Needing a Vacation After Your Vacation - Who's Vacation Is it Anyway?

You spend months planning it. You count down the days. You tell yourself this vacation will be perfect!

So why do you come home exhausted?

In this episode of Aren’t Ya Tired Of, Patti and Mark unpack how we can sabotage our long-awaited vacations. From becoming the cruise director and bad cases of FOMO to checking work "just in case" to not being in sync with your fellow travelers.

They share funny travel stories, vacation fails, and practical tips for creating a trip that matches what you actually need—whether that's adventure, family time, relaxation, or simply a break from being responsible for everyone else.

If you've ever returned home with some great photos, but you feel exhausted - this episode is for you. Because you deserve a true vacation —not just a trip.

Please subscribe and share this with anyone who needs to hear this conversation! Check out Aren't Ya Tired Of on YouTube, and follow us on Instagram at arentyatiredof_social.  Send your topic suggestions to podcast@pattibjohnson.com or through DM on LinkedIn or Instagram.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:09

Welcome to Aren't You Tired Of? I'm Patty Johnson with my co-host Mark Benton. Mark Benton to Hello, everybody. It's vacation season. It's almost vacation. We're talking about vacation. We're planning some vacation. And today, we're going to talk about are you sometimes exhausted after your vacation? You go on vacation and come back. It's the truth. It can happen. Just bags under your eyes. And people ask you if you had fun and it's I'm worn out. I had fun. I'm so tired. And then your shoes don't match. You got up late. It it's just not good. So we're going to think we want those vacations to be great.

SPEAKER_04 0:47

We do.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

They want it to be refreshed, recharged. And so Mark and I are going to give you our lessons, our observations, what we've learned, and from others. How do you make sure those vacations work for you? They work. So yes. I love it. I love this topic. This is going to be fun. It's going to be fun. You know, and I think uh one thing, we know we set up vacations maybe to be too big. You know, I don't know about you, but I I mean, can you really refresh and recharge in three or four weeks over the course of a year?

SPEAKER_04 1:13

Yeah. I mean, that's why you should plan for several throughout the year.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

And little mini vacation, like maybe a Friday afternoon.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Like minis, mini long, many, many, many, many, long, longer. Longer. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

So we want to plan ahead and um and make sure you're not, you know, expend you know, spending three weeks and then you're not getting what you want out of it. So I want to start off by Mark.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

Tell me about have you had any big vacation fails? How do you guys roll?

SPEAKER_04 1:45

Oh my goodness. Well, we as a family, you know, growing up, we would take vacations every summer religiously. You know, we would say the four of us, um, me, Shelly, and and our two boys, we would go on vacation. You know, that that's what would happen. Uh, and it would just be us. We never went with family, other families. It was just the four of us, and we saw it as bonding time, right? But as the boys got older, we would start inviting others in. And my fur I'm we're gonna talk about a lot of things here that made us tired. But um, the people you invite on vacation with you, they must be your people.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

They gotta be your people. They're so you that's one of your that's one of mine.

SPEAKER_04 2:26

No, know who you have invited on your vacation.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

We're gonna talk about that because that's that's pretty important.

SPEAKER_04 2:31

Yeah, I got more, but they'll they'll come.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

You know, and I think for my vacation, I think my vacations as an adult are radically different. I haven't even thought about teaching about growing up.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Right.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

I mean, we my dad was a driver and drove everywhere.

SPEAKER_04 2:48

Okay, he liked to drive.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

You have no okay, I'm gonna tell you something. I drove to Alaska. No, you didn't. People look at me like, can you do that? Yes. In a Volkswagen bus.

SPEAKER_04 3:03

Did you own the Volkswagen bus?

SPEAKER_02 3:05

We did. We did. Oh. My dad had refurbished it and it was all and did y'all sleep in it? Yes. What?

SPEAKER_04 3:12

Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, back up.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Back up.

SPEAKER_04 3:15

Y'all drove in a Volkswagen bus that was a sleeper to Alaska.

SPEAKER_02 3:23

Now we did stop and stay in a hotel long way. I hope so. But it was okay. That's what I grew up with, which now Jim, my husband, is like, we have spent fortunes of trying to get you to counterbalance because now if it ain't if it doesn't have room service, I don't know about it. You know, and I I confess to being kind of bougie. But now we uh I'm sorry I didn't really even think about that until you were talking about growing up. Like I got stories growing up. It was like, don't take me camping. I'm not going. You're not going. I'm not going. Um but you know, I think our vacations, like as an adult, we tend to go with a lot of people. Yeah. We have friends or family. And so I I see your Insta.

