Source: fainmen at flickr
Here I sit, in the middle of February, looking out at the year ahead. Our goal is still, as the blog tag line suggests, “six months in a warm locale.” We pretty much have the locale nailed down. The timing, however, is not looking good.
First September 2010. Then November 2010.
The latest date in our minds? Pushes it into 2011.
Like, next year.
Ugh.
Why so long? Well, part of it is practical. We want to spend winter in a warm locale – no sense spending summer there and coming back to Canada for the snow and cold weather. And winter in Canada is almost over now. So it’s next winter. And then we want to be here for Christmas and New Years, to be with our families instead of having to interrupt our vacation to come back, or worse, miss it. Plus May and June are lovely times in Spain. So the plan is early next year. January or February 2011, coming back in May or June.
So where does that leave us for 2010? No vacation. Working. Saving, getting things ready.
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December 30th, 2009
Scott
Source: flydime at flickr
Feb 9 Update: I found that post I was looking for. Linked below as well.
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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Source: visualpanic at flickr
What a trip!
I spent all of May and most of June in Spain, and the trip left quite an impression on me. Where do I start?
First of all, time passes so quickly. I saw so much, and did a lot of travelling within Spain itself. Even two weeks in a relatively remote location went by in the blink of an eye. I could have used some more time there.
I didn’t miss home at all. I didn’t miss work, and I kept MORE in touch with my friends and family than I normally do at home. I would call my mom once a week just to tell her how I’m doing. I was updating my twitter and facebook daily, and had tons of comments from the dozens of pictures I uploaded for others to see.
I didn’t have as much free time as I had hoped. I expected to read a lot of books. I expected to come up with some business ideas and have time to implement them. I expected to have days where I was bored. None of that happened. While I did read some, and I did contemplate business some, I did not have a lot of time with nothing to do. Going to the beach is hard work.
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Source: trent_maynard at flickr
As the old TV show says, it’s takes different strokes to rule the world. My mom used to say, “Different strokes for different folks”. All a fancy way of saying we’re all different.
So when planning a vacation of more than just a couple of weeks, there are a couple of different ways to approach the task. You could simply make short term plans, hop on a plane, and take a “see as we go” approach. Or you could sit down and plan each week before you leave. And either way you’re taking a risk.
If you don’t put too much thought into anything beyond week one, you could be forced to take “what’s available” or “what’s convenient” and also end up paying more for not having as much choice available. Through proper research, you could potentially uncover some very nice places to visit and stay, but without that research find yourself sticking largely to the popular tourist spots and miss out.
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Over the past few months, I’ve come to realize just how much humans are like trees. Well, some humans more than others I guess. If you stay in one place long enough, you develop roots. You find yourself tied to that spot by a house, a family, a job, and the comforts of life.
Moving from that spot becomes tough. Tougher as the years go by. You’re rooted.
Let’s say that you happen across the idea of trying something new. Of going away for a while, exploring far off countries, learning new things, meeting new people, living for a bit instead of simply “getting by”. That idea grows in your head slowly over time. You meet someone who took a 9 month vacation. And your desire to take such a trip grows. But how? HOW? That’s the big question, and for many there doesn’t seem to be an easy answer. It takes time for the way to show itself.
One day your spouse has a particularly stressful day at work, and you bring up the long vacation idea. “Let’s do it” she says with a gleem in her eye. “Really?”, you say, “Reallllllly?” “Yes!”
And then you have a bad day, and she does again. Someone your own age passes away. And you get another chance to ask, “Why am I spending the best years of my life, and the majority of my energy, doing THIS?” And you realize it’s just for money.
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