When was the last time you took a vacation?

[Electra]

Its been about 5 years since I had a vacation...always seemed to be a ton of work. Now there's just me there's a couple of tons more work of course.

When was your last real vacation..and how do you manage to get away and still run your business and meet all the deadlines?

[softball]

Originally Posted by Electra

Its been about 5 years since I had a vacation...always seemed to be a ton of work. Now there's just me there's a couple of tons more work of course.

When was your last real vacation..and how do you manage to get away and still run your business and meet all the deadlines?

We were away February and March this year. The business is pre prepared and comes along for maintenance.

[miz_wright]

I work for a company, so I get some leeway that others might not have.

I went on vacation in June to go camping at a music festival for four days. I even turned off email forwarding to my phone!

... but I still ended up working some when I'd get texts/ etc. Last year, my honey took me to Disney World for a week for my birthday, and every morning before we left the condo, I'd do a few hours of work.

[TheEnforcer]

A couple years ago when I stayed for a few days after the convention in Hollywood, Florida.

[sunfunbill]

I just got back from Vermont, my home state. I went up for the fall foliage, but I was about 2 weeks late. I work at home so all I had to do was bring my laptop. Did just a few hours work a day. I made a page of pictures in my leather site if you want to see them:
leathersupreme.com/vermont-vacation-pictures-2009/

I don't have enough post yet to make a url, so you'll have to add the rest.

[housekeeper]

1969

[Toby]

Very pretty locale.

For the copy/paste challenged: http://leathersupreme.com/vermont-va...pictures-2009/

The scenic mountain streams and changing Fall colors are a couple of thing I miss since I moved to Texas.

[EmporerEJ]

40th birthday, (always during Internext/CES/AVNExpo,) stayed a few extra days in Vegas and did what I wanted to.
Glad I did, too.

Same year, went for a shuttle launch. Purely for the shuttle launch and took a day at Epcot. Liked that too.

[LAJ]

Family vacation in December 2008... also had a mini-one for myself in May 2009.

[sunfunbill]

Thanks Toby. Yeah if I had gone up 2 weeks earlier I would have gone up Vermont's highest mountain and got some great shots when the leaves were the best. Oh well, next year! I just LOVE working from home and being able to go anywhere at anytime.

[MRock]

Been on vacation since late '99 ... the day I have to work again for someone else, it is over

[bluemoney]

September 2008 Atlanta Forum. Hanging out with Gonzo, Hell Puppy, Toby & Wicked Sexy Liz!

I had a blast.

[Hell Puppy]

Guess you have to define vacation. I cant resist looking at my phone for emails and texts, so technically I am sort of always working.

[miz_wright]

Originally Posted by bluemoney

September 2008 Atlanta Forum. Hanging out with Gonzo, Hell Puppy, Toby & Wicked Sexy Liz!

I had a blast.

D'aw :">

And I second Hell Puppy - I go on "vacation," but I very rarely shut it all down.

[DannyCox]

technology has ruined my chances for a great vacation! In the past, we would do our usual sailing in the Caribbean for a few weeks, and i could stay away from the Internet as it just wasn't accessible. then the Internet cafes started up and I could take time to check e-mail when we were anchored near one. Just dinghy ashore and book some time.

But these days, the entire Caribbean feels like it's wired, with wireless! I can sit out at anchor with my laptop and find fast wireless connections all over the place! The last time we went, no one even knew I was gone. I spent 4 to 5 hours every day doing work from the boat.

Not really a good thing...

[Hell Puppy]

Yeah, we're *too* attached.

Corporate types now cant be 9-5 even if they want to....the phone is always there, and now so is the email.

In our world, we largely could if we're our own boss, but dont because we care about our businesses. And our phones now dont allow us those "forced" downtime periods, we're always able to attach and have a look see at what's happening with our business.

It's not healthy.

It gets worse when our phones are now such a part of us that we blend personal and business through them. That means you take your phone with you on vacation to keep in touch with friends and family but that temptation is always there.

I hope to use google voice to work on that a bit...just haven't had time to play with it. I have also taken my sim out of my blackberry and put it into an old school phone-only phone in the past to avoid email temptation, but now I'm so addicted to apps and the other goodies on my phones that I dont see that happening either.

[RawAlex]

For the last couple of years, I have enjoy Chinese New Year on the mainland (in china) in February, typically a 2 or 3 week adventure. It is absolutely enjoyable to get away from working, with really no viable internet connection, and no desire to access any of my "work" from the mainland, so pretty much things are good.

I also enjoyed a nice week in Hong Kong this summer, wish it had been longer but the people travelling with me were a bit time limited.

I find that if I don't take a break every 6 months or so, I go a little mental and the quality and volume of work drops dramatically, to the point that a week or two off is actually good for the net production over the time frame anyway. Sometimes you just have to stop.