SPEAKER_04 4:02

Y'all have great vacations. We have great vacations. And fun. We hope you have a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 4:06

We have fun. But my vacations were always like um have a great time. They were not refresh and recharge. I it wasn't one of those, you know, go and just, you know, stay in the wilderness and you know, and read. That's not ours. It was like boom, boom, boom, go, go. And that's the way I like it. We both like it. But um, but in terms of this refresh and recharge thing, that's not really our deal.

SPEAKER_04 4:29

It's really important. I think, you know, before you start thinking about your flights and you know, hotels and all that, you have to take a step back. Okay, and this step back is important. You've got to plan your vision. What is the vision? What do you want? Because based on how you plan it, yeah, and what the intent or the the desired outcome is, will define if it's a vacation or listeners, if it's a trip.

unknown 4:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:58

And that's different. It is true. Let me let me tell you, vacation is where um you are delighted. Yeah. You know, you wake up in the morning and you know, your room, or you know, you're gonna go to a beautiful breakfast or go down poolside or wherever up mountains, wherever you go, and you are delighted. A trip is where um someone kicked you in your back all night because you have your little kids with you and you're all sleeping in the same way.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

And you're at Aunt Cookies in the uh in the extra room.

SPEAKER_04 5:25

Aunt Cookie's house in the extra room that kind of smells a little musty.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_04 5:30

Um, or a trip is, dare I say, um, you know, if you're one of those people that you know that is working, um, you're kind of doing work and work calls and getting called into emergencies and you can't really enjoy. So there's some differences between vacation and trip, and you just have to know what you're planning for.

SPEAKER_02 5:49

And I think too, like, like you were saying, like, what do I want? What do we need from this vacation? And uh, you know, I we um we're a Disney family. Yeah, we were just talking about before we started. Yeah. And uh we we go to Disney World all the time. Our kids have grown up, they st we still go all the time. They're we're just a Disney family and and so on. So when the kids were, I don't know, maybe maybe like six and twelve, seven or three in that stretch. Yeah. And all that point, they had been to Disney World multiple times. I decide we're going to Vermont. And we're gonna go to Vermont Vermont and it's gonna be peaceful and it's it's gonna be beautiful in a greenery. And I take a decide that one day we're gonna go to the dairy farm and see how they make cheese.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Uh-uh.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

That night, they go, I can't remember if it's Patrick or Will. They say straight face. So are there any roller coasters around here? That's an example of being out of sync. Very, very much. Whoever you're traveling with, you gotta be in sync with them.

SPEAKER_04 7:01

Wisdom out of the mouth of babes.

SPEAKER_02 7:02

Yes. You don't, you gotta, you gotta make sure everybody's wanting the same thing. That's what you're trying to do. And that's when you decide what you're trying to do.

SPEAKER_04 7:11

I'm compelled to tell this as a fail. Um first time we went on a vacation and we, you know, took some family members with us. Um uh, it was a vacation that in the middle turned into a trip.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

Oh, it can happen if you don't aren't aligned up front.

SPEAKER_04 7:26

So here here's my advice. Um, so when you're going on a place and like maybe you're staying on property and they have like excursions, you can go here or you can go there. Well, we took a trip to Jamaica, right? Interesting. Yes, and it was um, you know, staying on one of the properties and it was really nice. And so we were looking, you know, kind of midweek, what's an excursion? And so we went and talked to the concierge and we sat down and and she said, Well, um, you know, and I I don't have a Jamaican accent, I won't even fame one here, but but but it would make it richer, the story richer, but just pretend a Jamaican accent. And so um she said, Well, you can go to the Bob Marley Village. And we were like, Oh, the Bob Bob Marley Village. And so what um what what would that be like? Now I know where this is going. I want y'all all to think if you know who Bob Marley is. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

We do.

SPEAKER_04 8:16

Okay. So Bob Marley Village. And so we're like, well, what types of things are there? She goes, Well, I don't really know because what happens in the Bob Marley Village stays in the Bob Marley Village.

SPEAKER_02 8:27

The Vegas of Jamaica.

