Checking in...before not spending $100,000 on a trip.
And what's a vacation?
Someone recently asked me, “I know you travel a lot for your job, but do you ever go on vacation and unplug?”
I paused for a LOT longer than I probably should have.
I was embarrassed to admit the truth. While I often do non-work travel, I also don’t know if I’d define them as “vacations,” especially ones where I’m unplugging.
And I’m not alone.
We all got a problem.
In the US, we have a problem with knowing how to take vacation.
Forget about my niche job as a travel writing freelancer for a moment. Even for full-time salaried employees, about half of them don’t use all their PTO. (Don’t get me started on the biggest scam of them all, “unlimited” time off.)
That’s according to a Pew Research Center study released last year, which surveyed about 6,000 U.S. salaried workers. Among the reasons for why folks don’t use all their vacation were…
More vacation would mean falling behind at work
More vacation would mean not rising in the ranks
More vacation would mean the potential of losing their job
While the survey was a pretty damning indictment of US work cultures, it probably doesn’t come as too much of a surprise, either.
But I’m a freelancer!
Those worries shouldn’t apply to me, right?
Wrong!
Let’s rewind a bit. In 2022, I moved from New York to Los Angeles and had this notion that the city was my “home base.” Similar to how flight attendants are based in one city but travel the world, I too, thought of LA as my hub.
I was scared to commit to the city and make LA a home.
In my first few months, I rented cars from Hertz instead of getting my own car. (Okay, pro tip, you can get pretty decent deals on long-term car rentals. But I felt incredibly silly on the rental car shuttle from LAX every few weeks with a bus full of tourists.)
Meanwhile, I was meeting people, but most relationships weren’t evolving.
Most of all, I was traveling for work so much that I wasn’t giving myself an opportunity to build a life in LA.
At the time, the mere concept of vacationing was foreign to me because I was working to survive.
The motivation for work was coming from a place of fear, not joy. Mostly, it was the fear of not making it as a freelancer.
Thankfully, after nearly a year in LA, I had a self-reckoning at some point in 2023: I needed to travel less and create community more.
And maybe I needed to take a vacation or two….
Traveling with more intention.
Okay, if you’re reading this, you probably know I’m that person staying at hotels, experiencing destinations, and flying on airlines 100+ days of the year … and this can happen one of three ways.
I can use my points and miles
I can pay for it in cash
I can leverage a media invite or connection that will let me do it comped
As a writer and (sometimes) content creator, any of my travels can be potential fodder for work and a payday. Therefore, I need to be extremely intentional about how I frame trips to myself.
That means, of late, I’ve often had to turn down press trips. I’ve come to realize that I need to say no in order to preserve that idea of building a life that I’m proud of in LA.
I also need to take the time to travel on my terms. It’s a rewiring of my brain, especially since I’m now a freelancer and the airline captain in my professional journey.
So now what?
Like how Ken says his job is beach, my job is travel (hehe). With this great power, comes great responsibility, too.
I’m constantly trying to define what a vacation even is.
How long does it need to be in order to feel refreshed? (I think like 3 days?)
Does extending a work trip count? (Yes.)
Should one not be checking their email while on vacation? (I still do but I probably shouldn’t!)
Do I need an out-of-office email? (No, that gives me anxiety because what if I miss out on a project?)
My work anxiety now manifests from within, and to me, that’s better than having someone breathing down my back or randomly Slacking me, “Do you have a moment to chat?”
I have my own schedule, and it is such a blessing to go to the gym at noon on a Tuesday (as I am about to do as I hit send on this newsletter).
I leave you with this tweet.
October dispatch.
A long-awaited reporting trip is almost here! I depart on Saturday for two weeks, and will still be partially working but having a much, much lighter workload than usual.
That’s because I’ll be on an epic itinerary in South America with TCS World Travel. Here’s the routing (including a stop back in NYC to see friends):
I’ll be posting lots on social during this time so follow along on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and (maybe) TikTok.
Checking in before going on a $100,000 trip that I’m not paying for but it’s also work,
Chris