Vacations

It takes one to realize how much you really need it... And once you have it, it can be pretty tough to go back to your pre-vacation state, at least that's how things are for me. But regardless of the location or time length of the trip, there are several common features in all of my vacations;
1. It starts with thinking of taking some time off. It always seems like I am asking for too much but then, deep into the vacation, it always seems too short and I always ask myself why I hadn't asked for some few days more.
2. For me the hardest part of going on vacation has to do with packing, yes I even prefer unpacking. When I pack I have to decide in advance what I am going to wear and what items I might need during the whole trip, and not only for myself, I need to make those decisions for my kids, and since my husband shares the same mixed feelings about packing, I usually make some of those decisions for him too. This totally eliminates spontaneity. I am not the kind of person who enjoys planning everything through, especially not when it comes to clothes with a dynamic weather like the one we have here. Luckily my daughter is now old enough to pick her own clothes. Unlike me, for her this is a very simple task and within less than 5 minutes she has her clothes ready, organized by days and outfits and laid on my bed, ready to go into our bag. My son on the other hand could bring along his whole closet if we had enough space to fit it in our travel bags.
3. Now the final part is deciding on the location. One of the problems with spontaneity is the reluctance to book vacations too long in advance, and when I say too long I mean more than a week or two before. Luckily in the U.S there are plenty of places not yet traveled (by us) and as long as you are willing to be flexible with dates and locations you can live in peace with not booking your next vacation a year in advance. But one has to keep in mind that most of the good places might be already taken though. And be prepared to explore some off season destinations.
4. Now the last, but not least, and very much common feature to all of my vacations is the trouble with going back. Yes, it's good to be back at home, but usually I feel that I could use a few (additional) days off to adjust back to the day-to-day life. Yes, routines had never been one of my passions. And so, just to help myself and my crew set our minds off the trip we start planning the next one. Not the location, of course, that might break the spontaneity laws, but we go through our calendars and mark possible future dates to take some more time off. Just to make sure we don't forget again how much we really need vacations!