What I did on my summer vacation

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It’s been nearly a year since I attended a Meet, Plan, Go! seminar in Minneapolis. The organization teaches individuals how to take career breaks and travel for months or even years at a time. I knew that I would never be able to take that much time off, but I did promise myself after that seminar that I would take a two week vacation – something that most never do during their working career. With husband’s family reunion planned for July 2011, we decided to wrap an extended vacation around the reunion. I dubbed it The Great American Road Trip.

After 16 days and nine states there are too many stories and too many pictures to put a summary of my summer vacation into one blog post. Every state was beautiful and unique in its own way, so it’s impossible to say what my favorite thing about the trip was. I do, however, have favorite moments that took the trip from good to great.

Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park is a 48-mile scenic drive from Estes Park to Grand Lake. Sweeping up to over 12,000 feet, you are eye-level with the mountains. The trees disappear. Elk and marmots romp in wildflower fields. The clouds seem close. So close, I felt like I could reach up and push them away with my fingers. The drive is harrowing; I encourage not to look over the edge while winding through the mountains. But a definite must-see of purple mountain majesty. I could come up with nothing more than “wow” when we crested the first curve at the Continental Divide, and still can’t think of a better description.

Somewhere in Wyoming on Hwy. 85, we came upon a field that looked like a river of wildflowers spilling below. Husband pulled off the highway at a gravel inlet with a gate. There was a sign at the barbed-wire fence stating that the landowner welcomed visitors to explore the land, provided the gate remained closed and no animals were approached. What a find. We let our selves into the pasture and carefully walked to the edge of the highest point, listening for rattlesnakes along the way. The field was spellbinding.

In New Mexico we watched the light, which reflected golden off the earth. The area around Taos was hazy because of wildfires, which I think just made the pictures more mystical looking. At the Rio Grande we walked across the bridge that crosses the river. It is not for anyone afraid of heights. Even I gulped when a stiff wind came up as I was hanging over the ledge, clutching my camera and I trying to shoot as steadily as I could. But sometimes you have to dangle.

More than one person has said, “I bet it felt good to come home and sleep in your own bed.” I’ve even caught myself saying it when I don’t want to bore people with my travel stories. But in reality, I could have kept going. The discovery of each place, those little moments like finding a field of wildflowers – that is what fuels my wanderlust. I can only hope that desire never goes away.

I’m taking two weeks. Like it or lump it.

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Last night I had the opportunity to attend Meet Plan Go in Minneapolis, a movement built on the idea that Americans should embrace what our European counterparts have been doing for years – taking time off from work. Not just a week of vacation, but long-term vacations or sabbaticals. As one of the 50 percent of Americans who do not use all of their vacation days each year, I was intrigued and looking for inspiration.

The Meet Plan Go event consisted of four-time sabbatical taker Kirk Horsted, Lonely Planet writer Leif Pettersen, and financial planner and contributing writer to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Ross Levin.

Horstead gave an overview of Meet Plan Go and then his personal philosophy of travel. From there he moderated the presenters, allowing Levin to speak first.

Levin grabbed me from the start, explaining that as a financial planner he saw two types of bad behavior – people who spent too much and people who saved too much. He reminded us that we have to have a personal plan, not a business plan when it comes to saving for the future. Levin went on to tell a story of a man he met while vacationing in Colorado. The man would drive Levin’s family from the ski lodge up to the ski hill every day. As the days progressed they began to talk during the drive, and Levin found out the man drove the van in the winter for the ski lodge, and during the summer months he was a park ranger in a nearby state park. He said that he was 40 years old, and loved what he did. But his father was disappointed in him for not taking more initiative with his life.

“I counsel people every day to save enough money to do exactly what you are already doing at age 40, ” Levin said. The man just shook his head in disbelief.

“If you believe you are enough, you will have enough,” Levin told the crowd.

Leif Pettersen nodded in agreement. An accidental tourist, Leif traveled the world, landing in Romania and securing freelance writing status with Lonely Planet. After spending a lot of nights on couches he came back to Minneapolis and bought a condo. But he says he still lives frugally by not owning a car and keeping life modest to maintain his travel writer lifestyle.

When the floor opened for roundtable discussion, the “how” of sabbatical taking was one of the first questions asked. Horstead acknowledged that some companies do not allow sabbaticals. If that’s the case, he advised the audience to take an assessment. If travel, vacation and sabbatical opportunities are a goal, work for companies who support those philosophies. If you’re in a company that might be flexible, do the footwork for them. Offer unpaid leave, line up co-workers to absorb your duties, and be willing to come back to a different job in order to keep your job.

Walking away from the meet-up my initial reaction was, “yeah, right.” Easier to say than do. But over the last 24-hours I have found my inspiration from Meet Plan Go.

I am 37 years old and have never taken two weeks of vacation in my adult life. Because I won’t use up all of my vacation this year, I’m rolling the maximum days allowed over to the next calendar year. That means I will have 20 days of paid vacation on the books in 2011 – technically a month. Will my employer tolerate my absence for a month? I don’t think so. But, I can take a minor (monumental) first step.

I hereby declare that I’m officially taking two weeks of vacation off in 2011. Not two weeks sprinkled over three months of summer. Two solid weeks away from the office. The time is blocked. The trip is planned. I’m going to do it. It’s not a complete unplug for a month, but it’s a start. Baby steps.

Do you take all of your vacation time each year? I would love to hear your story of why  – or why not.