Staycation part 2

Yesterday I opened up by telling you why I don’t especially like staycations. Today let’s talk about the reason I do like them.. When I think of staycations, I think of families taking time away from all of their activities of life to have some focused time together. And honestly, you might be better to do that at home than you would be in a place you were unfamiliar with. And my hope as a travel agent, and in my writing, is to help families reconnect.. So let’s look at some more tips for staycations.

• Is anyone in your family creative? Is anyone artistic? You might want to take a day to paint, and I’m not talking about painting the house. If
• you have older kids, you might want to consider putting a mmural mural together. If you have younger kids, you might want to try painting with chocolate pudding. it is fun and delicious.
• Is there a river or other body of water in your area, but somehow you never find time to enjoy it? a staycation. spend the day by the water.
• When is the last time your family enjoyed cooking a meal together. It can start at the grocery store where you can pick out your favorite foods. Try some new recipes or make up your own.
• Some restaurants will allow you to take a tour of their operations. I know that my family visited a doughnut shop and a pizza shop. it has been years since we’ve done that. But when we did that, they cooked something, and then we got to eat.
•  And finally, you might want to do a park hop. What’s that, you might ask? A park hop is when you visit several parks in one day. There are toys that even grown ups can play on.

Those are some of the ideas I’ve had. I would love to hear your ideas.

But working on vacation is not a good idea

I know what I wrote yesterday. I know I work on vacation from time to time myself. But under ideal circumstances, it is best not to work on vacation. Here are some reasons why.

• First, our bodies are designed so that we need extended times of rest.. For myself, unless there is a crisis, I do not work on Sundays. Not only do I not work, I try not to be on my computer, and have an extended time to be out my wheelchair. Even then, I find myself wearing down and not being able to think if I am just working six days a week for several weeks in a row.
• Work is stressful, no matter how much you enjoy what you do, no matter if your work is mostly mental or mostly physical. Working all the time is going to lead to health problems on down road. Taking no breaks is also going to lead to burn out.
• You need time away to be sharp at work. Have you ever had a problem you could not figure out, until you set it aside for a while. And then when you came back to the  problem, it was much easier to figure out, wasn’t it?
• It is important to take time out to relax and enjoy being with family and friends. We were made to need and be needed by others. We need time to enjoy ourselves.

Working while on vacation

I’ll be honest, I have a lot of different things I want to do, for the business and otherwise. I have some decisions I need to make, I may be making some changes soon, but need to look into some things.. I’m not sure I am going to do this weekend, and how much will wait. But first…

With the invention and expansion of the internet, and so much of what we do connected to said internet, a lot of people find it very difficult working altogether, even while they’re on vacation. That’s true even for me Personally, I try to take my time off when we’re with family I don’t live with. But even then when I have internet and down time, I might end up working. I love this job and want to do well.

Honestly, part of me feels like I should know better. I want to be known as the travel agent who helps families reconnect through travel. And part of reconnecting with family and loved ones is taking time away from all we usually do and making time together the priority. But sometimes you can’t get complete y away from work. Today we are going to look at what you should do in this situation.

• Set aside a specific time each day when you will work. For example, you may want to get up early and get your work done before the others in your family are ready to start the day. or maybe you’re a night owl and would prefer to work when the others are in bed.
• Take time to enjoy your family and the vacation that you are on. Leave your phone and laptop in your hotel room. If you’re running a small company, leave the person you trust most in charge. And then turn around and make sure they get a vacation with their family as well. Let them know the times that you have decided to work.
• I know at home I’ll usually spend several hours a day doing work stuff. Limit yourself to a couple of hours while you’re on vacation. And please, do not use time your family is relaxing by the pool or whatever. Take sometime to relax.

Who wears the traveling pants?

Once again we are going to talk about Millennials. Yes, this is first and foremost a travel blog, but my main purpose for this business is to bring families together through travel.. I’ve said it before and will say it again. But families are so busy these days, working, going to school, and then doing whatever else of, church, etc, that we don’t make time to really make our families the priority that they need to be.

Millennials look at life a little bit differently.. Having your own business is something a lot of people are doing or want to do. It is not as uncommon as it used to be for women to work outside the home while their husbands stay home with their children. Sometimes both parents run a business out of their home. I see nothing wrong in either of these scenarios. But please remember to take time away from your work to simply enjoy being a family. Make it a point to do a “date night”at least every couple of weeks. Do a family night once or twice a month where you play games, go out to eat, or something just to have fun together.

When it comes to planning your vacations, who is the most likely one to plan your trips? Studies say that it’s the mother of the family more often than not. Women may work full time, and take care of the house and the children. She might have help with that , she might not. But a lot of times women seems to have more energy and stamina. They can stay up late at night to work on a project.

The good news is I can help you plan your vacations, taking a lot of the guesswork out of planning something Yourself. Please let me know how I can help you.

America: all work and no play

America is not taking vacation time. 2016 we took even less vacation time than we did in 2015.. Most manageers agree that their workers need time off.. Without vacation time our bodies do not get the rest that we need. We also do not take the time to really invest in our families like we should.

Most managers agree that we need to take more time off. But a lot of them do not take vacation time off themselves. Some fear the mountain of work that they will have after their vacation. Other people are worried that they may return to work only to find that they have no job.

Still others think that vacations themselves can be stressful. And sure, vacations can be hard if you put pressure on yourself. If Some reasons a vacation could be stressful are.

• You set yourself a very tight schedule and then nothing turns out the way you hope.
• You just have high expectations of the vacation and then experience problems.
• Also going on vacations with people you don’t like or don’t know well can turn into a mess.

