I know it's been a long time, but there were reasons.
At the beginning of April I wrote about what had originated as a fun European trip has added to the work, psychological, and social stress I was enduring. I scheduled this one "long" vacation a year and a half ago, and it morphed into a nightmare of work training for the last three months since colleagues don't give retirement or quitting notice equal to training period necessities, and I'm the one stuck doing triple duty.
In the meantime, the other three family members on the trip are all retired and bothered me incessantly about things to do in between which I had no time for.
Luckily I pulled it together, managed to make it, and LOVED it. The trip reminded me of how worthwhile it can be to travel and part of me also understands why my sister left her job so she could travel when and where she wanted to. Then the logical part of my brain re-asserts why I value job security and benefits, so yeah, it's still a once every two or three years thing for me, but I should start planning the next trip now.
It also reminded me of two things. First, I was right and my parents are definitely hitting a physical wall. They're slower than they were in Hawaii three years ago, so the window for strenuous vacations is definitely narrowing.
Second, the importance of staying flexible mentally and physically. I love my aunt but she has lived in a very narrow bubble for the past two decades, living alone and having things exactly her way. I roomed with her and the patience and tolerance I needed to deal with her constant complaints about mundane issues (her hair, the tissues, her hair, the travel arrangements, her hair, the walking...) made me appreciate my relative adaptability. I'd rather see new places than look good while doing so and if that means frizzy hair and sweating, I'm totally okay with that.
The trip was from Basel to Amsterdam and in every location we went on at least one tour explaining the region, history, or some unique facet of that place which gained me more insight than reading a dozen books about them. I would also give a thumbs up to the river cruise idea, although I'm not 100% sure I'd go with Viking again for a few specific reasons. And so it's back to work on Tuesday, hopefully refreshed enough to continue the day to day while thinking of the future.
At the beginning of April I wrote about what had originated as a fun European trip has added to the work, psychological, and social stress I was enduring. I scheduled this one "long" vacation a year and a half ago, and it morphed into a nightmare of work training for the last three months since colleagues don't give retirement or quitting notice equal to training period necessities, and I'm the one stuck doing triple duty.
In the meantime, the other three family members on the trip are all retired and bothered me incessantly about things to do in between which I had no time for.
Luckily I pulled it together, managed to make it, and LOVED it. The trip reminded me of how worthwhile it can be to travel and part of me also understands why my sister left her job so she could travel when and where she wanted to. Then the logical part of my brain re-asserts why I value job security and benefits, so yeah, it's still a once every two or three years thing for me, but I should start planning the next trip now.
It also reminded me of two things. First, I was right and my parents are definitely hitting a physical wall. They're slower than they were in Hawaii three years ago, so the window for strenuous vacations is definitely narrowing.
Second, the importance of staying flexible mentally and physically. I love my aunt but she has lived in a very narrow bubble for the past two decades, living alone and having things exactly her way. I roomed with her and the patience and tolerance I needed to deal with her constant complaints about mundane issues (her hair, the tissues, her hair, the travel arrangements, her hair, the walking...) made me appreciate my relative adaptability. I'd rather see new places than look good while doing so and if that means frizzy hair and sweating, I'm totally okay with that.
The trip was from Basel to Amsterdam and in every location we went on at least one tour explaining the region, history, or some unique facet of that place which gained me more insight than reading a dozen books about them. I would also give a thumbs up to the river cruise idea, although I'm not 100% sure I'd go with Viking again for a few specific reasons. And so it's back to work on Tuesday, hopefully refreshed enough to continue the day to day while thinking of the future.
posted by AnonymousX at 1:48 PM
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