Vacation vs Work Travel: What I learned about Myself
Everyone assumes I'm on permanent vacation. I finally took vacation for the first time in three years and can confirm: my work in travel is NOT vacation-mode.
So I just took a month off from sending a newsletter because it’s been such a whirlwind in our house, but part of that was something great: an actual vacation. This week I’m sharing something that actually gets me fired up when somebody says it to me. “That must be nice to have so many cool vacations.” You know, we just took an actual vacation and I fully understand and can explain the difference between work travel and vacation.
Besides that, I have really exciting things to share too!! If you’ve been following our life journey in 2023 you know that it’s been a mixed bag of hooray and aw-hells-naw, but we’re finally on track and it feels so good. I’ve got all the details and I hope it can be encouraging to read.
Thank you for tuning into everything I share here, on the blog and out in the social media world. I appreciate it, and even if you don’t think of it as such, I love the support and it’s very encouraging!
Vacation vs Work Travel - my realization
One of the most frustrating conversations or email exchanges I have to have in my job is explaining to PR or marketing people that inviting me or my family to come experience their destination or hotel is NOT a vacation, but is work. I literally get emails with details work deliverables and then a statement saying that my family will enjoy this vacation…
While we do enjoy work trips, which is why we keep doing them, it’s a ton of actual skilled work. Here’s an example directly copied from an email:
2 daily stories showing the experience; Post vacation reel showcasing all the experience with CTA to the link bundle offer; 3 stories with CTA visible link stickers to the bundle offer; 24 hours link in bio; 100% digital rights to content created in the trip (This will be used to run ads on the bundle); Whitelisting through your Facebook account; 1 image of you and your family enjoying the trip (You don't have to post it is for ads); 1 30 sec video talking directly to the camera/viewers about how amazing the trip was (You don't have to post this, is for ads)
Literally somebody asking for a compete marketing campaign suite with full rights to all of the content we capture and access to our social media for zero pay. Anyways, I moan, but I get three or for “offers for a free vacation” like this every week and always have to explain that all of those things are work. Argh. So, here’s what I learned when we actually took vacation last week.
We headed down to the Florida Keys last week for a family vacay. Yes, in June I was down there with my bestie/assistant for work and yes it was fun, but it was jam packed with set work that had to be done during and after the visit. When we went down last week for vacation, we got to just have fun. And we had downtime and played in the pool and took our time communing with the cats of Key West. It was just so very different.
I am eternally grateful that I get to travel for work and I have so much fun when I do it, but I’m always looking at things through the lens of work/writing/producing. That is NOT relaxing and NOT vacation. Our visit with the kids was all about fun and doing things together, whether I wanted to share any of it with the world or not.
Here’s something I discovered: when writing and doing social media isn’t required I actually get really excited to share the FUN without any obligations or intentions. Yes, while we were on vacay I edited photos and made videos, but it was because I wanted to and really had fun doing it. Vacation really does help reset the mind and refresh the joy in work (at least for me).
I’m now actively planning two more REAL vacations where we are not on anyone else’s time or bill so that we can spend the time together, under obligation to nobody else.
Florida Keys Vacation
And with that, here’s all the fun we had in the Florida Keys last week. We stayed in four different hotels over the course of the week (used points, deals and the like), with the bulk of our time in Key West. No matter how many times we visit, it’s always fun, and with this trip it was the best yet.
Here was our itinerary (basic), and throughout it we mixed in meals, pool time and people watching. I included booking links in case anyone is planning a Key West trip and wants to do some of the same tours we did.
Tuesday - Drive to Miami from St Augustine - we do this to break up the long drive to Key West, cuz nobody wants 9 hours in a car in one day
Wednesday - Drive to Key West, check into the Gates Hotel and chill - I will be writing about our hotels for the blog, because they are great options and are some of the more budget-friendly options in Key West. TOUR: Sunset dolphin cruise w/ snorkeling - wow! So many dolphins and a really lovely evening snorkel with rainbows overhead - went with Sunset Watersports and got back just after sunset.
Thursday - Morning snorkel at Sand Key Reef - great open water experience with kids! TOUR: We went with Sunset Watersports for this one too. Ended the day with strolling the city, which is always super cool.
Friday - Switched hotels over to the 24 North next door to our first hotel, and then half day sail, snorkel and kayak in the Key West National Wildlife Refuge - TOUR: another good one with kids, we did it with Danger Charters. Fun, beautiful and very eco-conscious. Our afternoon was spend having pool time, visiting the Hemmingway House and finding dinner downtown.
Saturday - Parasailing over Key West - this was the kids’ first time doing it and they loved it! TOUR: Sebago Key West took us out for this one. Even though it’s a slow alight and descent, the heights made us worried the kids would bail, but they didn’t! Afternoon exploring the south side of the island: Key West Butterfly Gardens and Conservatory, Florida Keys NOAA Eco Discovery Center, Fort Zachary Taylor State Park and the Key West Aquarium. Busy day but so fun!
Sunday - kayaking through the mangrove islands off Geiger Key with Key West Eco Tours. Last month I had an incredible sailing/paddling/snorkel tour with KW Eco and the kayaking at Geiger Key was just as remarkable. TOUR: we did this one with Key West Eco Tours. And to just finish things off with a bang we booked one final expedition to Looe Key Reef from Big Pine Key. We went with Captain Hook’s on a two tank/two site dive, which was great for getting varied underwater experiences. End the day at our hotel on Key Largo to have a shorter drive home the next day.
