The Key Question
This is a new category on The Silver Mine and one that I hope becomes more yours than mine. We will begin posting a different key question on the homepage of www.mining-silver.com every month to see what people think of some not-so-typical considerations you need to take into retirement.
For February, the question is HOW LONG IS THE IDEAL VACATION?
Tell us what you think. Then, at the end of the month, I’ll knit it all together and see what we’ve discovered between us.
This will only work if you say something though. So what’s YOUR opinion? HOW LONG IS THE IDEAL VACATION?
Thanks for your comments.
Mary Lloyd
February 7th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
I’m not sure the length is as important as how you spend the time. You need to be doing something you really enjoy – and doing it with people that you like spending time with. I have thoroughly enjoyed some mini-vacations of 3-4 days because I was doing something fun with people I love being around.
February 9th, 2009 at 10:53 am
I just took a 3 week trip to Thailand and Cambodia. I think it got a little long, actually. My new rule of thumb would be that two weeks for an international trip, not counting travel time to get there, would be just about perfect.
On the other hand, if I intended to stay in one place for a week or two and just hang out, that takes the strain of travel away, and I might want to stay longer. Especially if I could be in that great place and get a little work done, too, because then I could get into a routine, something I found myself missing a little bit while away this last time.
February 10th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
I agree with rkrautr- it depends who you are with. Right now, less than a week is fun, longer than that makes me want to get back to my own cozy routine. It would probably be good for me to train myself to get away for longer periods. So much reliance on home limits my options.
February 16th, 2009 at 10:23 am
I need a vacation just to recoup from all the work it took for me to be able to log this in!!! Anyway, lengh is not as important on a vacation as quality of area and friends that are with you. If you are having fun time flies by – two days camping can be as restful as two weeks, and a 67 day vacation in an around the world trip seemed like any a few days to me. Had a guy ask me one time, ” Hey PB, when you are retired how do you know when you are on vacation” — every day with loved ones, friends and good health is a vacation in itself!
Cheers,
PB
February 28th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Round-up for HOW LONG IS THE IDEAL VACATION?
I asked the above question to see what kind of range there was to the answers. What surprised me was that range turned out not to be the relevant construct. Everyone who commented pretty much said,”It’s not about the quantity. It’s about who you are with and what you are doing.” And some added “And if I can get a little work done at the same time, great.”
The other thing that was interesting was that no one was yearning for “forever.” A “permanent vacation” doesn’t seem to have much potential as a source of satisfaction.
Gregory Berns, MD PhD explains this in his book Satisfaction: Sensation Seeking, Novelty, and the Science of Finding True Fulfillment. Based on MRI brain imaging studies, he contends that people do not do best with leisure. What we seek is novelty and the chance to address a solvable challenge. He insists that even lab rats prefer to earn their food for those reasons.
Mihaly Csikszentnmihalyi addressed this same set of issues in his book Flow. He pointed out that we SAY we want leisure, but when we talk about being satisfied with how we are spending our time, work trumps leisure soundly. We have a pretty amazing disconnect going between what we are feeling and what we are saying about the emotional value of work.
The reason I asked? The current model of retirement is one of leisure with “spurts” of work–volunteer or paid. If we were more tuned it to what we are really feeling about the work/leisure balance, we would not be looking to give UP work so much as to shape it so that we can have fun as well.
March 13th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Home is a place where you feel safe and you can be yourself.