Experts have pinpointed the exact moment when Brits finally relax and begin enjoying their holiday – 21 hours and 31 minutes after arriving at their destination.
The stress of booking, preparing and travelling makes for an exhausting first day when people spend most of their time recovering from the journey, unpacking and settling in.
The study of 2,000 people revealed the average time most holidaymakers begin to unwind is the second day when people start to get their head around the currency, their body clock starts to adjust to the different time zones and they get more of a sense of their surroundings.
A third of Brits say it takes them well in to the third day to really start to relax as it takes them a while to get out of work mode and forget the office.
While a quarter said they only managed to truly relax for 48 hours of their holiday.
In comparison they spend just five hours and 29 minutes planning their holiday and picking their destination.
More than a third start thinking and worrying about the hassle of travelling home within 72 hours of arriving at their destination.
Women take the longest to relax and find both the travelling and the packing more stressful than men.
Despite this 80 per cent said the main reason they went on holiday was to relax and unwind.
Marie Chenailler of global holiday rentals company HomeAway.co.uk, which carried out the poll, said: ''We work the longest hours in Europe so holidays shouldn’t feel like hard work too.
''Along with the stress of travelling, early breakfasts, tourist crowds and fights for sun-loungers can just add to holiday stress, but this needn’t be the case.
''If you opt for a private holiday rental instead of a hotel, you have the space, privacy and flexibility to do as you please, so at least that’s one less thing to stress about.
''It also helps to keep over-spending in check too, as there’s no need to eat out all the time.
''But we really need to learn how to switch off during our precious holiday time so we don’t end up wasting nearly a whole day fretting about things and returning home more stressed than when we jetted off.
''It seems we get so carried away with planning and researching our holiday, we forget the reason we're going on a break in the first place.''
''Maybe having more help from partners, letting kids do their own thing and trying to forget about worries at home will all help to unwind that bit quicker.
''Yet there are things that you have no control over – like delayed flights making for longer journeys and any hiccups along the way.''
Nearly half of Brits said they returned home in need of another holiday because the experience can be so stressful, with parents most likely to find themselves feeling anxious and unable to unwind.
The stress of getting to the destination was the number one cause of tension for travellers closely followed by the pressures of not knowing the language and worrying about overspending as a result of getting confused over exchange rates.
More than 80 per cent said that they struggled to get up at the right times for breakfast and in enough time to get sun loungers and said they found having to stick to a plan stressful.
While the lack of privacy and control over their surroundings meant some Brits struggled to enjoy themselves.
Top causes of stress on holiday
- Travelling
- Not knowing the language
- Worrying about money
- Other tourists
- Not knowing where things are
- Knowing they will have to go back to more work
- Trying to keep everyone happy
- Unpacking
- Working out the currency
- Arguing over what to do
- Having to do things at certain times
- Not having enough privacy
- Fighting over sun loungers
- Kids arguing
- Not being in control
