Vacations

Vacations are important. My last one was 4 and a half months ago and I'm already feeling very stale. Vacations are expensive but the value surpasses the costs, the non monetary value outweighs the monetary costs. I come back, refreshed, even though I didn't go to a spa, lie on a beach or relax on a cruise ship. My vacations involve walking and hauling my luggage on and off trains. The mere fact that I'm doing an activity and am in a totally different environment assaults my brain in a different ways and is relaxing.
The brain, after a few months of work and home, gets into a certain groove and rut and after more of it, gets stale and tired. Some people recommends learning a different language so when you struggle mentally in a different way, it strengthens your mental capacity. For this reason, I take vacations abroad (even though it costs me an arm and a leg- to save my brain) so my brain is never allowed to get too comfortable. Just when it does, I go to a place that is so exotic, exotic in a sense, it is so different.
In the past I've taken those dreaded (to my staff) 2 and a half weeks vacations. It is a little long by American standards and create a strain on the people at work. This year I'm experimenting taking shorter breaks, a week every 3 months. I'll see if it works better. Already my staff is more relaxed, I'm just going to be gone one week, they can manage one week of my absence better than 2 or 3 weeks. My clients will fare better too knowing that just when they are going to miss me, I'm back. They'll be more forgiving than if I took off for 2-3 weeks.
So in a few days I take the first mini vacation of 3 this year to go to Cairo. I was laughing with my boss, 'it takes me that long to get there.' This is a prelude to a longer trip in the future! The day will come when I will not be dictated to by my work schedule but in the mean time, I have to accommodate my work schedule.
I hope, in 5 whole days, to be able to collect enough stories and take enough pictures to fill this blog for another 3 and a half months which is when the next mini vacation commences. It's a tough life but I've got to live it.
Not just for the change of scenery, it is also an enticement for me to continue working. Without working, I wouldn't be able to take vacations. Without vacations I wouldn't be able to work. So one feeds on the other. I think they call it synergy, whatever!
So wish me Bon Voyage, Buon viaggio, Buon divertimenti.... and all that good stuff.