SPEAKER_04 8:29

I was like, Oh. And she said, and whatever you do up there, she goes, Don't tell us. And I said, Well, I have young children, so I don't think that the Bob Marley Village is gonna work for us. Okay, then she said, Well, you could do this um um a nice stroll near a waterfall. A nice stroll near a waterfall. Sounds great. Okay. Um there is this um attraction called the Dunes River Falls in Jamaica. So if you've ever been there, listeners, you know exactly what I'm about to tell you. You start at the bottom of this kind of quasi-mountain, you lock hands with other people. So you're holding the hands of somebody in front of you and someone behind you, and you are climbing up a waterfall.

SPEAKER_02 9:17

Oh heavens.

SPEAKER_04 9:19

We she said it's a nice stroll near a waterfall. All right, halfway through, I mean, we are waist deep, chest deep in water and holding people's hands. And you've got your little people. I have my children. Oh, and so I'm like, what the Sam Putney did we do? And so that's when it turned into a trip. My wife and my sister-in-law both took that and left me with the boys. And I just was like, we still have more to climb. And it's like me getting up the thing going, okay guys, we can do this. We can nobody's, and I'm thinking in my head, nobody's gonna die. I mean, it that that's when it turned into a trip.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

That you're gonna live on your vacation. That's a trip.

SPEAKER_04 10:00

That's a trip. That is a trip. That's a trip.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

For sure.

SPEAKER_04 10:02

For sure. So know what you want to do and and really ask a lot of questions. Yes. Use the internet.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

Use the internet. Yeah, I think that's an example of where you know, you gotta be also aligned with the people that you think about your planning your trips. Because I know for us, we have a family we travel a lot with. Yeah. And one good thing is it's kind of understood, you everybody does their thing. Like if you want to go.

SPEAKER_04 10:30

That's a blessing.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

If it is, you want to stay back and read all day, do that. You're gonna stay longer at the beach, we're going, we're going, you're gonna stay for three more. Do that. Yeah. You know, and I think that is um if you're gonna travel with people, even if it's your family, you know, you gotta have that. You gotta be aligned. Because I think also the stress of if you're a f like, I'm a free spirit. Yeah. I like to just go and I like to, you know, rest. And your sister plans vacation like a NASA launch.

SPEAKER_04 10:57

Like wait a minute. You said plans vacation like a NASA launch plan.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

She's got that thing scheduled down to the case. She got an Excel spreadsheet. She does. And you're going to be that's an example of not being aligned.

SPEAKER_04 11:10

Not being aligned.

SPEAKER_02 11:11

Not being aligned with who you're traveling with. So you gotta have that. And um you know, uh what else do you think? What other things when you're thinking about your trips, what advice would you give our listeners for getting a lot?

SPEAKER_04 11:22

I have this thing that um that we do where we will always plan that, you know, if we're gone, we always try to come back. Um, you know, we try to take the time that we want, you know, depending on the long the how the long the trip is, but we always try to come back and leave like a day in between. So we come back on a Saturday. So smart. So you have a Sunday just to kind of recover and and get yourself replanned. So you come back in on Monday ready to do whatever. You're ready to record. So that's one of our our biggest tips and and we enjoy that. Um we also try not to leave like if we're going on a flight or something, where we get into the destination late.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:59

You just wasted a day. You just wasted a day. So we try to, you know, maximize our days. So yeah, so those are two things that we do that have really paid off well.

SPEAKER_02 12:06

Yeah, I think um, you know, I think also related to that, what kind of vibe are you looking for? Back to you know, um, and how much, you know, pre-planning do you need to do? Yeah. You know, because like if you are, I mentioned you keep talking about Disney. If you're a Disney World, if you're going there, you can't roll in there at the last minute, right? If you or no, you can't. Or if you're going somewhere and you want to do the boat cruise and there's only one during the week, you need a plan ahead. So you can't be um, I can remember one of our trips where Disney World, it there is a spreadsheet. You are playing it, not so much now because I've got good apps and stuff, but you know, you're planning. I spent months and we would go these 12 people to Disney World, multiple rooms and it's a lot, right? It's a lot. And I enjoyed it. It's fun. And I can remember it had been that was as close as a NASA launch and you'd ever get. And um, I can remember some in our family who should remain nameless said, you know, we just got lucky. Everything just worked out great. I think we're just we just we're just lucky.

SPEAKER_03 13:08

Did you want to punch him?

SPEAKER_02 13:09

He's still alive.

SPEAKER_03 13:10

You wanted to throw punch him. I know you were.

