Voice of the DBA

Tag: vacation

  • Starting a Wild Stretch of Travel

    Today starts a wild stretch of travel for me. I land in London today, having left the US after coaching the final volleyball tournament of the season yesterday. I’ll spend the week in London for the Redgate Summit, with a quick trip to the office for a day to see some colleagues. I return home Friday and then leave Monday for Australia.

    That doesn’t sound too crazy, but I’ll be back in London the first week of June and on the road most of the time until then. My schedule:

    • Apr 15-19 – London
    • Apr 19-22 – Denver
    • Apr 22-May 10 – Australia
    • May 10-May 13 – Denver
    • May 14-20 – New York
    • May 20-28 – Denver
    • May 28-30 – Chicago
    • May 30-Jun 1 – Denver
    • Jun 1 – June 15 – UK and EU

    Then I’m home. At least I think I’m home for a few weeks. Nothing planned yet, but things might change.

    It’s not all work. My wife and I will take about 8 days to of holiday in AUS, and another 6 in the EU. The NY trip is to see my daughter graduate college.

    Overall, it’s a wild time, it will be hard, but also very exciting.

    My plan is to rest regularly and work out regularly, likely with walking and biking so I’m not overloading myself, but not sitting still either. I’ll be looking to drink water and eat lots of salads and proteins as well, trying to limit the carbs, though I’m sure I’ll indulge a few times. I’m also packing lots of vitamins to try and keep myself healthy through this stretch.

    Hopefully I don’t drop any balls along the way.

    BTW, think this thing will get from Denver to the UK?

  • When Are Your Breaks?

    As I work through 2024, I found myself doing a little more vacation planning this year than in previous ones. In 2022 I traveled quite a bit, but my wife went with me often. We went to Europe 5 times that year and added quite a few vacation days around my work trips. My wife thought that was a great year.

    Last year, 2023, was different. I traveled more (36 trips), with most of them being short. When I traveled that much, I wanted to end trips quickly and get back home. I learned that was too many, and also too disruptive for life. I got behind on things I needed to do at home, my wife went with me less because many trips were all work, and I lacked energy from the pace of moving all over the world.

    As a result, my boss and I are more closely watching my travel schedule, and I’m consciously working to ensure I take some breaks between trips. Part of that is doing some planning. So far this has me reducing the number of trips (10 in H1), but also including 3 good-sized vacations away from work during that time.

    Note: don’t feel too sorry for my travel load. I’ll get a holiday each in the US, Europe, and Australia.

    I know a lot of people like to schedule their vacations at similar times each year. The end-of-year holidays are often a time when many people travel, but I know some people who take time every June, others every August, often corresponding with school breaks for children, family reunions, or some other event.

    When do you like to take your vacation? Are you a many-long-weekends-through-the-year person? Do you go on one long trip a year? Love holidays to get away or stay home and work because work is quiet?

    I don’t know if it matters, but I’m always interested in what others do and why. I prefer more, shorter vacations, but convince me why your long trip is better. Tell me the amazing things/places you’ve done/seen. Maybe I’ll get some ideas for a future trip.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Spotify, or iTunes.

  • More Vacation

    It’s getting close to the end of the year, and I’m trying to take off a few days here and there to close out the year. It’s been a long year, and I don’t want to leave any behind if I can avoid it. It’s always good to get away from work, and I have worked on accepting that view.

    This week I’m back in New York to visit my daughter again and see some of the last few volleyball matches I’ll see her play.

    See you next week.

  • A Break During a Long Trip

    It’s a day off for me, so why am I blogging?

    I actually wrote this a couple weeks ago as I was prepping for this trip. I’m in Amsterdam today, taking a few days with my wife.

    I came over to the UK on 1 Sep and I won’t go home until 16 Sept. With a very long trip, I decided to break this up in the middle. My wife joined me on the 7th, and she will go back on the 14th. It’s a vacation for us both from work, and taking advantage of the work trip means that I don’t feel quite so worn out from a long trip.

    If I’d stuck around this week in Cambridge and worked, which was something I thought about, I’d be pretty tired when I went home. Plus, I would really be missing my wife. We are rarely apart for more than a week, and it’s hard when we are.

    Not everyone travels for work, and many of us have other family commitments. However, my wife and I are always looking for opportunities to travel, and when things line up with work, we try to take advantage of them.

    Hopefully your day is going as well as mine.