Still in the planning stage of your summer vacation? It doesn’t get any better than that. Seriously. A study from the journal Applied Research in Quality of Life found that vacationers are happiest before they take their trips.

Not that trip-planning is stress-free. There’s a reason people with $50,000 to spend on a vacation hire travel designers to plan their customized itinerary full of heli-sking or personal safaris. Don’t have your own travel designer? Here are some suggestions we’ve come across when planning your next getaway.

Total Eclipse

On Aug. 21, a band of the U.S. stretching from the Oregon Coast to South Carolina will experience a total solar eclipse. It’s a perfect excuse to take that road trip to some of our nation’s more beautiful and off the beaten path locations, such as the Painted Hills of Oregon or the Great Smoky Mountains along the Tennessee/North Carolina border. For a more planned excursion to view this event, try a guided trip on horseback through Idaho’s back country or a Cumberland River Cruise.

Business with Pleasure

Attending a conference out of town? Many companies are making it easier for employees to extend their stay, or bring family with them on such trips. You might swap your one business class seat for two in economy, or delay that flight home from San Francisco to enjoy a few days in Napa.

Going Alone

The Onion once joked that a person’s enjoyment of their vacation decreases an average of 36% for each family member present. There a bit of truth there; we never have as much freedom to do what we want as when we’re traveling alone. Tour companies continue to see a surge of solo travelers, particularly among women. Adding to this trend are companies focused on providing bucket-list-type adventures, such as hiking Kilimanjaro or biking the Italian countryside.

Staycation

That museum you’ve been meaning to visit, that hot new restaurant, the theater production in for a limited run … we all have that list of things we’d love to do, if we just had the time. Consider a vacation in your own city, or staycation. Indeed, you gain the same mental benefit of going out of town by taking what you would have spent on airfare and pampering yourself at a luxurious hotel or spa. Time Out has New Yorkers covered with all the tips you need.

The Planning Paradox

While planning can boost your mood ahead of a trip, and even make you more likely to take a vacation in the first place, there is a drawback to doing too much planning. “Planning also speeds up the passage of time,” says psychologist and author of Felt Time, Marc Whittman. Planning, he explains, puts our mind into the future. That can be beneficial when daydreaming at your desk, but less so when trying to enjoy your trip in the moment.