SPEAKER_02 13:13

Uh I he's still alive. Um but that's an example of you know, if you gotta figure out what needs my time and attention. You can't be the like free spirit, freewheeler, like just how whatever happens, and then get there and be frustrated because you can't go do the thing you want to do.

SPEAKER_04 13:31

I I love that. One thing that comes to mind as we talk about Disney and and um you know, you actually once upon a time, you know, you were my you know Disney mentor. Right? You told me the things that I needed to know. You know, we we may not be travel agents, but we know it's we know a few things.

SPEAKER_02 13:48

About a few things.

SPEAKER_04 13:49

About a few things. And you did. And you told me about it. And so, you know, we went and really had a good time. But um, listeners, if you have younger children, okay. Um my kids wanted to go to Disney so bad. They wanted to go, and we said, okay, in order for us to go to Disney, so this was a little bit of um some advice. Um, everybody has to be able to go number one and number two on their own. We ain't bringing no pull-ups. We're not bringing any huggies pull-ups. So it was motivating to little little bit. He he knew he knew the plan. So he he got himself together.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

Hooky had to bring he's bringing up the rear, so to speak.

SPEAKER_04 14:29

He knew he knew the plan, and he was he was down for the plan. And so we get there and we see our first Disney character, right? And he climbed up my body like screaming to the top of his lungs. He's not the only one. And he's like, I hate Mickey. That's what he said to me. And I was like, Well, what?

SPEAKER_02 14:49

What? That's why we're here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:50

And he's like, uh-uh. Uh-uh. I'm I can't want it.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

Yeah, I can't want it. But see, that's So you gotta know. You gotta know. Also, do your homework. Is was he was he ready? Could maybe Pookie would have been ready another year.

SPEAKER_04 15:02

Another year. But you know what? He's 24 and he's still not ready.

SPEAKER_02 15:06

He's still not ready.

SPEAKER_04 15:07

Yeah, we're because we're going this summer. Well, and he's like, don't nowhere near Mickey.

SPEAKER_02 15:13

Oh, poor, oh good.

SPEAKER_04 15:14

So I'm just like, and I don't think he minds me telling that story, but but you know, you just have to know your people.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

You did your people. I think the other thing if you're going with other families, yeah, is it not that you want to talk too much finances, but you can get out of sync with people on your financials. Talking to a friend of mine, and um, she had gone on a ski trip with her brother-in-law and his family.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:38

And she said, you know, we had a we thought we had a pretty big budget on this, but they were going out every night, these super nice dinners who were taking all the kids. And she was like, I kind of had to say, like a couple of nights in, look, we uh we probably need to stay back with our kids. We need to do some pizza. We're gonna do Burger King. We're gonna do some pizza, you know, or or some burgers down, you know.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

And um and I so I that just reminded me important. It is important. You talk about you can get on the trip and get out of sync, and it can turn into a vacation can turn into a trip. Either way, you know, I like to go do this. I like to go for nice restaurants, I'd like to get a bottle of wine, and the other no, they can't afford that or the flip.

SPEAKER_04 16:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 16:19

It's you gotta be insane.

SPEAKER_04 16:21

You gotta contract on that um in advance. And you know what it brings me to um listeners, a good play if you do that and you travel with other families and maybe you already have this in sync, but contract up front. Like, hey, why don't we, you know, do a couple of things here and then we'll eat in here. Like find the balance, but just talk about it. And you know, if it's awkward, you don't necessarily have to say it like that. You could just say, you know what, we're gonna do, because kind of know your audience, right? And just say, we're gonna do like one nice dinner. Yeah. And then the other thing, like if you have an Airbnb or you know, or something, we're just gonna cook in.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

Or instead of, and then you you feel like, why am I cooking in? I've been working all the time. Oh, yeah. It can be a look, we're gonna go out a couple of nights. What do you guys want to do? Yes. You know, so it's more, it's not a lowest common denominator or highest common nominator. It's just like that's important. Okay, how do we do that?

SPEAKER_01 17:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:10

Um so I think on the front end, don't be shy about getting aligned on we've talked about what kind of experience you want. What's it gonna take to recharge? Is it a recharge vacation? Or sometimes it's just I want to go somewhere. We want to go see. We gotta go see Aunt Cookie. Right. Maybe we'll stay two days with Aunt Cookie and then we'll go do something else.

