By proposing personal luckiness as an antecedent and time orientation (present and future orientations) as the mediator, this paper explores the mechanism that prompts novelty seeking during vacation. Drawing from 488 questionnaire survey responses, this study reveals that there are different ways to predict the four dimensions of novelty seeking during vacation. Specifically, personal luckiness enhances thrill seeking and boredom alleviation because of present and future orientations while heightening surprise seeking because of present-orientation and desire for new experience because of future-orientation. Furthermore, the risk-related dimensions including thrill seeking and surprise seeking are primarily predicted by present-orientation, whereas other dimensions including desire for new experience and boredom alleviation are mainly shaped by future-orientation. This study contributes to the leisure literature by adding personal luckiness and time orientation as antecedents of novelty seeking and enriches the broader literature with findings about luck and time orientation. Meaningful implications are provided for marketers.