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Are you enjoying your vacations as much?
Old 11-10-2016, 02:44 PM   #1
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Are you enjoying your vacations as much?

I am still working. I love taking vacations. I realize part of why I love vacations is that I am physically in a more relaxed state knowing that I am not working, and feeling in a sense like, "I'm free!" I recognize that there is a baseline level of stress (stress may not be the best word, maybe tension) while I'm working, though I don't necessarily recognize it until I get in vacation mode, and I immediately feel the stress level dropping the moment I step out of the office. I may not really be aware of the stress while working, because it is just the norm, like water to fish and air to birds.

Do you notice a difference in enjoyment of your vacations now that you are retired compared to when you were working? I wonder how much of my enjoyment with vacations is under the backdrop of being not stressed because I no longer have the responsibilities of work, and if that same level of excitement will be there when I'm retired and be on a permanent vacation, and a trip is just a vacation from a vacation.
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Old 11-10-2016, 02:52 PM   #2
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For me, they are better...MUCH BETTER. Sure, there was the elation when vacation was about to begin, but as the days went on, the looming idea (and gnawing in the pit of my stomach) of w*rk would start in...and it was often worse than the "Sunday Blues" that everyone is familiar with.

Now? Well, there is no stress at any point of the vacation. I don't even really call it vacation, it is a trip away from home. Depending on where I am and what I am doing, I can extend it or modify it...the only issue I have to deal with is the DW's w*rk schedule or the dog sitter.

Also, when I get home, I get plenty of time to decompress from the trip. I always remembered the Travelocity commercial that asked, "Do you need a vacation from your vacation?" and I always answered in the affirmative. There was always more crap to do after vacation and of course, had to go back to w*rk. Now? I have no reason to take a "vacation after my vacation."
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Old 11-10-2016, 02:56 PM   #3
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We aren't travel buffs, but still, when we were working, at least we would go on driving vacations to other states. We don't even do that any more now that we are retired.

Part of the fun of it was just putting great distances between us and our workplaces and work. That's just not necessary any more. For the same reasons, the idea of moving to another state has lost its appeal now that we are retired.

Much to my surprise, even here in a suburb with population of only about 138,000, and living just 3-4 miles from work, still we never seem to run into people from work. When we were working, we did run into them quite a lot. I think that in retirement, we keep different hours than we did when working, and also we go to different places around our suburb. Anyway, in 7 years I have only run across someone from work twice, once at a grocery store (and she had already retired too), and once in a restaurant. That's not very often for 7 years.
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Old 11-10-2016, 03:03 PM   #4
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I've been on permanent vacation for almost 10 years. Much better than the mini vacations I took when I worked.
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Old 11-10-2016, 03:07 PM   #5
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I fell that I am on vacation every day. When I go somewhere else, it is a trip. Being ER, I have the time to plan properly and to pace myself. I am travelling less now, but I enjoy my travel more. This year I took a 35 day trip that simply would not have been possible while working. It was wonderful. I was ready to come home at the end, but if I had encountered a delay, it would have been no big deal.
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Old 11-10-2016, 03:09 PM   #6
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I've been on permanent vacation for almost 10 years. Much better than the mini vacations I took when I worked.
+1

If the question is "do we enjoy our get-aways and travel more or less than when I was working" the answer is much better now. Back then, there was a stop day, a return to work date, and the ever-present lingering worm in my head always whispering work related things. Disconnecting was very difficult and reconnecting was almost traumatic.

Just another reminder of how good it is to be retired.
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Old 11-10-2016, 03:32 PM   #7
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Originally Posted by Meadbh View Post
I fell that I am on vacation every day. When I go somewhere else, it is a trip. Being ER, I have the time to plan properly and to pace myself. I am travelling less now, but I enjoy my travel more. This year I took a 35 day trip that simply would not have been possible while working. It was wonderful. I was ready to come home at the end, but if I had encountered a delay, it would have been no big deal.
+1 A few years ago we took a 32 day cruise from Buenos Aires to Los Angeles. We would not have been able to do that if I was still w@#king.
Since I retired in January 2009, we have taken 35 trips for a total of 385 days and loved all of them.
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Old 11-10-2016, 03:54 PM   #8
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I also enjoy mine more. Even working for a US-based office of a European parent company, which meant generous vacation time, I still had to parcel out my days and make sure I had time left for our annual Christmas road trip, a stay at a favorite B&B a few hours away, and the occasional emergency. We also flew a lot more- driving took too much time. And then if something happened en route I might end up getting home late- another vacation day. Not anymore! Finally, I was always "connected" to the office. It wasn't something they expected or demanded. It was me. I liked my work and wanted to stay involved so I'd check my e-mail once or twice a day, maybe half an hour at a time.

So yes, vacations are far sweeter now.
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Old 11-10-2016, 03:54 PM   #9
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So much better.
With 15 years of retirement under my belt, I can say that with conviction.

