Labor Day Weekend Blues
by Wendy Perrin
Will you manage to avoid labor this holiday weekend? Not me. I'll be catching up on any number of work assignments that need to get done by Tuesday.
Yesterday The New York Times' Michael Wilson wrote a funny article about all the people who are "sitting on the absolute cutting edge of the summer's cultural buzz saw" by taking staycations this week. "Staycation." Somebody came up with a catchy name for one of the oldest activities in existence--hanging out at home--and labeled it a big new trend.
Well, I'd just like to point out that most of the people I know must be on the absolute bleeding edge because they've moved on from the staycation to the next thing: They're working right through their vacations. They've gone beyond holing up at home and are holing up at the office. Yes, folks, it's the next step forward in the American economy. You heard it here first. We just need to come up with a perky new word for it that isn't a downer like "workcation." Paycation? Occupa-cation? Vocation vacation?
A few days ago, unable to recall the last time I managed to avoid work while on holiday, I posed the following query to the wired community online at Twitter. "Question for Twitter Nation: When is the last time you had a true vacation--meaning, you did not do ANY work whatsoever? Where were you?" After the jump, the intriguing mix of answers I got.
Corn sweet corn. Last week's working vacation, St. Michaels, MD., Aug. 23.
From carnellm:"Last vacation with no work? Either when I was hospitalized 2 years ago or 3 years ago on a cruise with no network connection."
From BudTravel: "2 wks., in June: Rome, Gent, and Amsterdam. what worked for me: bring a cell without working web access, not iphone/crackberry."
From latimestravel: "Yellowstone NP used to be an ideal place to disconnect, but the frontcounty was very wired as of May '08. Kaua'i works for me."
From jessiev: "define work...probably not since i was in HS. isn't that SAD? oh wait. nope. that one we still had a cell phone..."
My fave came from johncabell: "20 years ago, before I was in management. Since then, never. Thanks for depressing the hell out of me."
Then there was familyrtw's reply: "We are living the dream." Uh-huh. That's nice.
When was the last time you had an honest-to-goodness, disconnected vacation? And what do you think the solution is?
Oh, and Happy Labor Day!
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Oh-my, our last "real" vacation (where I was 100% not working) has to have been our honeymoon six years ago.
Posted by: DesertMama | August 29, 2008 at 12:13 PM
Sounds ridiculous ... anyone who works through a vacation might as well go ahead and return their next paycheck to their employer, because they've already shown they're fine with working for free.
Posted by: janamel | August 29, 2008 at 12:59 PM
My last disconnected vacation was June 2007 at Riversong Lodge on the Yetna River in Alaska.
We flew into Anchorage, took a float plane to the lodge and went king salmon fishing. We did not have cell reception or internet access for three glorious days.
My solution is to remind myself that no one will miss my writing for a short time period. It is okay to step away from the laptop. www.nancydbrown.com
Posted by: WhataTrip | August 29, 2008 at 01:33 PM
I almost always have some work even when on holiday, although I try to limit it to catching up reading reports/papers. I always have a stack of them to get through and the many hours up in the air is a great time to be doing it.
One thing I have noticed, though, is how often spend extra hours working in the week or so before a holiday, and extra hours in the week or so after a holiday. Really I'm not getting any time off - just moving my work hours around a bit. I know I'm not the only one to experience this - a negative consequence of employers being more lean I guess.
Posted by: TheGlobalTraveller | August 29, 2008 at 03:48 PM
Since travel IS my work, never. Even when I'm on a personal vacation, I'm shooting photos, taking notes, and gathering information that will help me better serve clients who might be considering that destination.
Posted by: Anniep | August 30, 2008 at 09:30 AM
I am with familyRTW... we too are "living the dream" going on our 3rd year of traveling the world as a family.
I love it when we are often unplugged, but I also find that we choose work to do even as we roam because we enjoy sharing and connecting.
This labor day weekend I am slaving away here in Sweden preparing to take classrooms of disadvantaged kids with us virtually starting in September ( through nonprofit "Reach the World").
We are looking forward to meeting them in NYC in October and it is a labor of love, but funny how my type-A personality leads me in such directions.
I do think Americans tend to work too hard and that we could learn a lot from other cultures on how to add more bliss to our lives.
Posted by: Soultravelers3 | August 30, 2008 at 09:35 AM
As I travel writer, I'm always working "on vacation," too -- collecting menus and flyers, taking photos and notes...
But my family's trip to Puerto Vallarta this summer (Spanish language school, three different accommodations, beachtime, zipline tour, dolphin fun, snorkeling...) was as close to unplugging as I've gotten in recent years. I did not take my laptop, and I had no article deadlines the entire time (though I did check email on my hubby's beater laptop).
MountainMama at TravelingMamas.com
Posted by: karasw | August 30, 2008 at 04:38 PM
While I am always "on duty" with triplets, as a PR/Buzz Consultant I have unplugged in late July/early August by heading deep into Glacier Bay and Gustavus (where, btw. there are also no police, no rules, and no regulations -- and very very spotty cell coverage ... ahhhh!) I consider it to be a sin to even think about work while in Yosemite (where we camp annually in late August! The only thing I used my iPhone for was snapping pictures of breaching humpbacks at Pt Adolphus, AK, and panoramic views of Tenaya Lake while scrambling up the mountains above (my Nikon was just way too heavy).
Posted by: tresgrls | August 31, 2008 at 01:21 AM