So why travel? #1

I am going to get personal for a minute. I am looking for a job. I’m not giving up on being a travel agent, not by any means. I just really want to start making some money somehow. I need money to do things for this business among other things. Hopefully I am going to find something soon, something I can do while still working on this business. I believe strongly in this business. I believe that families need to make time to travel together, so that they can reconnect and spend time together.

We are always talking about travel in one form or another on this blog, and I know I’ve talked about this on here before, and probably will again, but why should we travel?

• First of all, we need to take breaks from work. No one can work five to six days a week and keep fresh and motivated. Stepping back for a week two or three times a year helps keep us from getting bored or stressed out.
• Getting out of our comfort zones and experiencing new cultures can be downright enlightening. You can discover new ways to think about things. There may be certain practices from other cultures that you want to incorporate into your own life. Most of all, you will learn how friendly other cultures tend to be.
• Solo travel is getting to be big. But why? Why should we do that when a lot of us hardly travel with with our families? For one thing, solo travel is going to force you to learn new things about yourself. For another, you will also meet a lot of new and interesting people do.
• Do you want to learn more about a certain place? Travel there. You will want to study up on the place before you leave. Going to the place, seeing the people, will also make you more curious about the place after you have come home.
• And you have to eat on your trip, right? Trying the local cuisine can be one of the most fascinating parts of any trip. Some of the food you will love, others you will not be crazy about. But it’s interesting to learn about how other people eat at least.

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Not taking vacations leads to…

I must confess that I often have no idea what I am going to write about each day until I get ready to write, unless I’m in the middle of a series or something. I often look at travel news for inspiration.

But there are certain things I’m passionate about.. My heart in this business is to help families reconnect through travel. Families are extremely busy these days. Both parents usually have careers they are working on. They may have parents they’re trying to take care of. And then somewhere, somehow, even grown ups need some time to relax and have fun. And children have their school and then all their extracurricular activities. Families hardly take the time to sit down and eat together.. I think families spending so little time together is why so many families are breaking up. And that is devastating. I think the breakdown of the family may be part of why this country is getting so messed up.. But let’s not go there.

BUT ANYWAY. Work\life balance is so important. I talk about that balance a lot on my Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/TravelforMompreneurs/. Back to what I was saying earlier, usually I don’t know what to talk about, but I again wanted something about this passion I have for work\life balance today.

And then I saw this article on the travel news about how Americans taking fewer vacations. And not only are we as a society taking fewer vacations, taking fewer vacations is leading to depression in some people. This is especially true of people who have not taken a vacation in two years or more.

Is that you? I would love to help you plan a vacation. All you have to do is to write me at familytripsinc1@gmail.com. I’ll help you work through everything you need to in order to plan an excellent vacation. Please let me know.

Why go on vacation?

 

I know that technically summer will start later this month, but we’ve celebrated Memorial Day, and most people are in summer mode already.. But just because summer is here doesn’t mean that work stops for everyone. Have you figured out when you are going to take your vacation yet? I know that my family is planning a trip for the middle of July. My thought is to take that week off of work completely. I’m fitting work around the other things I have going on these days, but that isn’t the same thing. Today let’s look some reasons why you should take sometime off.

• First, our bodies are not made to work all the time. We need to take breaks, and I’m not just talking about taking time off to sleep. We also need time to relax and enjoy ourselves. It is a good idea to take up a hobby. Every job brings stress, and it is never good to live under stress. Getting away from everything is going to give you help when it comes to solving your work problems.
• Sometimes we look at something so long, we can’t make any headway on it. Getting away from everything for a while will help you gain a new perspective.
• Not taking vacations actually costs us productivity. We get tired. We get bored of doing the same things day after day. We get irritable and snap at our coworkers, or even worse at your boss or clients.
• Work tends to pull us from the people we love most, our families. We get caught up in the busyness of our lives. We think our families will be fine if we miss dinner because something came up at work. Vacations are times to get away from our busy lives and focus on those we love.

