Why You Can’t Afford Not To Take a Vacation
Sharing Travel Experiences is off on a new journey – exploring the lifestyle design side of travel. Yes, travel isn’t just something you do without thought when you have some time away from work or school. Deciding to travel, where to travel and what sort of travel experiences you want to have all need to fit with who you are.
For example, Andy often travels alone on several week trips. That’s not something I would enjoy or even consider doing. I’ve tried traveling alone and don’t like it. I also prefer to travel in short bursts, returning to my home base after at most three weeks.
In a new series of posts, fellow lifestyle design expert DeeAnne White and I will explore the non-practical side to travel – the reasons for, the thrill of and the blocks to discovering the world beyond your armchair.
Get out of that armchair!
Money, Money, Money
And speaking of blocks, money is generally the number one obstacle to vacations. Whether it’s money to pay for the trip, money to cover debt, money to pay for current bills or money to pay for future expenses, the lack of finances stops people from not only going away but even from taking a break from work and not going anywhere.
Time to stop that way of thinking right now and time to travel more. You’re reading this site because you like to travel, but only a small portion of the population in any country has their passport. In the United States, it’s something like 18% of the population.
So, given that you want to travel more, this post isn’t for you. I’m certain, however, that you know others who have never left their country, let alone their province or state.
This post is for them. Email it to them, or use the arguments I list here to pry them out of that armchair and into an airplane, train or car.
Avoiding Future Regrets
When they say they can’t afford a vacation, as them to consider how they’ll be able to afford living when they burn out from not taking a break. Or how they’ll be able to afford the loss of passion for life when they realize that they’ve experienced nothing beyond work and the TV or Internet.
Don’t think that’ll happen? Think again.
How many stories do you hear about people who work all the time with no breaks? How many Hollywood movies and TV shows carry this theme? There’s more to life than the day to day routines, even when the person loves those routines.
Planning a vacation isn’t just wasting money on frivolities. It’s investing in oneself. Whether going away or having a stay at home vacation and not spending a thing, time away from routine recharges and re-energizes. Plus when people take a break from their regular life, they give their subconscious mind a chance to reflect on things that have been troubling them and when they come back the solution is often suddenly apparent to them.
Refreshing the View on Your Life
And if that’s not enough incentive to take a vacation, think about how things we repeat become so commonplace we don’t pay much attention to them any more. For anyone who’s living in a routine for any length of time, they begin to pay no attention to the things and people around them, taking for granted or totally being unaware of their surroundings. They live without thinking and engage the autopilot.
When people travel more – outside their normal boundaries – they return to their daily life with fresh eyes and see more clearly the things they no longer need and become aware of the actions and behaviors that no longer serve their goals. If they never travel, they’ll never grow and never turn off the autopilot.
Creatively Financing a Vacation
With that out of the way, let’s look at the financial side of a vacation. Traveling does not have to cost much. In 2009, I made very little money and yet I traveled all across Spain (where I live). Vacations don’t have to be expensive. We took an 8 hour over night bus trip down to the south coast for a wedding and stayed with friends. Our costs for 5 days in Valencia included contributing to food in the apartment and 3 meals out plus a few drinks. Between the two of us we spent maybe $150 more than if we would have had we stayed at home. Relaxing doesn’t have to mean five star hotels in luxury tourist zones.
Check out the travel specials of the Sharing Travel Experiences website for ideas on inexpensive places to visit and get that reluctant traveler excited about visiting some place other than the local grocery store.
And to pay for it? Well, that’s an easy one – no matter what your income you can save something – drop a dollar in a jar or piggyback each night before you go to bed. At the end of the year that’s over $350 to spend on a vacation of some sort – more than enough to have lots of fun away from home, even if it’s just at a hotel spa in the next town over.
And if you’re a freelancer or know a freelancer who can’t seem to break away from the business long enough to take a vacation, check out the Freelancer Vacation Clinic over at Someday Syndrome.
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November 1st, 2009 at 12:15 am
Excellent advice! I hope that more people take it. I met someone last night who was waiting for the “right time” to travel; I will forward her this post to give her some inspiration to get off the couch and go now!
November 1st, 2009 at 12:22 am
Great article. Can’t agree more with you when you say that a vacation is investing in yourself, and not a frivolous use of money or time. When we look back at what we achieve later in life I don’t believe that travel will be on the list of regrets.
Andy
November 2nd, 2009 at 7:11 am
@Jennifer
Glad to help! I hope the article pulls this person off the couch and propels her into a vacation!
@Andy
We’ll always regret not doing things (because there are so many awesome options to choose from!) but that regret should come from too many choices, rather than not making any decisions and not taking action.
November 6th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Great article! You are so right about people needing to travel (and yet so many don’t even realize it). I especially liked this: “For anyone who’s living in a routine for any length of time, they begin to pay no attention to the things and people around them, taking for granted or totally being unaware of their surroundings. They live without thinking and engage the autopilot.” Absolutely true. And imagine living your whole life on autopilot. Scary.
November 6th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Gray:
I lived for a few years on autopilot and can tell you, it was horrible. I can’t imagine my whole life that way!
November 12th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
Excellent Advice. I was staying at a friends place last week for our final week in Toronto before we leave for India. She is a freelancer in the film business and it just so happens that she was off for the week that we were there.
After just a couple of days she told me that she is ready to go back to work. She is constantly stressed out and can’t relax.
She has another season on a hit TV series starting up in less than a month that will give her 10 months of work where she will be working 12 hours days! And yet, she couldn’t sit back and smell the roses and enjoy her time off between projects. I found it so sad.
I am going to send her the link to that Freelancer Vacation clinic. I know so many people that should go there:)
November 12th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
@Dave & Deb
Yes, that is too bad about your friend who can’t relax, especially in such a stressful business environment. Thanks for sending her the link! I think some people get so caught up in fast-fast-fast that they’re afraid to slow down because if they do they believe they’ll not be able to pick up the pace again.
November 13th, 2009 at 1:03 am
There’s a quote I love: The biggest regrets you have in life are not what you do, but what you don’t. And I think this post speaks to that idea. I think people tolerate their life’s routines because they’re painless and happen without fear. Traveling takes you out of your comfort zone a lot. But with good results.
The thing people who don’t travel need to learn is that while their routines are safe, they don’t allow for growth. Which after all is what life is for, right? If traveling does nothing else, it will teach you to grow.
November 13th, 2009 at 7:39 am
@Nico
Yes exactly – the word “safe” needs to tossed out the window. Of course that doesn’t mean a holiday in a warzone, but the past decade in the US there’s been such a culture of fear that people feel leaving their living room is unsafe and that anything that breaks the routine is unsafe.
It’s time to get unsafe!
November 14th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
[...] week and what better time for us to find a post at Sharing Travel Experiences by DeeAnne White. Why You Can’t Afford Not to Take Travel is a post that I will have to send my non-travel friends to explain why I travel. Everyone travels [...]
November 17th, 2009 at 3:34 am
Hi Alex, sorry for putting up the wrong name in our roundup, it is fixed now. I apologize deeply.
November 17th, 2009 at 5:32 am
@Dave & Deb
No apology necessary – it happens.