Lockdown Vacation: Food for Thought in These Travel-less Times

One week of lockdown done, a few more to go I’m sure, so plenty of Lockdown Walks Down Memory Lane still coming your way for distraction. Today though, I’d like to share something else to ponder about for two reasons.

Firstly, I don’t know how you feel, but walking through all these wonderful locations tickled my traveller soul which has been in hibernation for quite a while, wherefore I had to take a little break from reminiscing and walk off that vacation urge. Luckily, I finally reached the end of my self-imposed isolation — wahey — so could venture out in the real world to do so.

Don’t you worry, the walks down memory lane shall continue, even if less frequently. On the bright side though, the fresh air made my mind wander and reminded me of something interesting I read during lockdown 1.0 leading to the second reason for today’s post — I’d like to share a bit more of Tim Hansel’s wisdom, his thoughts on vacation in particular, as those could come in handy these days.

Tim’s Thoughts on Vacation

Some of you might remember Tim from our lockdown 2.0 walks when he introduced us to the mini ‘gurus of play’ teaching us a lesson or two about living in the here and now. In his book When I Relax I feel Guilty, he questions the concept of leisure time and vacation that we established for ourselves. Going back to the actual definition of the term leisure as “freedom, rest opportunity, unhurried quietude,” it’s interesting to consider the current state of vacation often plagued by ‘overwaiting,’ ‘overdoing,’ or the classic, ‘overexpecting’ — terms that speak for themselves I’m sure.

In that context, Tim shares quite a few valuable planning tips, some of them so spot on, they made me chuckle. My favourite must have been around a strategy for a vacation diet instructing us to “remember that the famous response to why something was done — ‘because it’s there’ — was meant for climbing mountains, not for eating.”

While it might be worth checking out those when you do get to plan your next proper vacation — whatever proper means to you — I’d rather tell you about his contrasting idea of looking at vacation not as an escape from something (such as kids, work, your daily routine, the four walls we’re currently stuck in) but rather as introduction to something. Makes sense, no?

Vacations To…

Tim defines vacations to as “a purposeful exploration of varying length . . . of a specific idea that appeals to you.” He lists about 20 types whereby I shall spare you the ones on Health and Education as I’m sure we’ve overdone those by now. How many of you have learned how to bake their own bread, to code, or to solve a Rubik’s cube by now? One out of the three does not apply to me by the way, any guesses? So yes, I think we’re good on those ones.

Then there are Back-roads vacations or vacations you Train For, great ideas, but a bit tricky at the moment, so let’s just skip over those as well and get to the ones I thought might be useful right now, and going forward.

First up, Cheap Vacations, bound to be our favourites. They do require some research so might not be the best to consider if pressed for time — but who am I kidding, time is all we have at the moment, ey?! Jokes aside, this type is all about finding free things to do with family and friends, or solo, whatever you prefer. Set yourself a daily limit and see how creative you can be with what you have. Some of us already know it as ‘travelling on a shoestring’ but apparently, it’s still new to some, so I thought I share. Especially as I remember one of my camping buddies on the last day announcing that this was the most fun he had in a long time without having spent a dime — budgets might be tight but fun is still to be had, bring it on 2021!

Next, Memory Lane Vacations — I’m glad Tim approves of our recent endeavours. This type is about revisiting some of the special places in your life. Two Christmases ago, my dad showed us around the city he studied in, telling little stories along the way which was very enjoyable as it allowed seeing another aspect of him as a person while also triggering some of my own memories from my uni days, so definitely worth a try. Not quite the same virtually, but I hope by taking you down memory lane with my ‘lockdown walks’ and reliving some of my very own memories, I get to pass on some useful snippets of info for future travel while encouraging you to maybe also flick through your old albums and retrace your steps, where you’ve been, what you’ve done, what shaped you throughout the years.

Lockdown Walks Down Memory Lane: Here where we’ve been so far if you haven’t joined in yet.

Which brings me to the last and probably most topical type I’d like to mention, the Just Being Vacations. Take off your watch, turn off all alarms and just do whatever you feel like, eat whenever you feel like it, have a nap, sleep for an entire day if that’s what your body demands — get back in touch with who you are rather than what you do.

I quite like that idea, especially during these challenging times when we often feel like everything has been stripped off us, our jobs, our social circles, our travel and recreational behaviours — it’s easy to lose yourself in this mess. So, rediscovering yourself as a person, just being rather than doing, might be the only vacation some of us need these days.

After all, vacation should be time for you and not for a good story to tell, which goes well with Tim’s thoughts on vacations from certain things, ‘time stealers’ as he likes to call them, and no, he does not mean your kids, work or other things we mentioned in the beginning.

Vacations From…

Tim’s book was published in 1979 when one of the biggest time stealers was not even thought of yet, but the idea of taking a break from TV and the phone, among other things, was already around. I’d be curious about Tim’s thoughts on the wonderful world of Social Media?!

Having said that, I assume the vacation from concept is quite easy to grasp. It’s about removing things that might be holding you back from being your best, be it for a day, a week, or even a month if you like. Once done, consider how your daily habits changed, how you felt throughout that period, did you notice any differences in your behaviour and thinking. Maybe even do it with a friend and compare notes.

The joy and challenge, as Tim likes to say, is two-fold, as the concept allows you to assess your relationship with certain time stealers while having a creative mini vacation, because how long does a vacation really need to be? Maxi, mini, any length shall do if the purpose is clear. Sometimes a day can be all you need to cut out the noise and recentre.

I’ve actually done a TV-Free Month myself and was rather surprised how many things I finally got done or started out of a sudden having had much more time to fill. I finally joined a free coding camp that somebody told me about years ago, one of the many building blocks that got me here telling my stories, …which means lockdown either turned me into an amateur bread baker or Rubik’s cube ninja — I’ll leave that up to your imagination.

To stay with the from-concept, I also did One Week without a Phone before which was rather refreshing as well. The fact that I only had two messages when I turned my phone back on was a bit anticlimactic, especially as one of them was from my landlord — I did warn parents and some friends beforehand, so don’t feel too bad for me! But it was interesting to see that I’m apparently the instigator of distracting chat. No surprise here I guess. Top-notch procrastinator who needed a pandemic to get herself back into writing, what can I say.

A bit more out there than the traditional removal of meat or sugar Tim mentions and I’m sure many have tried before — might as well add booze to that with January being in full swing. But apparently taking a Vacation from Hearing or Seeing is something worth a try as well according to Tim who once taped his eyes shut for a good part of a week and was rather surprised how his other senses took over. He had a friend as guide while he did it, so might not be the best one to try at the moment either but hearing might be an interesting one, literally cutting out all the noise. If completely removed, all that you’re left with is your thoughts — dangerous or inspiring territory? I guess we won’t know until we try, whereby I saved the best one for last.

How about a Vacation from Complaining? Tim’s idea, not mine, although very topical. If paying attention, how often would we catch ourselves heading down that whinging spiral? I’m sure we’re all guilty of it, we’re humans after all, but it might be interesting to see if we can start catching ourselves when doing so and maybe actively shift those thoughts upwards rather than embracing the dark side as I like to call it?

Travel to, travel from — either way, I do hope some of Tim’s ideas and suggestions might get you thinking how to still have a little vacay in these travel-less times. Whatever you choose, always remember that vacays are about your needs and nothing else.

On that note, enjoy your travel-less vacations, whatever shape or form they might take and I’ll see you on our next walk, if you feel like it . . . I hope you do! 💭🎒🙋‍♀️