We take at least two international trips each year, generally for about two weeks at a time (occasionally longer).

Besides those, we take two or three North American trips each year, generally one to two weeks each.

Besides those, we each take one or two North American trips of a week or more by ourselves, because we have different interests that the other would be not terribly interested in.

So that's a lot of "vacations" and they would be impossible if w*rking.

Contrast that with the old days. When I took a vacation (and ten days was about the longest I could ever get away at a time), I always tried to maximize its utility, which meant that the day before going back to w*rk I always found myself wishing for another week just to unwind.

So, bottom line, the vacations now are far superior to back then.
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Old 11-10-2016, 03:58 PM   #10
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We did not take many (any?) vacation when we were working. So yes, I enjoy our vacations much more.
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Old 11-10-2016, 04:04 PM   #11
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If by 'vacation,' you mean 'travel,' then .... much much better now. I don't worry about jet lag the following day. In fact I'm not even concerned if I decide to stretch out my trip for an extra week like I recently did. There's no defined time that I absolutely have to be back. Therefore I can relax more, take yet another glass of wine, fill in an extra hike in Provence, or whatever, and just not worry about jet lag or returning to anything
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Old 11-10-2016, 04:09 PM   #12
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I do enjoy my vacations much more than when working. I think one of the main reasons is that I am going back to places that I have already been to over my employed years. It is just easier and less stress to visit a place that you have already been to. You know how the airport works, what the best restaurants are, how to get the best deals on rental cars, lodging, and event tickets.

A second reason is that the internet and smart phones make vacation really really easy and practically stress free.

A third reason is that my friends now live in very interesting places, so vacations are inexpensive and I often have some personal tour guides, too, that only need to paid with a beer or two.

I haven't paid airfare myself this year even though I have been to San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Outer Banks, NYC (twice!), Yellowstone NP, and Padre Island. And there are still a couple months left in 2016.
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Old 11-10-2016, 04:10 PM   #13
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After 23 years of a hated commute, I was all traveled out. I very rarely travel any more. I go to my brother's place once a year, a 4-hour drive I make with my dad and usually with my ladyfriend.


In 2014, I went with my ladyfriend from New York to Kentucky where her family is from. We went by train (and car/bus) and stayed for 2 weeks.


I consider the last ~2,900 days (8 years of ER) to be a permanent vacation.
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Old 11-10-2016, 04:13 PM   #14
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Much better. Leaving for a week somewhere just doesn't seem worthwhile.
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Old 11-10-2016, 04:21 PM   #15
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I enjoy my vacations about the same as when w*rking. BUT: one thing that has unsurprisingly been much better is returning home from vacation -- no post vacation blues as in the old days.
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Old 11-10-2016, 04:35 PM   #16
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Great responses so far! Thanks a bunch!

I somehow didn't recall the somewhat gnawing feeling of coming back to work after a trip. I would also work straight right after getting back, with minimal readjustment time. The first few days back were usually tougher from the time differential.

As far as those long trips, having a 9 year old and 6 year old complicates things a bit.
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Old 11-10-2016, 04:59 PM   #17
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Much better. Leaving for a week somewhere just doesn't seem worthwhile.
A whole WEEK? When we lived 45 minutes from Newark Airport we took one 4-day weekend to Rio and, years later, one to Edinburgh. Oh, yeah- we did that to Brussels, too. Neither of us cares to do that again.
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Old 11-10-2016, 05:05 PM   #18
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I have also been "on vacation" for more than ten years. I still enjoy when we travel to places other than our homes, but I will have to say that it isn't as special as it was back when. Just as there is no ramp up period as the time was coming to an end, there isn't much of a ramp down period at the beginning. I kind of miss that process of feeling myself mellowing out. Maybe I'm more mellow on a constant basis, or older (definitely that!), but it was a marvelous thing to experience. A few weeks ago, we had house guests, a couple where the husband still mostly works. He remarked after a day that he was feeling his blood pressure drop a lot. I don't think one can feel that, but he was slipping into that feeling of bliss. I didn't have that because that's my life.
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Old 11-10-2016, 05:11 PM   #19
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Much better - we don't have to go back to work when we get back from vacation.
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Old 11-10-2016, 05:30 PM   #20
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I was fortunate to have a job that took me to great cities almost every week--until retiring 8 years ago. Although we live 2 hrs. from 3 large cities, we virtually never visit any of them.

We spend long weekends at our lake house 1/2 hour from home. And we go to our RV that stays in the North Georgia Mountains--300 miles away.

If we travel, it's usually to Europe--3 trips in 2 years. After our cruise to the Med. this spring, I swore off international traveling in the near future. We've had too many trips of a lifetime.

The DW finally learned how to use a computer, she's now spending her nights scouring the internet. She's wanting to go to Ireland and Scotland in the Spring. Obviously she hasn't got the message we're grounded.

Hopefully we can liquidate our old house by Spring, and then we can travel--one more time.
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