Vacation – the state of vacating.
The suffix turns the verb vacate into a process, state, or condition.
The verb vacate comes from the Latin vac?tus, past participle of vac?re, to be empty.
About 8 months ago I read an article by Tim Maurer about his justification of a 10-day vacation instead of a 7 day vacation. Here are his points, all of which hit home:
- A 10-Day Vacation Gives You Time to Surrender, to Capitulate, and to Truly Vacate
- Travel Consumes a Lesser Percentage of Your Total Vacation Time
- It Opens the Door to a Vacation with Multiple Stops
- You’re Gone Long Enough That You’re Forced to Off-Load Your Duties at Work
- You’re Gone Long Enough That You’re Forced to Budget Financially
- It Leaves Sufficient Time for the Creation of Memories Through Experienceand the Catharsis of Do-Nothing Relaxation
All of those resonated with me. All. of. them.
So, almost on a whim, Kristen and I booked a 10-day vacation we’re jokingly calling “The Surf & Turf Vacation.” We’re leaving tomorrow to spend 5-days in Yosemite National Park, camping with my cousins Trent & Marisa and their kids. After that we’re going to spend 5-days in a tiny little California beach town called Cayucos in a beach house we found on Airbnb.
So that’s the plan.
August through November is going to be a sprint. We have lots and lots of awesome stuff to do at the Cartel and to get it all done with the right attitude the most efficient thing I can do is a good & proper vacation.
So it’s 10-days away from home. No computer. I’m locking up my iPhone in the van. No blogging. No social media-ing. No texting. No meetings or troubleshooting. We’ve got a housesitter to take care of the house, work stuff will wait, my job is to play with my kids, hang with my wife, read some fiction books… watch some movies… and vacate. (Loving that word!)
Question: How good are you at vacating?
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