It has been 7 years since my family has been on a real vacation.
It’s not that we haven’t thought about going somewhere. At first it was just that we were having a baby. And building a house And my husband was writing a book. And then we had twins. And then we were broke. And then, it was 7 years later.
We’ve been on a few weekend road trips, but in almost every situation, we’ve combined them with something work-related. We either had tasks to do (like getting my laptop fixed) or my husband had a public speaking gig, or we went to a conference. Not exactly relaxing.
This summer, we decided that we were going to take two weekend road trips with our entire family. And we would not schedule anything work-related during those trips.
We scrounged up some money and found deals on a hotel stay for one trip. For the other trip, we stayed with our very gracious family.
And you know what? I was reminded of how important it is to take a vacation, to truly “get away from it all.”
For a few days we didn’t give much thought to work or blogs or cooking or laundry. We explored the cities we were visiting, shared a lot of laughs, and relaxed.
We experienced new things and enjoyed people-watching in a new place.
And we came home refreshed and ready to start again.
As a cheapskate, it’s easy for me to focus only on the expense of taking a vacation. It’s money that could be bolstering our retirement, our emergency fund, our kids’ college.
But I now see that there is cost to not taking a vacation. The cost is restlessness and stress.
I’m making a vow to not let 7 years go by before the next vacation.
SO agree that a vacation can help the whole family get refreshed and refocused. We’re considering doing a house swap with friends of ours… we live near NYC, and they live down by Washington DC. We’re going to try to coordinate a week that we swap locations- saving both families on hotel costs (plus more convenient being in a house than staying in a hotel with kids!) Plus we can give each other “insider tips” on great local places to visit!
Hope you & your family had a great trip!
Love the idea of swapping! Especially when you live in areas with endless things to do! Hope you have a great vacation!
My parents used to take me to state parks for day trips on weekends. Not long road trips, but not too expensive either, with memberships to the parks. Those were great, and a really good way to see a lot of Minnesota cheaply.
Matt – I really like that idea! Combine nature and physical activity… and frugal!