Be it to discover an unfamiliar business ecosystem, or to attend an event and relay its happenings to my readers, these trips often keep me rather busy given their packed schedules, and yet, I find myself looking forward to them all the same- simply because I know that once I'm done with the business part of my travels, I get time to use at my leisure.
I've since gone on to learn that what I have been doing on these business trips falls under the banner of travel for "bleisure," a portmanteau of the words "business" and "leisure." The term was coined in 2009; however, it has risen in popularity over the last couple of years, which can be linked to the growth in conversations around topics like remote working as well as work-life balance. In fact, 93% of respondents in a July 2023 survey of 398 business travelers in the US by online marketplace vendor Capterra said that they have engaged in bleisure travel.
Personally, as someone who has historically been very bad at taking time-off, I find bleisure trips a great way to take some time out for myself and feed my love for travel, while still making sure that my work continues on unabated. Sure, this results in my work-life boundaries getting rather blurry, but I also know that I won't be complaining about that when I get to follow up a seminar in the morning with a soirée in the evening. All the guilt I usually feel about neglecting my professional responsibilities during holidays is kept at bay when I'm in bleisure travel mode.
Mixing business with pleasure has typically been frowned upon in entrepreneurial circles, but given my own experiences with bleisure travel, I believe there's a case to be made especially for startup founders to get onboard this trend. After all, as a class of people that have been traditionally known to forego any time-off for themselves, entrepreneurs would be wise to make use of at least a little of the time they spend on trips for business meetings and the like to do things for solely themselves. Breaks lead to breakthroughs, after all, and if bleisure travel is what gets you to do that, then it's certainly something worth prioritizing.
Related: How To Transition Better To The Work Routine After A Vacation