People also feel guilty when they do take time off.. And maybe that’s part of why I’m doing this now.. I have some time where I can do this. And I’m not sure at all what the rest of this week is going to look like. I’m just going to have to play this week by ear.

Working on vacations

I am on the internet at home again. I don’t know what we did, but I’m thanking the Lord that I have internet and praying that it lasts.. I also want to let you know that starting this next week, I am going to be in and out. We have several visits coming up with family and friends. I am going to just feel out if and how much I should work during these visits. I know that the holidays will be here before we know it.. But let me get started on this so that I can get to some other things.

Let’s go on and talk some more about working while on vacation. Should we mix business and pleasure, or should we not?. And let me say something about where I am on this question. I’m disabled, and though this is getting less frequent, sometimes I have to go with my Mom to get the care we have to have. I usually do not work when we are making quick trips to see family or friends. I will take off holiday time when my family gathers to celebrate. When we make longer visits, I’ll usually work a couple of hours each day to do the necessary things. And if I know there are certain parts of the day that are going to be quieter, I will use that time to work.

But anyway, back to you.. If you can do work ahead of your vacation, do that. Putting in some extra time at work may help you feel better about taking some time away. But when you do leave work especially for the last time before your vacation, please be sure to leave work behind. And don’t think about work the entire time you are gone. That will not give you a true break.

Let the people you work for and with know that you are traveling. Set up your out-of-office message on your computer and your phone. Ask coworkers to help you out.

If you are working while traveling, you might want to consider having a set time to work, and either get up earlier or stay up later to get things done. Sometimes you can also work on public transportation.

I would love to know any ideas you might have about all of this. Please let me know.

No, no, you’re doing it wrong

I know I’ve said this before, and I’m likely to say it again, but Americans do vacations all wrong. Most Americans do not take all the vacation time that they ae given. And when they do take vacation time, it is used to do necessary things like errands.. Here are some ways we are currently using vacation time.

• A lot of us are taking vacation days just to sleep. There is nothing wrong with sleep. All of us need to sleep, and sometimes we do need to take a day to catch on rest. I’m not going to say you’re wrong to take a day off to sleep. But hopefully you don’t need all your vacation time to sleep.
• A lot of us are taking vacation time to cross off more items off their to do list. Errands are a necessary part of everyone’s life. And when you work nine to five, and the people you need to see are just opened those hours, it can be hard to get anything done without taking time off of work.

I guess the thing to me is that I feel like everyone needs to spend some of that vacation time enjoying being with the people that they love. Everyone needs times where all they do is to enjoy themselves and their loved ones. We can’t just go through life, always just doing the next thing that has to be done. It is good to relax and enjoy yourself.

If you didn’t take a vacation this past summer, I would love to know why. Were you too busy? Was there not enough money? Did you just want to avoid crowds? I’m really just curious.

I need a break

I’m not good at following my own advice when it comes to taking a break. Oh, I’ll take an evening off or something like that.. But I used to go out of town with my parents a lot more than I do these days. Sometimes I’d be without internet for a few days each month. I think that’s part of why I have trouble taking off. I feel like I shouldn’t take time off when I don’t have to.

And this is a job I truly enjoy doing. Believe me, I used to do data entry for a few years, and I had no problems taking time away from the job there. That was not a meaningful job. But this job job is something that I enjoy, I find meaning in it. And I want to get this business to where it is actually making money. I have so many ideas of how to do that.

I’m writing a book on why we need to take breaks from work. And yes, I’m starting to feel some of the things that are symptoms that I am wearing down. I just feel tired. I’m not thinking clearly lately.

It sounds like Mom and I need to do some family things this week. So I feel like I really need to take this time and just rest and not think about work. I’m not sure how long we are going to need to be doing family stuff, it’s just kind of a wait and see.. I have no real idea when I’ll get back.. I think it is going to be somewhere between a week or two. I will get back with you after that.

Why we need family vacations

I’m kind of doing an experiment with an online business group thing. And part of what they want you to do is to write articles. So here is my first one.

Did you know that America is one of the countries that takes the least number of vacation days? Now let me say from the beginning that I am in no way against work. Work is good, it is honorable. But most Americans are working almost around the clock, because everyone has phones where you can take calls and check e-mail almost anywhere.

But with that being the case,we’re spending less and less time connecting as a family. And you have to wonder if that’s part of why the tragedy of divorce is occurring more and more. We aren’t making time for our families. Even when we do step away from work, most families are going in different directions with various activities. We are busy. We are stressed out from everything we feel like we have to do. Making time to be with our families seems like a luxury we just can’t afford.

But family should be more important than that. Family is the cornerstone of civilization. Everyone needs a group of people who they know they can count on in any situation, people who know them. Everyone needs some kind of intimate relationship.

And that’s why we need to take more family vacations. Vacations gets us out of our routines and away from all the distractions of our normal, busy lives and us to spend time with the people that matter most to us. So please start planning a family vacation today.

Another spring break idea

Spring break is around the corner, and is  on everyone’s mind. If you would like help planning a trip, please let me know. I would love to help you.

Today let’s look at Velas resorts in Mexico. This summer their goal is to be the spot you want to be, whether you’re a family or a couple looking for a romantic getaway.

We are actually going to be discussing several different properties, and there are a couple of adults-only resorts. This is a great place to be if you and your spouse want sometime completely without kids.

But their family properties have something for everyone. Their Grand Velas Riveria Nayarit has recently renovated their teen space. Everything is decorated in the current fashion. Teens are going to find a lot of hip activities.

One different thing about this place is that they encourage families to spend their evenings together. So they have different family type entertainment..