On Too Many Vacations in a Year

I know, I know. Its not a “real” problem, but one of the perks of doing what I do is being able to make my schedule; or so I thought. The reality is quite different. I love my clients, and have a really hard time not taking a contract. I blessed to work in a field where I am growing professionally, and personally every day. The problem is that at the beginning of the year I mapped out a few conferences, and perhaps 2 vacations. All was fine and dandy until 2 nights ago when I sat down, looked at my schedule and started panicking.

Let me be clear, I’m not panicking because I’m working too much, but panicking because I’m under contract to work on some pretty awesome projects in the next 5 months, and vacations will get in the way of that. The thought of having to cancel some of those vacations makes me ill. Some of your might attest to the self-imposed pressure that you feel when you work for yourself. I’m not sleeping more than 5 hours a night, I have tons of grey hair, the messy bun is my hairstyle of choice, and I feel isolated since I work from different offices each week.

As you might remember, I love travelling. Travelling has a way or re-energizing my soul, and allowing me to tackle challenges with more vigor, and determination. I’m also a huge fan of wandering the world and getting lost by myself. It is the truly the best way of figuring out whats more important to you.

 

 

You know that saying; “where in the world are you today”? That is how my friends greet me.

As of right now, I’ve committed to:

  1. Secret girls trip to Puerto Rico in May. This is a mini conference, and I’m really looking forward to it.
  2. Blogher13. We’re going down with a few lovely ladies from Toronto and it will be magical.
  3. 3 Tech conferences that I need to attend.
  4. Possibly Fincon13

So I have 7 conferences lined up, all of which have some sort of work associated with it.

What I need is a proper girls getaway where I can lay on the beach and drink non-alcoholic drinks, and come back to reality 3 shades darker. I mean not all of us are lucky enough to be able to jump on a plane like Vanessa. Words can not express how jealous I am.

So the quest for the vacation spot begins. It must fit the following criteria:

  1. Somewhere I’ve never been to (Short list)
  2. Provide a relaxed atmosphere (cruise or a resort)
  3. Be budget friendly (because I’m a PF blogger after all)
  4. Have sun

Its not a huge list, but it is reasonable (I think).

Are you going yo any conference/ trips this year?

26 Comments

  2. That is a lot of conferences, though I know how helpful they can be. I am probably going to be going to FinCon as it’s pretty close and will probably drive there. On a side note, I LOVE Puerto Rico! We’ve been there twice as our cruises left out of there and we stayed an extra day on each side. I think our next trip may be to go back there and stay for a week or so and see more of the sites…we really want to see the Rain Forest.

      1. In today’s world, I’m starting to feel that it would be prudent to follow more finance bloggers and see what I’m missing in that area. I didn’t know that it was such a massive segment of the blogging community that it had its own CONFERENCE. That’s mind-blowing!

        The world is so big — I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface!

  3. There are lots of really neat places you could go that fit your criteria. I bet if you spend a bit of time searching online, you will be able to find some fun in the sun for a bargain. Sounds like you will be busy with conferences this year. Enjoy and learn a lot.

  4. I think the only vacation I have planned for this year since I already did a big trip to Thailand is a roadtrip to California. I’ve always wanted to go plus I think we can save some money by doing some couch surfer and airb&b type stays instead of just hotels.

    1. Am I right in that a big barrier for many vacations isn’t the cost, but instead finding the time (or GETTING the time) to do so?

      I wonder how many of us would take more low-cost vacations if we could just take unpaid leaves from work and get up, driving away into the sunset?

      But then there’s all those bills that need paying in your absence….

      1. Thats a great way of looking at it. And yes, I would take an unpaid leave, except there are no such things when you work for yourself.

  7. It sounds like a very exciting and adventure-ful trip for you this year!
    I’ve got about 3 “big” trips planned this year: Mexico in March, Halifax in August and hopefully Blogher!

    Then, I have a few weekend trips to Boston, but I hardly count those as traveling, any more.

  9. I’m a big fan of travelling as well, but there’s only so much vacation time — I’m trying to put myself in a position where I can have the flexibility to do more travel without sacrificing a paycheque, but still not quite there yet.

    This year saw me go to Vegas, and I’ll be going there again for Bloggers in Sin City (http://bloggersinsincity.com) in May and also looks like San Francisco will be on the list later on.

    I’d love to do more conferences later on — but without a niche, I find it hard to justify 😉

    I wish you luck in pursuit of the balance!

  10. You’ve got a lot going on! How exciting!

    It’s a big year for us too – taking off six months to travel the world. Freelancing and life on the road will be a big change!

  11. Wow, you have a huge year of travel. Have you considered Nicaragua? Not as overrun with tourists, same as Costa Rica and it has a gorgeous colonial city. It’s also cheap!

  13. Marissa, I can definitely commiserate with you on the wanting to achieve and do projects you love front. I also understand how working for yourself is both rewarding and a hell of a lot harder than it is to just work for someone else.

    I don’t want to come off cliche but have you read “The 4-hour Work Week”? I’m actually reading it now and it’s really opening my eyes a bit. I’m ambitious and I was instilled with crazy work ethic from a young age but I’m starting to think that things like great vacations are essential and necessary for a healthy brain. Plus, when are you going to enjoy all of your hard work, when you retire at 60? Maybe when you’re doing well you should consider that it might be more important to enjoy things now while you’re young.

    I think 10-20 years down the line you won’t remember the all nighter you pulled for a project which was important at the moment but you will definitely remember that crazy night you had in Istanbul or Madrid. Think about it, conventional wisdom is for conventional people 😉

    1. I have read it and have applied some of the practises from the book. Its tricky because I am a huge believer in quality control and having someone else handle that that doesn’t sit well with me.

      1. Look, I hear you, I’m very conscious about the final product I put out. If you’re starting out with a VA you don’t need to give them work that would be directly submitted to or seen by clients. You’re the high quality one that is getting paid for what you deliver and you should keep it that way. That doesn’t mean that you can’t farm out nominal research, basic paperwork or planning to them. You can check the quality of their work and use it to supplement yours. Maybe it takes you 1 hr to research something that it takes them 4 hours to do. Who cares, that’s like $20 out of your pocket and an hour back in your life. If you were working, I’m sure you would make more than that (and accomplish more in less time), or you can watch a movie on Netflix. Your personal time is invaluable!

  14. Also, I just want to mention that I’m in no way related to the guy that wrote the book, it just really transformed my thinking (and my productivity) and I don’t think anything has suffered. It’s not for everyone but you can’t tell me there isn’t some mind numbing grunt work that you would love to have someone else complete 😉

  16. Alaskan cruise? Quebec City- Florida cruise? Neither are super appealing tan-wise but they’re different

    Also, mwahahaha! One day, the tables will be turned and you can laugh at me

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