Yes, this trip is costly to recreate. No, you don’t need to be on boats every single day. Yes, there are great budget meal options. No, there’s never a ton of beach time on a Florida Keys trip. Yes, it’s always fun and delightful.
Wyoming Recap - awesome road trip
As I was writing down what I wanted to share in this week’s newsletter I realized that I never talked about Wyoming. OMG. So, we did a really fun Wyoming road trip last month at the request of Visit Wyoming, and we explored a bunch of the western side of the state. We’ve been to WY lots of times, but usually to do Yellowstone National Park. Well, on this trip we did that as well as Cody, Lander and Fossil Country.
Check out our complete Western Wyoming road trip here!
One thing that made this trip so great was how into the kids were. They always have fun, but on this trip there was so much of the type of science they care about (paleontology and geology) that they were genuinely giddy for different activities. We did everything from quarrying for fossils ourselves to visiting a dinosaur dig site. I loved getting to be at the Eastern Shoshone Indian Days Powwow, and I think Chris just enjoyed it all.
And the big bonus was getting some great new family photos (always a win). We added to our old time photo collection when we went through Cody. Stopping into the Way Back When photo studio, we now have a new family cowboy photo to add to the wall.
Washington Visit - a good reminder about the PNW
Last month we also went back to Washington State. We left WA in 2020 and have only been back once since moving. This was our second visit and while it was the most beautiful week in the history of Washington, it was a bit deceiving. Riding bikes and taking the ferry to go to a Mariner’s game was all so fun and sunny, but it’s really not the norm.
One of the main reasons we left Washington was to get away from the constant gray skies and depressing weather. Our visit was anything but that. There were moments when it felt like we shouldn’t have left, but then we remember how continual dripping clouds with no end in sight really can wear down mental and physical health.
I posted one thing on Instagram about that sentiment and how the weather has an impact, and people came out of the woodwork telling me how wrong I am and how they would never even dream of visiting disgusting Florida. Well, good thing there’s a place for everyone cuz yeah.
Life Update - Why We’re Done with Investment Properties
I’m so excited to share that today we signed our closing documents on selling our vacation rental. The sale of our house in May was a nightmarish disaster and I have been stressing that selling our bungalow would be too since we were stuck in a contract with the same agents, but it’s been minimally bad and now we’re all but done. We just have to get confirmation that the buyers have signed.
So why are we done with investment properties? Having the vacation rental for the last three years has been a part time job with full time stress. That’s not what we wanted. We bought the house so friends and family would have a place to stay and would come enjoy the Florida life next door to us. Well, that has happened minimally over the years and so the house has really only had the function of being an investment and life-sucker. So we decided to sell it, especially since we don’t live next door to it anymore.
Our June guests really sealed the deal though. They were absolute nightmares… although we didn’t know it until several weeks into their scheduled month long stay. After about 14 days at the house, I got a message from Airbnb stating that they were refunding the guest for their stay and would be refunding them for their unstayed nights as well. They said that the guest reported the house to be unclean and unsafe. Yeah no.
I am the king of documentation and photo evidence. I took it up with Airbnb and proved that this guest was scamming us and got paid for their stayed nights. I agreed to refund them for the rest of their stay despite it all just because I didn’t want to deal with the stress and potential further issues. Unfortunately, they were still allowed to leave a 1 star, totally inaccurate review that Airbnb wouldn’t take down despite me proof of a scam and my documented conversation. And I will not deal with THAT again. Unlisted, sold, done. Be gone, y’all.
The Savannah Apartment - Woot woot!!
On a lighter note, after two years of being on the waitlist to get a rental permit for our apartment in Savannah we got it, we have an awesome property manager (I’m not dealing with things) and it’s being rented to cool people wanting to experience Savannah. CHECK OUT OUR SAVANNAH PLACE HERE!
Upcoming trips - Life on the Road!
Yes, we’ve got both fun and work trips coming up that I’m excited about. We’ve also had a big change happen with our schedule, but it’s ultimately going to be great, both for the business element and the family experience side of things. So, here’s what we’ve got happening for the rest of the year:
Maine - adventures in the Maine highlands and MidCoast areas - fun/work trip, but mostly fun and time with family
Montana - exploring Central MT including the “birthplace of the West” and more - work trip w/ my trusty new assistant (I’ll introduce her next newsletter)
Gulf Shores, Alabama - I am so excited to get to speak at the Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA) conference this year. I love this group of people, and what I’ll be talking about is finding and creating value in online publishing. That may not sound exciting, but it’s basically how to both earn from writing for yourself and how to advocate for pay in self-publishing. It’s going to be awesome!
Glacier Country, MT - I know, two trips to Montana in three months, but for good reason: work AND Elliott (youngest) gets to come with me!
Hawaii Island Hopping Uncruise - we were supposed to be doing an Uncruise in Belize and Guatemala but our sailing was changed and now we’ll be visiting several Hawaiian islands - work trip (and we’ll add a few days for seeing our friends)
Phoenix, AZ and the Desert - I’ll be speaking at the America Outdoors conference, which is really for outdoor adventure guides and vendors, but I’ll be helping people learn about promoting their outdoor experiences through working with content creators AND their local destination boards. I geek out about stuff like this. And then post-conference I get to do a little exploring with a friend.
You see how this all sounds like tons of fun (and is) but it’s a lot of work along with it. The rest of the year is going to be busy, but also such an awesome bunch of destinations to explore and share!
Thank you for tagging along on our adventures. Next newsletter should be full of fun ideas for fall and hopefully some exciting info about our additional websites (a lot of stuff in the works!).
Stay safe, happy traveling, and we’ll see you later!