Multi generational travel #2

 

I’m a travel agent. A lot of my days are spent researching and writing about travel. Because that is the case, I know that a lot of Americans have foregone their vacation lately. They are worried about finances. They are also concerned about their jobs if they take vacations. And that’s kind of silly, because most Americans get two weeks of paid vacation.. But anyway, what I’m reading in this course is that only a third of Americans are planning to take vacations this year. Most of these will take either one or two vacations, but some will take three vacations.

Our country has many different National Parks. Perhaps your parents have some special memories at some of these parks that they would love to share with you and your children? You could go camping in a lot of these parks. Or, if you’re looking for nicer accommodations, you might want to book a tour. When you go on a National Parks tour, the tour people are going to take care of all the details for you. Or I could help you figure out all the details.

More interested in your typical fun in the sun vacation? There are a lot of resorts out there which will cater to you and your family. Many resorts have great kids programs, and a lot of activities for families to get involved in together. They’ve also have several different restaurants, so that you will not get bored eating the same thing day after day.

We are going to get back to this tomorrow. It is not too early to start thinking about your summer vacation. I would love to help you plan your trip. Please let me know if you are interested.

Change the way you vacation

 

It is no secret that everyone in America is busy. Most adults work, whether they’re married or not, and not only are they working, they are trying to build a career, meaning they’re working 40+ hours, they’re meeting with other people for business dinners trying to get ahead. Children are also busy with school, sports and whatever else they want, or things parents decide they have to do? And then when we do get away on vacation, a lot of us tend to feel like we have to do what everyone else is doing on vacation. And that usually means we’re even busy running around on vacation, and not getting the rest we need to go back to our crazy lives.

Yes, I know everyone is different when it comes to what they like to do on vacations. Some people like to go somewhere and la by the pool and just read or visit with family and friends. Others would consider that to be the most boring vacation ever. Some people find taking adventures with their families to be relaxing. Others want to explore new ideas on their getaways.

Obviously, you want to enjoy your vacation. No one wants to come to come home and say, “well, I was just bored on my vacation.” But surely there has to is a balance between play and rest while you’re on vacation.

There are resorts and cruises that will cater to almost any interest, whether you’re a foodie, a sports enthusiast, or a history buff… I would love to know your thoughts about all this. What would your ideal vacation look like? How much do you do? Is there a place you would like to go and try out? I would love to hear your answers to any of these questions.

Taking a break as a mother #2

Have you ever absolutely loved something you did, but felt like you had to take a break? When you’re with little people 24/7, sometimes you need that break. What would you do? Maybe go to the bathroom by yourself? Take some time to talk to an actual adult for a change? We started talking about this yesterday in Taking a break as a mother, but let’s looks at some more tips today.

• No matter what they tries to tell you, your husband can and should keep your children from time to time . It will be good for father and children to have time to bond. Leaving them for a day or two at a time should not hurt anyone.
• But if you’re wanting some alone time with said husband, consider leaving your children with your parents or his. If your parents are far away, do you have any friends who would like to watch them?
• Make your mommy getaway plans far in advance, so everyone will know when these things will take place. If you are going to do a whole weekend, think about doing these retreats once every three months. If you just want a day, you might get away with doing this every other month.
• Let family and close friends know that you would like to start these getaways. Some people might have places that you could stay.

I will have more on this tomorrow. Let me know know your thoughts.

Preparing for vacation #2

I apologize about yesterday. I’m trying to get a new device because the device, and the loaners I’m getting, seem to keep dying on me. I’m trying out the device I am going to get, but I’m not getting far on figuring out how to access the computer on the new device.. Things just feel kind of crazy right now. I’ll be so glad to get my new device and know what I’m doing there.

Let’s get back to the discussion we started yesterday, I mean Tuesday, about Do not be stressed out on vacation

• Remember that you are on vacation once you get where you are going. Do not check your e-mail every ten minutes. If you feel like you need to check your e-mail, it is best to check only once a day. Make yourself turn your mind from work to other pursuits.
• The same goes for that attachment to your body that we all call a phone. Set a time when you will use it, and then put it away. It is usually best to pick one specific time, like first thing in the morning, or when your family goes to bed. The rest of the time, put your phone away.
• You know yourself better than anyone, and you’ll know how much to plan during your vacation. Are you someone who likes to plan everything, or do you want to go with the flow more? A lot of people like to plan one big event each day to keep from getting bored.
• You are one out of a billion people in this world. If you take a week or two off, the world will go on. If you work a large company, even they may not notice that you are gone.

