A Vacation from Vacationing

(Photo details:  Italy, 2017--biking out of the seaside town of Oltranto after an al fresco lunch)

 

Yesterday I wrote a test-drive post, which has made me in the mood to tell you more about some of those things I touched on in that post.  This one is to answer the travel question.

On our last big trip, to Italy two years ago, I made Doug sign a piece of paper on the flight home that said, “I, Doug, hereby certify that I am never travelling again.”  That was on the flight that was cancelled, well the one we ran to with three minutes to spare because our flight had been cancelled. Wait, let me start at the beginning.

In general, I was already souring on travel before this trip.  I miss my piano, my friends, and my cat when I’m on gone (not necessarily in that order).  Travelling has always been a trade-off between fun and hassle.  When I was working it was worth the hassle to get to spend quality time with Doug.  Now I get near full-time quality time with Doug, so travelling to do something I can already do for free without the hassle is less appealing.  Not to mention the aforementioned friends, cat and piano.

This trip started with the usual discomforts of air travel, hassles of connections, and time-zone-change exhaustion.  After spending two hours getting from gate to curbside at the Rome airport, in my jet-lagged haze, I left my purse behind in the taxi from the airport to the hotel. You know, the purse with my wallet, phone, and both of our passports.  My phone ringer was off and the battery was dead anyway, so I couldn’t call my purse to get the attention of the driver.  Luckily, I had arranged the ride through the hotel when I booked the room, so, they were able to track down the right taxi company who called the driver who brought my purse back within the hour.  But that didn’t stop us from worrying and then ruminating on the what-if’s all afternoon.

After two delightful days in Rome, we were flying to Brindisi for our organized bike trip through Puglia.  I’ll spare you the play-by-play on the three separate delays of our flight so I can get right to the escalator story.   After we all finally queued up for the flight, a fourth announcement about our flight was made.  We would now be leaving from a different gate.

The agitated mob now made its way to the new gate.  At the end of the terminal we all stepped onto an escalator that would take us down to a gate where a bus would drive us out to the plane.  As soon as an older Italian woman stepped on the escalator behind Doug, she promptly fell down and rolled between Doug and me on the escalator. As Doug and I tried unsuccessfully to lift her, her friend, who was in front of me, tried to reach back and help, and fell herself. 

So I tried to lift the woman in front, Doug tried to lift the woman in back, all as they are each yelling in Italian.  As the bottom of the escalator approached, and visions of a massive pileup spun in my head, I gave up and jumped over the first woman to the landing.  Then Doug leapt over the two women to the landing.  By this time, everyone behind us was running UP the down escalator away from the melee.  

An airport worker raced over and hit the emergency stop button (why didn’t I think of that?!?), but nothing happened!  I can’t even tell you how it was this ended because I was in such a state of disbelief.  I mean they were both ok, but I don’t even know how!

The bike trip through Puglia was fun, but we already established that vacation is fun.  What we are talking about now is the trade-off between fun and hassle. 

At the end, after enjoying Rome for another couple days (yes fun, again not the point), we took another taxi out to the airport.  Doug somehow misplaced the 50 Euro bill he withdrew from the ATM the night before, so we didn’t actually have enough money to even pay the taxi driver the full fare. No, they don’t take credit cards. We tried to supplement the difference with American dollars, but he was not interested.  He said it’s fine, just give him what Euros we had. 

Yes, I know this also turned out to be a happy story, but you know that sinking feeling before you know it’s all going to work out?  That’s the one I’m tired of having by now.

But we must do it once more. Because the flight from Rome to San Francisco was delayed.  It had been cancelled the day before because of equipment problems.  They tried to fix it the problem, and Doug overheard one of the mechanics telling one of the airline workers they need to cancel this flight too. The fix was unsuccessful.

We wound up second in the line to make alternate plans at the gate agent, since Doug had overheard the conversation before the official announcement was made.  And since we had no checked luggage, we were able to get moved to a different airline’s flight six gates away that was boarding NOW and connecting through Vancouver.

So yes, it all worked out, and Doug got the excitement of sitting behind Steve Kerr on the flight home. But still it was very easy to get Doug to sign the never-travelling-again pledge.

