Come Back From Vacation Better Than You Left

I've been traveling my whole life.

Started in my early teens, playing basketball tournaments across Europe (no alcohol). Then came the boozy Daytona spring breaks, high school and college. Then the fancier trips in my late twenties and thirties.

Before the Club Soda Club, though, every one of those trips came with the same carry-on: a buzz. I've written before about drinking at the airport, so you already know the pattern. Wherever I landed, I landed with one too.

The last three years, I've traveled just as much. Just more mindful. More meaningful.

I still did the Browns road trips with the guys, Indianapolis and Vegas. And here's a fun fact. My first alcohol-free Browns trip happened to be the first road win the crew ever saw in person — they were 0-11 out there before that. Coincidence? sorry Vee ;)

The real test came overseas. I did Europe, where the flight itself is an open bar. St. Thomas, where Jamo in your morning coffee is just how the day starts. I used to think I had to partake. Couldn't have been more wrong. I enjoyed every one of those trips even more.

So, a question for you. Think back to your last vacation. How much of the back half do you actually remember?

If the honest answer is "the first two days, then it gets blurry," you're not alone. That's the default setting for many. Fly somewhere beautiful, lose the first afternoon to the pool bar, and donate the rest of the week to a slow-rolling hangover you keep calling "vacation mode."

There's a better way. And the rest of the world is finally catching up.

Mindful travel is the new trend

The 2026 travel reports have a new favorite phrase, and it's not "all-inclusive." It's "mindful travel" — people deliberately booking trips they'll actually remember instead of spending half the week face-down by the pool.

Even Vegas is in on it. Properties on the Strip are rolling out wellness menus and clear-headed programming, because the city built on indulgence figured out its guests want to fly home feeling good, not wrecked. When Vegas blinks, you know the trend is real.

You don't have to quit to play this

Here's what's interesting. A recent survey of 2,000 drinkers found 86% still plan to drink at summer celebrations. But nearly half also said they've gotten more thoughtful about how they drink, and the youngest crowd is leading the charge. So this isn't an everybody's-quitting story. It's an everybody's-getting-intentional story.

Translation: you can run this summer as a part-time member and you're in great company. Cut the poolside rounds in half. Keep the one sunset drink if you want it.

And if you're full-time club soda only? This is your easiest trip yet. No tab, no fog, no "why did I sign up for the 7am snorkel." You just show up.

The moves that travel with you

Three things that work at any bar, in any city:

1. Order like a regular. "Best club soda you've got, on the rocks, with a lime." Works at a swim-up bar exactly like it works at home. You look like you're holding a cocktail, minus the tab and the fog.

2. Zebra stripe it. If you’re part time membering it. Every other round, swap in a club soda.

3. Have your one-liner ready. When someone asks why you're not drinking, "I'm good, got an early excursion" ends it in four seconds. No speech required.

Let the trip pay for itself

Drinks on vacation are highway robbery. An $18 poolside cocktail, and that's before the resort fee kicks in. So flip it. Every drink you skip, move that money into your Jamo Fund right there or using the Club Soda Club app. By the end of the week, the drinks you didn't buy quietly funded the excursion, or a solid chunk of next year's flight.

Final Thoughts

The best souvenir isn't a fridge magnet or a sunburn. It's actually being there. Remembering the sunrise, the conversation at dinner, the way the water looked at 6am before anyone else was up.

You flew all that way. Be awake for it.

— Sorin

produced by Scott Nixon

Kylee is 501 days and counting into the Club Soda Club. Her turning point came after a traumatic month — overdoing it, waking up hungover again, and the loss of someone special who happened to be a drug and alcohol abuse counselor. He's the reason she made the change. What she realized was that she'd been craving peace for fifteen years and simply wasn't ready to feel what she'd been carrying. She was the "fun party girl" — but it wasn't so fun.

Know someone who's thinking about it? There's no membership requirement.

Part-time members, full-time members, "I'm just curious" members. All welcome. So whether you've got a friend who's been saying "I should probably cut back" every Sunday morning for the last six months, or a friend who's already all-in on the alcohol-free life and just hasn't found their people yet — send them your link . They subscribe to the free newsletter, you both win. No pressure, no program, no weird pamphlets.

Basically, if they've ever ordered a club soda (or anything else non-alcoholic) and felt like they had to explain themselves... they're already one of us.

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