My good buddy Phil Bell, posted something similar this past summer, which you can read here, but from returning from my little vacation I wanted to give five things necessary for a great vacation. This was possibly one of the best get a-ways I have had in a long time (minus our honeymoon on a cruise where we had no connection). Some of the following reasons are why it was such a great vacation.
- Turn off your smart phone. This is a no brainer, but far to often we forget that being connected back to where we left causes us to never really leave. I love that with my iPhone I can just put it on airplane mode and go about my vacation. I can still use twitter, still take pictures, play games with my nieces, but I don’t have to worry about that phone call or that email that could draw me back in to the place I left. This simple tip helps you fully engage where you are. ADDITIONAL TIP: If you are so consumed by your phone a follow up tip is to set a time each day where you check your email and voice mail. You allow for that one or two hours then off it goes again. I’m against this because depending on what it is, you can be pulled back and never be able to ‘return’ to your vacation
- Work ahead the week before. I found this to be super helpful this time around. As a pastor things don’t stop when you are away. That is why so many feel the need to keep their phone on to check in. I took a few hours the day or two before we left to think through the week ahead. Gmail has a great new tool called Boomerang which allows you to do a whole lot more with your email. It allows you to schedule when things go out, how and when they come back to you if people don’t respond and a whole slew of other things I haven’t played with yet. I was able to set up emails to go to people for the week ahead as if I was still working. But in working ahead it allows you to breath easier while you are a way.
- Plan for doing the unplanned. Every vacation I go on I take two or three books with me with the desire to crank through them. I seldom do. I end up, most times, enjoy the unstructured so much I say to heck with my plan and just enjoy what ever comes. Planning is great and necessary to really ‘disconnect’ and have fun, but I have learned to leave room for the unplanned because it makes things so much more enjoyable.
- Be around joy. This is something I learned this last visit home. It is so imperative that when you go away on vacations to be leaving with joy and excitement and to if at all possible be in a place that fosters that same joy and excitement. Other wise you are in a place that is draining you.
- Understand the purpose of your vacation. I have had to learn this hard lesson of establishing a real rule of understanding the purpose of our vacations. If I am going home to either Wisconsin or Oklahoma, it will not be restful! I end up staying up late talking with people, reliving old memories, running around and just having tons of fun. If I take a few days of vacation to go up to the a cabin or up the mountains I know I am going for peace and quite to think or ‘detox’ myself. Understanding the purpose of your get away will save lots of frustration upon your return when you realize you didn’t get out of your vacation what you wanted out of it.
Super simple, but super practical for having a great vacation. What would you add to this list?
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