I don’t really go on vacation, but I do change venues on occasion and I hope that I am striking the proper work-life balance as my kids rapidly grow up (and I rapidly age). Yesterday, I shared photos from my recent trip to Europe, but here I’ll discuss how I approached work during my holiday in Germany and Switzerland.
Working While Traveling – There Is No True Vacation
The word “vacation” originates from the Latin vacationem (a being free from duty) and vacare (to be empty, free, or at leisure)…think vacant. When I say I don’t go on vacation I’m defining vacation as a time in which you unplug from work.
Call it a blessing or call it a curse, but when you are an attorney, consultant, and blogger, unplugging becomes very difficult. Unplugging even for a day is simply not possible at this point in time and that is not because I’m so important or even the day-t0-day work itself is so important, but because the people I serve are so important…
I still hope together to Mt. Athos one day and unplug for five days completely (I have not “unplugged” in more than 20 years), but not in this season of life. The best I can hope for is to be in a time zone that helps me to get a jump start on the U.S. East Coast schedule to position myself for a day that is not dominated with work, but in which it is more spaced out.
Work has changed and we are no longer an agrarian society that plans the year around harvest or an industrial society in which work is performed on an assembly line, but can then be left at the factory. Over 20 years ago the USAF taught me how to fly and part of me wishes I had stuck to that…pilots seem to be able to leave work at “the office.” Ostensibly other professionals can too, but even a lawyer or medical doctor with no work in front of them will still use time off to read and learn…that’s not exactly reading Tolstoy or Austen for enjoyment.
I suppose my time away, whether on family trips or review trips for this blog, is “vacation” in that a change of venue is always exciting and I do really enjoy the chance of pace, even if I’m still spending hours a day doing the same work that I would be doing if I was sitting at my desk at home. At least I take more breaks, go on more walks, and see new things. But I guess, getting back to the definition above, it’s not really vacation…
Is vacation honorable? It’s a birthright in Western Europe, but if I’m being honest with myself, I’m not sure I even want it. Why would I just want to spend my day laying at the beach or binge-watching an HBO series? I do enjoy what I do…it’s a blessing to work in the manner in which I do, even though it is by no means easy nor as rewarding (at least not yet) as and I put my head down and worked up, say, a partner in a law firm.
But it’s my life…and for now I’m sticking to it…
I consider it a vacation to fly to a desirable airport on a business trip and have a few minutes to explore the airport and one tourist attraction in the city for maybe 15 minutes.
Re: “the USAF taught me how to fly”, gotta ask, hope it’s not too personal. Was your USAF service as a lawyer” or a pilot or some other capacity? Anyplace to read details of your bio in addition to “… operates travel blog “Live and Let’s Fly”, travel consultant, … lawyer, … service in the United States Air Force, … work on Capitol Hill and in the White House”? Thank you.
Other capacity. Happy to talk about it in person one day.
As you very nicely put it, “that’s your life…and for now you’re sticking to that…” Besides, when you truly need a classic vacation, your mind and body will definitely remind you of it.
Matthew I at least hope your anniversary Tahiti trip was an actual vacation!
I wouldn’t call it a vacation in the sense that I was photographing everything and still blogging and my wife was interviewing. Was it eight hours of work per day? Not even close…more like 1-2. Does that make it “vacation” in the strict sense of the word? I don’t know. But I do know that was a fabulous, fabulous trip that was precious and restful.
That it was a fabulous trip is all that matters
Thank you for letting us know how self-important you think you are? Vacations and taking breaks are for people who aren’t as successful and accomplished as you, obviously.
In reality, it shows a stunning lack of control and agency over your own life. An addiction. You can’t even take a break for your health, your children, your marriage, or for the deaths of loved ones.
Absurd assumptions from a nasty and ugly bully. Go back to under your rock you pathetic MAGA loser.
No need to respond to ugliness with more ugliness…Ryan is entitled to his opinion, though he did not even carefully read what I wrote (“that is not because I’m so important or even the day-t0-day work itself is so important…”). He’s got a strange fixation on my health, though.
I know this guy Ryan. Total loser. Just ignore him.
Thank you for letting us know how ignorant you are, and that you didn’t even read the article!
So confused… I thought you took every Sunday off for the lord’s day of rest. Did something change recently? To me that fits your definition of free from duty… as following the lord’s word of rest would imply just that.
Yes, I take Saturday evening to Sunday evening off from the blog…but I’m still checking email and on-call if a client has an emergency…not unplugged Shabbat style.
