Source: euart at flickr
If you are thinking about taking significant time away from work (or at least away from your usual work), it may be interesting to step back a little and see if you’re also thinking about making other changes to your life. Perhaps they’re related. Perhaps a trip is not just a trip, but a change in attitude.
The traditional way to live your life – as taught to us as children by our parents and by 1960’s TV shows – is that you go to school, meet a nice girl or boy, graduate, marry, have three kids, live in a nice white picket fence home, and work for 40 years until the age of 65, after which you promptly take up golf or knitting. Then you die, and people will remember you as… well, they will call you charming and sweet.
Anything that deviates from that plan, including taking one or more significant breaks from work to go backpack through Europe or live in the Australian outback, is considered a radical departure from the way you are supposed to do it. You get 3 weeks of vacation a year, and that’s the end of that. If you will stay 20 years, we will up it to 5 weeks. All subject to approval by your boss as long as no one else in your department has booked that time off already.
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December 30th, 2009
Scott
Source: flydime at flickr
I was inspired by Nora Dunn’s The Professional Hobo 2009 annual review to create one of my own. Of course, I did not lead as exciting a life as Nora did, since this blog basically started a year ago. So without further ado…
The blog launched in January, and by then I already knew I was taking some time off work in the spring. We had a number of friends and aquaintances pass away late in 2008 – a really odd cluster of several in a row looking back – and that led to the decision to change our lives, which led to this blog being launched.
In February, I was deep in the planning stages. Laying out a calendar, I had put city names in several spots, making sure we had enough time in each place and not too much time. We had made the decision to try to do a whole month in a single villa, and February was when we started making inquiries to various owners using a UK holiday web site. Bank drafts were sent to the landlords, and reservations were set in concrete.
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December 29th, 2009
Scott
Source: pattyequalsawesome at flickr
In life, many folks smarter than me say that it is important to always have a goal. And I firmly believe that. The subtitle of this blog is “Six Months in a Warm Locale”, that is my goal. Everything I do every day should move me a step or a centimeter or a micrometer closer to that goal. But not every day goes like that, but that is life anyways.
I feel (down in my soul!) the roller coaster has left the station, and has begun its long slow ascent up that first big hill. As 2010 approaches this week, 2010 is looking to be an interesting year for my wife and me.
Our current plan is that we won’t be able to get back to Spain until October or November 2010. That’s kinda sad for me, since it will be the longest time without a vacation for me personally in my whole life. But you have to sacrifice to win. And so 18 months without a vacation is a sacrifice, and not a huge one at that. But of all the times to not be traveling, this week where the airports are in lock down is a good time to stay put right?
In between now and then, I have time to implement my plan. I have a lot of ideas and not a lot of time, so I have to be selective about the ones I pursue, get help when required, and focus my limited energies on things that will move me the farthest towards my goal.
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December 25th, 2009
Scott
This is the City of Arts and Sciences complex in Valencia, Spain. Taken June 8, 2009. The complex includes several unique buildings – L’Hemisfèric (in the shape of an eye, above), El Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe (in the shape of a dinosaur skeleton), and L’Oceanogràfic (in the shape of a water lilly).
L’Hemisfèric
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November 27th, 2009
Scott
Source: me
This canyon, she is definitely grand. One of the best natural tourist spots in the world, it leaves you feeling small and insignificant. Not too bad a drive from Las Vegas, the West Rim has lots to see and do for a family day. This picture was taken Sept 9, 2008.
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November 22nd, 2009
Scott
Source: me
This is Lombard Street in San Francisco, one of the most crookedest streets in the world. There are 8 switchbacks, and the speed limit on the one-way street down is a blistering 5 mph. While a tour guide there claimed the street’s crookedness was a result of an earthquake where residents decided to “leave it that way” after, Wikipedia claims it’s intentional in order to handle the steep incline downhill. I tend to believe Wikipedia. A tour guide lied to me though, which is not good. Now how can I believe anything I think I know about the history of San Francisco?
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November 11th, 2009
Scott
Source: stevenvanwel at flickr
I’ll say right now, making this list will be easy. I’ve been to Paris twice – both times in 2007 – and there is a lot to see and do there. In fact perhaps the most difficult thing will be ranking things in some type of order and sticking to only 9 items. I may have to create another post to cover the things I ran out of place on this list for.
1. Eiffel Tower, Le Tour d’Eiffel
This is it. This is Paris. See it during the day, see it at night, go to the top, eat in the restaurant (if you can get reservations that is). The Eiffel Tower is what makes Paris, Paris. It’s easily accessible on the Metro (subway). Those of you who enjoy walking can walk it.
2. The Grand Louvre
Known just as the Louvre, this museum houses the Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, the sculpture Winged Victory, Michelangelo’s Dying Slave, Delacroix, Raphael, Rubens, and Vermeer. The Louvre specializes in antiquities – things more than 500 years old.
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