Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Ahh Vacations...

...I'm not sure if going or returning is less relaxing? Before a vacation you are frustrated making sure everything is packed and you don't forget anything. If you also have a job you have the extra stress of making sure your work is caught up and everyone who will need to know what you know, knows it. Leaving a clean desk or house is also a trial unless you are already one of those super organized individuals who keep things clean all the time. All the other things that fall onto the 'to do' list before vacations include; clean the car out, empty the refrigerator, make sure you have enough clothes to vacate in without having to find a laundromat, confirm your reservations, map your trip so you don't spend hours going in the wrong direction, and if you are vacationing with extended family you can multiply that list by however many there are packing and driving.
Vacations themselves should be relaxing and mine was about 85% of the time but unfortunately if you have young children like my sister while vacationing the only relaxing times are while they are asleep.
Coming back brings on a fast submersion into the land of stress and frustration that quickly erases that 85% relaxation benefits. First, after a long, long, long day of traveling (11+ hours on the road with multiple stops) you have to unpack your vehicle and carry everything inside. (I don't have the kids to assign this task to.) After everything is in you then have to unpack the bags and return all your belongings to their rightful place. You may even find yourself doing a load of laundry in the middle of the night just so you have clean clothes to wear the next day. Your refrigerator is empty, the answering machine is blinking its receiver off, your email accounts are so full of junk and spam that you spend 3 hours just cleaning them out so you can reply to the important ones (if you don't accidentally delete them with the SPAM), and the snail mail is in a pile waiting to be sorted and bills are waiting to be paid. The next day at work you will find that; work has piled up on the desk that you didn't get cleaned off before you left, what you thought people knew before you left is not what they remembered, appointments and meetings have appeared on your calendar magically while you were gone, and everything needed to be done last week while you were gone so you get on it ASAP only to find out that you missed the deadline because you were on vacation when the task was delegated to you.
So here is the question is it more stressful to prepare for vacation or return from vacation? Does this mean that you should never take a vacation or should you just go on vacation 24/7 and forget about all the work and home stress? Can you get paid to vacation all the time and not have it be work? I don't know but I will tell you this, I'm back into the regular work routine and looking for the next time I can take a vacation! (I must thrive on stress)