I Love to “Be” on Vacation — I Hate to “Go” on Vacation

Free AI web copilot to create summaries, insights and extended knowledge, download it at here

2032

Abstract

time filled with hopes and plans for future travel. I couldn’t wait for my first chance to see what I’d been missing.</p><p id="e08f">So, as I prepared for my first airplane ride in well over a year, I began to revisit some of my previously glossed-over reasons for hating the preparation and execution of any travel plans.</p><ul><li>Suitcase size? Medium or large? One for me and a separate one for my husband or could we get by with one large one and one small one that we would share?</li><li>Clothing selection? We were going to a very warm climate. Were shorts and a swimsuit and related paraphernalia enough? What about slacks for evening, boots for hiking, long sleeves and a jacket for when the weather turned cooler? What if every day was cooler? Would we have enough clothes to accommodate any extreme in weather we might encounter? Was there going to be a need for dressier clothing?</li><li>Airline reservations could be challenging. Should we opt for a flight with a longer layover between flights, just in case our initial flight was delayed? Why would we want to waste needless hours of vacation time sitting around in the airport waiting for our connecting flight? Why would we want to waste need hours of vacation time sitting around the airport waiting for a rebooked connecting flight if we missed our original connection?</li><li>Hotel reservations. Queen or king? Top floor, lower level, away from the elevators and ice machine? How important is the hotel room anyway? We are going to see the sites, not the four walls of a hotel room.</li><li>How long should we stay? Three days, a week, a month? How long can we afford to stay? Are we going to seek out friends/relatives along our way? Are we going to avoid friends/relatives along our way?</li><li>Airport check-in. As annoying as ever. Removed shoes, belt, contents of pockets — still got patted down on the other end of the electronic x-ray gadget and had my Swiss Army knife/corkscrew confiscated (never to be seen again). I should have remembered this

Options

one from past experience but some lessons take a lifetime to learn.</li></ul><p id="f585">The list of annoyances could continue but, when I finally reached my destination, those fleeting thoughts of all the reasons why I don’t like to “go” on vacation slipped away. They were replaced with thoughts of mental release and a sense of realizing my goal — It was time for me to “be” on <a href="https://readmedium.com/travel-the-real-rewards-come-later-2d2f726fc902?source=friends_link&sk=a2c6afe51e9bb99c37c2496d3165e720">vacation</a>.</p><p id="a38d">This is in direct contradiction to the adage that “Life is the journey, not the destination.” In my case, vacation (and all that it implies) is the destination, not the journey it took to get there.</p><p id="43f1"><b>RECENT STORIES</b></p><div id="fff4" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/six-days-in-barbados-c50ef61c5809"> <div> <div> <h2>Six Days in Barbados</h2> <div><h3>Take every opportunity to live large with your gift of life.</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*HAzx1opfJviC0JWp)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="4eb5" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/fresh-tips-for-a-successful-vacation-ecd2ab72c697"> <div> <div> <h2>Fresh Tips for a Successful Vacation</h2> <div><h3>It’s nice to get away from the comforts of home, as long as you remember to take the essentials with you.</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*rI1YpbiAmuH4Qabf)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

I Love to “Be” on Vacation — I Hate to “Go” on Vacation

If that sounds a bit confusing, let me explain.

Living in pandemic semi-isolation has taught most of us a few important lessons. We have learned to either further appreciate or grow to despise those with whom we share living quarters (depending upon your personal relationship parameters). We have achieved a much valued time frame in which to “finally” pursue interests, training or other pursuits previously put off because of preconceived time constraints. I say “finally” because we all have, and have always had, the same 24 hours in any given day to build the structure of our lives. The pandemic didn’t change that. We just needed this hard stop of the pandemic to take a good, long look at how we were creating (or squandering) our time on this earth.

We have all been given a timeout of sorts to contemplate exactly who and what is important in our lives. Some of us used this time wisely. Others spent too long chomping at the bit, waiting for some sort of early parole from this imposed sentence.

The shackles have begun to lift for society recently and, with that, the opportunity to live life on our own terms has gradually returned. For me, that means the opportunity and privilege to travel once again.

Travel has been in my blood for as long as I can remember. I have been mostly fortunate in my opportunities to see much of the world, with a life time filled with hopes and plans for future travel. I couldn’t wait for my first chance to see what I’d been missing.

So, as I prepared for my first airplane ride in well over a year, I began to revisit some of my previously glossed-over reasons for hating the preparation and execution of any travel plans.

Suitcase size? Medium or large? One for me and a separate one for my husband or could we get by with one large one and one small one that we would share?

Clothing selection? We were going to a very warm climate. Were shorts and a swimsuit and related paraphernalia enough? What about slacks for evening, boots for hiking, long sleeves and a jacket for when the weather turned cooler? What if every day was cooler? Would we have enough clothes to accommodate any extreme in weather we might encounter? Was there going to be a need for dressier clothing?

Airline reservations could be challenging. Should we opt for a flight with a longer layover between flights, just in case our initial flight was delayed? Why would we want to waste needless hours of vacation time sitting around in the airport waiting for our connecting flight? Why would we want to waste need hours of vacation time sitting around the airport waiting for a rebooked connecting flight if we missed our original connection?

Hotel reservations. Queen or king? Top floor, lower level, away from the elevators and ice machine? How important is the hotel room anyway? We are going to see the sites, not the four walls of a hotel room.

How long should we stay? Three days, a week, a month? How long can we afford to stay? Are we going to seek out friends/relatives along our way? Are we going to avoid friends/relatives along our way?

Airport check-in. As annoying as ever. Removed shoes, belt, contents of pockets — still got patted down on the other end of the electronic x-ray gadget and had my Swiss Army knife/corkscrew confiscated (never to be seen again). I should have remembered this one from past experience but some lessons take a lifetime to learn.

The list of annoyances could continue but, when I finally reached my destination, those fleeting thoughts of all the reasons why I don’t like to “go” on vacation slipped away. They were replaced with thoughts of mental release and a sense of realizing my goal — It was time for me to “be” on vacation.

This is in direct contradiction to the adage that “Life is the journey, not the destination.” In my case, vacation (and all that it implies) is the destination, not the journey it took to get there.

RECENT STORIES