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6 Travel Lessons We've Learned From the Obamas' Truly Epic Post-POTUS Vacation
#Goals.
In case you blacked it out as a coping strategy to manage your jealousy, let's recap Barack and Michelle Obama's post-POTUS vacation so far.
After leaving office and heading to a Palm Springs for a rained-out stint, the pair headed to billionaire Richard Branson's Necker island... and then proceeded to island hop with abandon.
Indeed, they went next to the South Pacific, where they spent a full month in the uber-exclusive resort known as the Brando, on the French Polynesian island of Tetiaroa, where the former president worked on his memoirs — amid digs so epic as to inspire literal tears in the eyes of wanderlusters.
(BTW, Pippa Middleton nearly crossed paths there with the president, as she embarked on her honeymoon this week.)
And the latest? The Obamas are currently gallivanting around Italy looking like downright fashion plates without a care in the world. (Not for nothing, but we'd take this seemingly endless vacation over the stress of the presidency any day of the week.)
Here's only a fraction of the endless travel inspo we're deriving from this out-of-this-world trip.
1. It helps to have friends in high places.
Sure, Barack was until recently the leader of the free world and all. But he doesn't own a private island. That's where billionaire pal Richard Branson's help came in. A stay on one of the world's most exclusive islands is an excellent stress reliever.
2. Just relax, bro.
Hey, we all work hard (though perhaps not as hard as Barack during his eight grey-hair-triggering years in office) — and vacation should be just that. Make like Barack and put your flip-flopped feet in the sand, wear your baseball cap backward, and get your ass on island time.
3. That said, travel can provide an excellent backdrop for getting inspired to work.
Sure, vacation is meant to be relaxing — but travel can also provide just the right headspace for clear-headed, inspired thinking. That's probably why the president found working on his memoirs at the Brando — without distractions — so satisfying, and so effective.
4. Travel is an ideal time to connect with your spouse.
No kids on this trip — in fact, Malia opted out her parents' Necker Island trip for snowy climes in Sundance. (Kids these days.) So that makes it all the better opportunity for Barack and Michelle to connect like the lovebirds it's clear they are. Come on — Barack even proved to be the perfect Instagram husband by snapping pics of Michelle on a superyacht. #Relationshipgoals!
5. Vacation is the time to up your wardrobe game.
Leave the suits in the boardroom — or the Oval Office, as it were. Vacation — a separation from the rigors and routines of ordinary life — is the time to have fun with fashion, and to embrace individualism and personal style. Have you seen the Obamas in Italy right now? They're legit out of the pages of GQ and Vogue (not to mention Travel + Leisure). We're dead.
6. Stay fit... like a local.
Sure, you might want to hit up a hotel gym when you travel... especially if it's an epic one worthy of your Instagram feed. But if you're in a beautiful place — get outside and get your fitness on like the locals do. For inspiration, look no further than that time when Branson challenged Barack to a watersports duel... and Barack straight dropped the mic.