 

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Related Posts:

    Having a Great Time, Wish You Were Here Instead of Me

    Then and Now in Retirement:  Travel

    Happy to Be Home

Comments

[Dickson Pratt]

Nice to hear from you again Syd!

Can't say I'm surprised about the travel burnout but, then, I never cared for that sort of travel in the first place. I've been doing a lot of road trips in my Model S but that's mostly camping and the like. Did a 4752 mile road trip in May to Oregon (family), Vancouver Island (The Butchart Gardens, Tofino), and Yellowstone. One goal of the trip was to "collect" more Supercharger Stations for my list — ended up with 117 and became the 58th member of the "century club" with my 100th at Superior MT (the game leader has more than 750, last I checked). Not as noteworthy as your increasing excellence on the piano but fun for me. I have pictures from the trip if you'd be interested and your email hasn't changed.

More than twenty years of early retirement for me and I am almost four years from beginning Social Security — still getting by on savings and investments, by being thrifty. Continue to enjoy my volunteer work and hobbies.

Cheers,
dgpcolorado

[Janis @ RetirementallyChallenged]

Although I'm not ready to give up traveling, I can definitely relate to your tale of woe. When we can (certainly not to Europe), we choose car travel over airplanes. It takes longer, but we make up for it with fewer hassles and less stress. I've been to Italy, but never Rome... and it may stay that way. There is so much to see on this continent,

[Sydney]

DPG: Yes, email is still the same! We're about to pull the trigger on the new Leaf. Not quite a Model S, but it goes a lot farther than the old Leaf you had.

Janis: Well I will tell you that Rome is now my second favorite city in the world (that I've been to so far). It delights you every time you turn a corner. (New York is still my favorite playground, not nearly as visually delightful, but everything I want to do is there . . .)

[Sandy]

Just came back to reading blogs and didn’t realize you hadn’t been posting! Welcome back. I retired 18 months ago and still love to travel. Maybe when I hit 75, I’ll have seen enough churches and ruins. So far no disaster flights, fingers crossed. Off to India end of October so that may change.

[Sydney]

Sandy: I see that you're just getting back to blogging too! India sounds like an advanced trip--but you're still loving travel, so I'm sure it will be a great one.

[Sue Blaney]

Hi! Have really enjoyed this post and the one from yesterday...thank you!

We also recently returned from a 2 week trip and totally agree about the hassles of traveling

I said to my husband halfway through “hotel
Small bathrooms are God’s way of making you want to go home”. That and the airline experience are very hard these days.

Also rethinking our travel strategy....closer, shorter trips...keep very simple.

[Tom at Sightings]

Long time, no see. Welcome back! As for traveling ... aside from all the hassles, I've been reading about the "flight shaming movement" and the young woman sailing across the Atlantic to the climate conference, and I'm beginning to think the best way to travel is to stay close to home, go by train if you possibly can.

[Nicole]

Glad you're back. Interesting post about tiring of travel. I'm about to retire and I have always been a vacation junkie, but I wonder if I've been traveling just to give myself something to look forward to from all the stress of work. I have heard this same perspective from other retirees. Looking forward to finding out myself!

[Beverly Firme]

You took the words out of my mouth! We've retired to a vacation area - and the question is 'where do you go on vacation when you live in a place where everyone comes on vacation?' Yes, a champagne problem but I was not expecting to feel such a reluctance to travel! Thank you for putting this all so nicely. We've got a trip planned a few months from now and I'm dreading the travel. Glad to know it's not just me!

[Donna]

Hi, Syd - I've often heard that retirement and travel tend to go in three distinct phases: 'Go, go, go,' 'Slow go' and 'No go.' Apparently, these different stages can change in a blink of an eye, for a myriad of reasons. Richard and I are still in 'Go, go, go,' but I can see 'Slow go' beckoning in the not-so-distant future! :)

[Sydney]

Donna: I've heard that too. I'll bet they don't really go in order, though, I'll probably bounce back and forth between go go, slow go, and no go for a few more years, is my guess.

Beverly: As you can see you definitely have some company.

Nicole: My guess is you'll have several years of fun travel before you get to this point.