Why taking a vacation is important for your career #2

I’m getting a late start, and have several things I hoping to accomplish. I’m still looking for the right host agency. That is just taking longer than I would like.. And for the past few months I haven’t even done much looking, much less writing, but I want to get into that much more.. The past months I’ve worked, but it feels like I’ve just done what “I’ve had to do”, and there have been a lot of different reasons for that. I’m trying to figure out how to do everything that I would like to do and in which order. I always want to do the things I know I have to do first, and then get on to the bigger projects. But lately I do not seem to have much time for the big projects..

But anyway… Let’s get back to discussing Why taking a vacation is important for your career.

• Obviously more people taking vacations, booking through me, would make me happy. And this is because I would not only be making money, I would also be helping people.. But people need change. They need time to leave the cares of work behind.
• Vacations are also great times to network. You are going to be new people as you travel. And what is one of the first questions anyone asks? Isn’t it, “What do you do for a living”? This might be an excellent times to drum up new business. However, I would recommend not making that the focal point of your trip.
• I run this business by myself, so if I’m not working nothing is getting done. But for people who are working with others, they can see how their team does without them. They will be able to see any problem areas they need to work on.enjoy planning
• Vacations tend to make everyone happier. A lot of t of people even enjoy planning vacations. [Some actually make a career out of it, ha ha ha]. And besides, taking a vacation might help you remember how much you enjoy being with your family.

I would love to know your thoughts about any of this. Please let me know.

How taking a vacation is actually good for your career

I think, I hope, I’ll be settling into work for a while… For at least a couple of weeks anyway, I know that the end of December and most of January will be pretty busy for me. I’m not sure how much I am going to be able to work. But right now I’m fired up, have several ideas of projects I’d really like to start.I know there is work\life balance, but I’m not sure what exactly that looks like for me. However, a lot of Americans simply do not take time off from work.

• I know I’ve said it before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again, but Americans  are not taking time off of work. They are worried about losing their jobs, and that is true whether or not they like their job. They think working all the time is going to impress the boss. The other problem is that they see the work just piling up, just waiting for them to return.
• Another problem is that many Americans love their work and get a lot of satisfaction from what they do. They feel like they do not get the same level of accomplishment in other areas of their life. [And I think that may be a problem in my own life. Being disabled, I know I’m accomplishing something when I’m working, otherwise there’s not much I can do.]
• Some Americans are truly addicted to their work. They do not like time off, even for things like eating or sleeping. They do not make enough time for their families or to enjoy hobbies.

Today we’ve kind of looked at the problem. I’d love to hear if anyone relates to this problem. We’ll look more at this topic tomorrow.

Let’s talk work\life balance

Like I said in Why I do what I do, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about my business and the kind of people that I want to reach. And the main group of people that I want to reach out to and get as clients is mothers who are running their own businesses. And since I own my own business, I at least have an idea of what that is like. Owning a business means you often are doing everything for that business yourself, and you most always run out of time and energy way before the projects run out.And I can only imagine being a Mom too. Whether you’re just getting started raising your family and are dealing with dirty diapers and bottles, or are dealing with teenagers and their antics, you have a lot of different things calling to you.  So today let’s do something a little different and talk about work\life balance.

• Everyone is different. What works for one person will not work for someone else. And you may have to try different things until you find the best thing for you. I’m part of several Moms’ groups on Facebook. Some people like getting up way early to work before the other people in their house are up. Other women stay up and work after putting their children to bed.
• A lot of women are working from home in order to avoid childcare costs. But that is not the only reason to work from home. Some women just want to be their own boss. There are some great daycares out there. There are also people willing to be a nanny for your children. You just need to figure out what works best for you.
• Stay organized. Find a way to get you and your family’s schedule in one place, whether that’s a big calendar on a wall or something you keep electronically, have something that can keep you on track. Have your kids help you with chores. Again, you will be able able to figure out what works best for you and your family.

I think I am going to stop here and get back to this Monday. In the meantime, I would love to know your thoughts.