That’s happiness to her, along with lollipops, reanimated fruit flies, “cartwheels” – five days of March Break gymnastics camp for that? – and, well, pretty much anything new and non-onion-related. It doesn’t take much to make kids happy (and unhappy), which is a big part of their loveliness (and birth control).
Adults are another story: We’re always trying to figure out what makes us happy, and often have to work really hard to achieve that state or obtain those things. The good news: Travel delivers the goods.
You want proof? In a nod to the United Nations’ third annual International Day of Happiness – it’s today, BTW, and coincides nicely with the first day of spring – Expedia.ca asked Canadians about the importance of vacations to their overall health and happiness. Four out of five respondents associated happiness with vacationing, and 48 per cent cited a getaway as their No. 1 happiness generator. Finding money and getting a tax refund, meanwhile, were tops among 16 and 13 per cent, respectively. (How much money? How big of a refund? What about other happiness producers like sex, music, sports, art and sex? There are holes in the travel booking behemoth's multiple-choice methodology – this isn’t Statistics Canada, people – but bear with me.)
The most interesting part of the survey comes when it reveals that 90 per cent of respondents would be willing to make “significant sacrifices” for just one additional vacation day a year. We’re not talking about vows of silence or chastity here, but for an entire week:
- 36 per cent would give up coffee. (Could I do this? Yes, as long as “caffeine withdrawal” is a reliable defense in court.)
- 36 per cent would give up their cell phones. (Sure, but then how would I ask Siri to open the pod bay doors?)
- 44 per cent would give up chocolate. (What if I accidentally ingest some chocolate shavings in my quintuple mocaccino?)
- 45 per cent would part with their favourite outfit. (Does this include house coats and flip-flops?)
- 46 per cent would give up alcohol. (Why didn’t Expedia mention that the survey was conducted at Brigham Young University?)
- 0.07 per cent would give up House of Cards. (OK, I made this one up, but come on!)