Tom: Well, you're onto something. What I read about air travel is it's pretty much the worst thing we can do for our carbon footprint. So I guess I can frame this differently and just claim to be doing it for virtuous reasons.

Sue: I'm with you and Tom, shorter trips and closer to home.

[Tamara R]

Welcome back, Syd! And this time around I hope you just have fun, and take no prisoners!

I think you either have the travel bug, or you don't, and damn, but I do. I've had it since I booked my first hotel room at 18 years of age, and even now, almost 40 years later, it shows no sign of abating. I even moved to the coast two years ago, six years into retirement, thinking I'd finally be so caught up in living my lifelong dream we'd likely travel less. But, no, now that I'm no longer distracted by fixing up the house, I want to travel again.

In fact, should I ever have the chance, I would love to travel pretty much non stop, popping home every few months to give the people in my life a big squeeze.

So, no judgements here, that is for sure, but I'm pretty sure I'll travel till, well, you know. 😊

[Sydney]

Tamara: There you are! You never know where in the world Tamara is! I have no doubt you will love travel till "you know." You have way more energy than I do. I see you are loving living your costal dream--we're so glad for you and Mike. And Diane C. will be happy to see you--she was wondering about you in the comments to my previous post. Take care!

[Madeline Theresa Kasian]

I like to get away for change in routine, we have enjoyed cruises, a few exotic trips, and a few more coming up.But overall, I find my happiest moments at home and just shorter 2-3 day trips around my own state, and New Mexico,California. Sometimes I feel I get more out of the ANTICIPATION of the travel than the actual travel.Our Northern European cruise did not fulfill me as much as it did my husband who always wanted to see those places.

I suffer greatly from jet lag. I don't like to be couped up in planes for long periods.. The TRAVEL part of travel truly exhausts me..

BUT.. I don't think we'll say "Never" to travel..we just don't have the urgent "bug" some retirees have. I enjoy LOTS of time at home.

I tend to love beach vacations and week in Mexico (short flight from here..) works for me. We also have a few places here in the USA we want to visit..

That said,we had the itch for at least one more EXOTIC vacay before we get into our 70's (5 years from ow..) So Thailand is coming up.I am already worrying about heat, humidity and killer jellyfish!LOL!!

Glad to see you back in the blog world.. like you,I don't enjoy the "retirement" issues so much anymore, this is just "LIF!" It's so much fun to have the TIME now to really enjoy my hobbies,avocations, and my spouse and friends!!!!!

[Bob Lowry]

First of all, welcome back, Syd. Your insight and occasionally cockeyed view of life has been missed.

I have reached the travel infrequently stage of life. My wife and I have two major trips next year that I am looking forward to. Buit, in general, I am happiest close to home. Since I flew 1.5 million miles in my business, if I never see the inside of an airplane again, I'd miss nothing.

Your piano is calling. Go!

[Sydney]

Madeline: I'm totally with you on the anticipation part. That part I do miss!!!! But it's not the good kind when it's worry about heat, humidity and jellyfish!

Bob: Thanks for the warm welcome back!

[Diane C.]

Whew, I missed this post, so I got two at once - Joy!

My MIL has ALz and still lives with us, going on six years now, which means we can't travel. DH will retire in about 18 months.

We just finished a 15 month long house renovation/flip project and it's in escrow. We have no plans/need for the money, we do it because we enjoy the challenge and it keeps us from focusing on the things we can't do right now. I've promised DH that we can buy any RV he wants when he retires and his mom has moved to different living arrangements. We're looking forward to traveling and exploring the country at a leisurely pace. Luckily, he's not hankering for a huge Class A Diesel pusher. He's also not one to run out and buy something brand new, so we really can buy whatever he wants. I love that he's such a reasonable spender.

I'm a lifelong travel junkie, but I think I'll be fine with this kind of travel, with an occasional side trip to a more exotic locale. I totally agree with the hassle of getting from here to there these days. I think slow travel is going to be the way we scratch that itch. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Syd.

Oh, and I did see the comment from Tamara. I miss her voice and her blog! I loved armchair traveling with her, too!

Lots of happies today. Thanks, Syd!

[Sydney]

Thank you Diane!