Is that why we see more from Kyle on the weekends?
I take Sundays off from the blog, so Kyle writes for each Sunday.
What did you fly in the AF? T-6? Hold any civilian ratings?
Veterans refer to USAF as the chair force. You wouldn’t be able to observe the Sabbath because you believe the Messiah already came as JesusChrist.
Mark 2:27
I normally try to mix up work and holiday by spending some time in the Southern hemisphere every (Northern) winter and alternating between time off and remote working.
This year I downed tools and took a 5 week trip – 6 countries, 12 flights, numerous cities/activities/things to see. It was great, but I came back extremely tired and it’s also complicated my work because I’m my employer’s designated ‘subject matter expert’ in my work niche and, working in a risk-averse environment, some colleagues just won’t progress stuff without having consulted with the ‘expert’.
I don’t regret having taken the trip, but I won’t be doing anything similar anytime soon.
We seem to be in a similar position and the point is not that we are so special or important, but merely the nature of the work we have chosen, which has its strengths and has its weaknesses, one of which is that we must always be available in case of certain emergencies/contingencies.
Exactly, though your work probably is more hands-on than mine. In my case, a lot of the stuff that doesn’t move without my input isn’t a project/piece of work on which I’m leading- it’ll be someone else sending me something to review which I’ll spend 15 minutes reading before either responding ‘that looks alright/compliant’ or dedicating another half an hour in rephrasing some bits.
Working in a niche like that is rather liberating as it can all be done remotely and I don’t have to worry about things like throughput targets or managing staff and/or budgets, but it looks like I should never switch off for more than a few days at a time so as to ensure I’m not inadvertently blocking anyone else’s work.
As long as you’re happy.
That chasing of the dollar might end up leaving your kids half full/ half empty with their memories in decades. They will be happy with all the money and other material things they inherited but might have bad memories of dad always on the phone and computer while traveling.
We all need money but at what point is how much enough? No one can tell you how to run your own life and it certainly appears your kids do more traveling than most and are very fortunate for that. But you aren’t that important that you can’t take a few days offline and enjoy what the world has to offer when one stops worshipping technology and money. It will be there when you come back. Just some unsolicited advice from a guy with more than a couple regrets.
Totally appreciate your comment and 100% agree with your bottom line. To be clear and as I’ve tried to stress, it’s not that I’m so important…I’m just as replaceable as anyone else. I have no delusions about how “great” I am. I’m not. But the marginal cost of answering phone calls or emails as they come in ultimately lowers my stress levels versus unplugging fully and then not knowing what to expect when I return or having a mountain of work to catch up on. That’s not the worship of money, but a pragmatic attempt to balance the workload that I have taken on in the best way possible, for the benefit of my family (and my own benefit as well).
The ideal quality of life job has been something like a radiologist working at a place like Mayo Clinic: not on call very often, don’t take (much) work home (unless you want to do so), and typically have a schedule where you know what you can attend without work distractions and not dealing with crazy commuting traffic. But it’s likely a job that can likely become heavily automated as pattern recognition skills are something that computer algorithms will get better and better at doing, until image-reading computer programs become more reliable than a radiologist.
The antithesis to that is being self-employed with client needs that pile up or clients lost if unplugging for too long. But this and urgent client needs is also why a lot of solo practitioners in medical private practice would team up with other solo practitioners in medical private practice or join up into small group partnerships.
I know few people who own small businesses who ever take vacations. It’s simply not practical or even possible. Could be somebody who owns a restaurant or a retail shop or raises livestock. Ask a dairy farmer the last time he or she had a vacation. They’ll likely laugh at the idea. Your business, Matthew, is travel and I’m sure the dozens of trips you take around the world seem glamorous to most of us. Not always, is it? It’s wonderful you can enjoy your job and include your young family from time to time. I hope you can continue it for many years. I also hope you somehow get the chance to take a real vacation with your wife and kids. No work. Just fun.
Free and unsolicited advice from an old man who worked many, many hours, sometimes in very dangerous situations. I do not regret the times my wife, daughter and I spent time away from the craziness. I owed it to them. You’ll be happy when the kids are grown and gone that you made it happen. Trust me.
I appreciate your perspective on vacations, Matthew! I often feel that complete “unplugging” is similarly unrealistic, especially when travel itself is a part of my work. It’s interesting to consider that for some, the desire to constantly learn and engage overrides the traditional need for a complete break.