SPEAKER_04 17:30

That's right. You know what this brings to mind, and and me and mine have started doing this, and that is just planning fun trips, just you know, the two of us to go. Right. And you get to a point, you know, where you you can do that. You know, some people do it when they're younger. We we didn't really do it when our kids were younger, but you know, now that we're older. Um, you know, so we're going to, you know, go to New York in August to a concert. Love it. You know, and and go see one an artist that we like. And so that's just gonna be really fun. Yes. You know, and but I think planning these little things. Short burst trips. Short little burst trips is good too. Is great. No. And they're trips because sometimes and we're calling them trips because you know, they have a purpose. Like we went over a long weekend one time with everybody, and we were in New York. Yeah. And we were sightseeing. We got on the red bus and it took us all over, and we were busy, busy, busy. That was a trip. Yeah. But we had a good trip.

SPEAKER_02 18:22

Yeah, same here. Like a lot of times it's great. That's what you wanted. Yeah, but I think being intentional and not wanting something and then realizing, oh gosh, it didn't turn out that way. Let's talk about when you're actually now you're on the trip.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 18:33

What are some pitfalls that we think our listeners ought to be thinking about? And listeners, I want you all to be thinking about it too. We're giving you our ideas. I hope you are doing the same. What are some you're on the trip? What are some pitfalls that you've got to watch out for?

SPEAKER_04 18:48

Um now I have practiced this. Um, I call it a leading practice, and I've had this leading practice for as long as I can remember. And the leading practice is don't overreach. Yeah. No. Meaning. Meaning. Um, and it's it's usually when it comes to food. Okay. So don't go out of the country, right? And just get to eating and just doing all the things because it's I don't stop. We know. We know. It may come back on you.

SPEAKER_02 19:19

Yeah, you may need pull-ups.

SPEAKER_04 19:21

You may need you. You may need to pack some pull-ups. Okay. Or I think it now isn't some poise or some depends. Now let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. So don't overreach. Okay. That is my biggest one. Like know and pace yourself. Because and you could just be going to, you know, from you know, uh, California to Alaska. And and if you're doing that, driving. Right, driving, just just know when you get to the new place, don't overreach.

SPEAKER_02 19:50

You know, don't overschedule. I thought that was the other thing you could say.

SPEAKER_04 19:52

Oh, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_02 19:53

Is overdue.

SPEAKER_04 19:54

Don't because you can be overscheduled. But if you're overscheduled and you overreach, it's not good. Terrible.

SPEAKER_02 20:00

You're gonna be you're gonna be in the pull-ups out in public. I you're gonna be in the pull-ups in public. I know.

SPEAKER_04 20:06

What's yours?

SPEAKER_02 20:07

What what's uh I think don't uh you know don't fall into cruise director. And that means, you know, we you know, I've talked about this um in terms of you know taking on too much and so on. And that is, I know I've at times like I don't seem like they're having a good time. Are they having fun? What am I doing? That's not my thing.

SPEAKER_04 20:27

Did you give them a survey like after the trip?

SPEAKER_02 20:29

You didn't just say no, during the trip.

SPEAKER_04 20:32

How would you rate the trip?

SPEAKER_02 20:32

How would you I mean stop? Yeah, you know, um and I think it is it's not your job to be, I know, oh, are are you you know, I I think they I don't know if they like that or not.

SPEAKER_03 20:42

Don't take on that energy.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

Don't take on that. Even if you are the parent, even if you maybe have some hosting responsibilities, yeah, just watch out for that. Also, I think the um I'm gonna quote our good friend Martha Diesterhoff, who's a regular listener. And she and I were driving back from hey Martha, we were driving back last night and from an event and and I we were she said, What are you gonna talk about? And so I said, Vacation. She goes, I have one tip I want you to mention. I said, What's that? She goes, take your dang vacation.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 21:10

And it was the the point of how many people like try to really impress the manager. I'm a really I'm a tough, I'm really hard worker, I'm not gonna take on vacation.

SPEAKER_03 21:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:21

Your manager's never gonna remember that, but your family will. So take the vacation.

SPEAKER_04 21:26

And teach. Martha.

SPEAKER_02 21:28

That's Martha.

SPEAKER_04 21:28

Through um Martha through you. Preach and teach. Take your dang vacation. You just said it. Listeners, like I'm I'm gonna come back to the point. If I have no other job here, this is what I'm gonna do. Take your dang vacation. Yeah. Because your manager is not gonna know, oh, I was on the call and I did this, but your family will. They'll know. The people that are with you.

