Wednesday, August 26, 2009

How Long Can You Stay Before the Vacation Feeling Goes Away?

I decided to spend some time in Washington, DC this summer. This was to be a working vacation. I previously lived in the city so I had many friends to catch up with and the touristy stuff was not needed. This was to be more of an extended trip away from home. This is not the first time I have spent a summer in DC but this is my longest stay out here since I have lived here. The main question here is; why did this trip not feel like a vacation?



As of this writing I am sitting in the living room of the apartment I rented in DC with only two days left in the city. This may have been mistake number one, renting an apartment. Sure it is not home but once you rent a place the natural tendency is to nest. This involves simple acts like buying toilet paper and laundry soap in bulk. These are things that you normally only do at home. After we did this it started to feel more like a second home and less like an adventure.



I believe the second mistake was the time factor. Traveling for three months is fun. But really I traveled for a few days and then stayed put for three months. It was after the first month or so in one place that the adventure stopped and the reality of daily living set in. This meant looking for work and earning money at my normal job.



This brings me to my next issue. Every other time I have spent an extended time in Washington, DC I have not taken part in my regular means of earning money. That does not mean I have not worked, but rather it means I worked jobs that were very different from my normal profession. So previously, the entire time was an adventure from my standard reality; this was not the case on this trip.



My final error was taking vacations from my DC location. While here in DC I left two times for a week at a time. One time was for a conference in Philadelphia, PA for interpreters. This was an incredible experience with all the correct ingredients for a vacation. The second trip was to the Bahamas which again contained the appropriate ingredients for a vacation feel. This just increased the let down at my return to DC. It was almost a home coming but it lacked the completeness of that comfort of home because in reality I was still not yet at home.



That does not mean this trip to DC was not a pleasurable one. I have learned even more about the art of vacationing while maintaining my lifestyle. I have spent some wonderful moments with dear friends and sadly I have broken contact with a friend as well. I have run miles and miles around the city and gained a greater appreciation of DC and the sights it has to offer. Now I must return to my home in a few days by car. This will be my last bit of vacation before returning to my life. I have decided to maintain my apartment in DC for at least a year. With this decision I hope to be able to practice taking vacations to DC that involve work but still maintain the feel of a vacation.



As I have said before and it still holds true in my opinion; vacations are a state of mind. Maintain that mindset and you will maintain the vacation feel no matter what you are doing.