Take a look at the mistakes you’ve made over the Lunar New Year, and hopefully don’t make them again in the Lunar New Year of 2025.
Mistake #1: Going back home for New Year’s.
- During the New Year’s Eve train tickets are hard to come by, airplane tickets are incredibly expensive, and taking the highway is prone to car accidents.
- Time is wasted on visiting relatives, none of whom I recognize.
- Getting caught up in meaningless relative comparisons like monthly salary, house size, car model.
Optimization method: stagger home.
- At the beginning of the winter vacation, take your son back to his hometown 2 weeks early to spend more time with his family. Returning to Shanghai before New Year’s Eve avoids ineffective New Year’s Eve socialization.
- My wife went back to Zhaoyuan for a few days to stay with my mom and dad, and then went back to Shanghai before New Year’s Eve.
Mistake #2: Visiting two old homes at the same time.
My hometown is in Jinan and my wife’s hometown is in Yantai, so if I have to visit both my hometown and my wife’s hometown at the same time for New Year’s Eve, I am in a state of running around for the whole vacation, which is physically and mentally exhausting.
Optimizing practices: couples return to their own homes
- I went back to Jinan to visit my parents and grandparents.
- Wife went back to Zhaoyuan to visit her parents
This is the most efficient.
Mistake #3: Going to the temple.
My wife loves temple fairs on New Year’s Eve, I don’t like crowds, and crowded places make me grumpy. Instead of forcing myself to be grumpy, I’d rather say no ahead of time.
Optimization: reject or offer an alternative
- Natali / Gui also likes to go to the temple fair and asked my wife to get her sisters to go to the fair. I stayed home to brush up on my dramas, read, do housework and exercise.
- The economy is bad and hostile this year, so you are prone to terrorist attacks or advise your family not to go to the temple fair, but to go to the park instead.
Mistake 4: Traveling during the New Year
Hotel prices skyrocket during New Year’s Eve, while the restaurant industry is closed, so you can’t do anything but stay in the hotel and eat expensive and awful food when you go out for a trip.
Optimization method: do not travel during the New Year.