SPEAKER_02 21:47

They will remember. And I think that's an important thing. And I know a lot of people are in a culture of I didn't, I mean, it's pretty common among our friend group. It is. Yeah, I didn't take it all. I just you know I didn't have time. Right.

SPEAKER_04 21:59

Well, let me. Tell you something. We were at famed Disney World and for some reason I didn't set all my boundaries. We're always talking about boundaries. We talk about boundaries every time. A lot. I didn't set my boundaries, and my family they were at one of the events and they were watching, and my phone rang, and I knew it was my manager, and I needed to take it. So I needed to go to a place that was quiet. Right. Like Yeah, where was that going to be? So I went into a bathroom.

SPEAKER_02 22:27

No, you didn't.

SPEAKER_04 22:28

Well, I was also stressed out. I was like, oh, what what what happened? You know that she's calling.

SPEAKER_02 22:33

It's gonna be flush in the background. Well that's gonna be where the noise.

SPEAKER_04 22:37

They called me um in they were in the middle of a meeting, the the team, and I took a question for me, and I was on speaker and the toilet flushed. Yeah, that's bad. And so everybody around the table heard the toilet flush, and they were like, Where are you?

SPEAKER_02 22:54

Yeah, you'd have been better off. Take your vacation.

SPEAKER_04 22:57

I should have just not picked up the phone.

SPEAKER_02 23:00

Put your boundaries in. That's right. And I think that's a great, that's a great thing. You shouldn't have picked up the phone. Have the boundaries. Have the boundaries. Um I also think um watch out for FOMO when you get there.

SPEAKER_04 23:11

Oh, like trying to do it all or like what?

SPEAKER_02 23:14

Well, no. It's like uh I don't like to go bait fishing. I might get sick. You're going, hey everybody, we're going bait fishing tomorrow. Everybody ready? I'm going, oh, I want to go. I'm gonna feel I'm gonna feel left out. You need to say, go forth. You have a wonderful time bait fishing. I'll catch you when you get back. Yeah. And don't let FOMO cause you to do stuff that you don't really want to do.

SPEAKER_04 23:38

Yeah. Because it's gonna turn into a trip.

SPEAKER_02 23:41

It's gonna turn worse than a trip.

SPEAKER_04 23:42

You you might be in some pull-ups.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

Yeah, it might be be pull-ups, but we'd be carrying the pull-up. But you know what I mean. It's like but it happens. If you're going with other people, you gotta be willing to say, Go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 23:54

I don't miss me on that. Do your thing. Yeah, myth me. I'm gonna go.

SPEAKER_02 23:57

Do your thing on your on your vacation.

SPEAKER_04 23:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:00

Um, I think also um we talked about this, those of you that have listened to our episode, The Addicted to Busy.

SPEAKER_01 24:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:07

Um, you mentioned work. You got the work call that you take in the bathroom.

SPEAKER_01 24:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:11

I think the other thing is put up your boundaries. It's okay to say, I'm going on vacation, everybody. And plan, I'll I'll be out.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

Right.

SPEAKER_02 24:20

And and you know, don't fall into that. Your team is telling you your manager, we got it, go, have a great time.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:26

And you say, you know what? I better call in. And I think that is a is a watch out. You know, it's a big watch out. It's a big watch out. You mentioned also the work, like you you think you're gonna answer one email.

SPEAKER_04 24:39

Oh. Well, we were talking about this, and I said, I don't bring my work laptop on on you know, vacation with me. Um now, I'm gonna be transparent. Yes, there's times when I knew something was happening, like there were some approvals that only I could do. And so, yes, so I brought it, but I knew that, right? But you bring your work laptop because you feel you need to for whatever reason, and you have it open, and maybe you're just you know on there on the internet, but then you slip on over to your emails and you see some stuff popping off. And then now you feel, wait a minute, this is about to go off the rails. Your vacation just turned into a trick.

SPEAKER_02 25:18

And your family. I'm just gonna be on this call. I'm gonna answer a couple of emails. Or I'm asking it took me about an hour this morning.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:25

And then you guys go on. Yeah. You guys go on, you go do the boating thing, whatever you're gonna do.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:32

I I'll be I mean, the it's a slippery slope. It is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:36

It is. And you have to be real, real careful of that. Right. You do. You really do. Now, I I've said this before in another episode. I think it was addicted to busy, and I'll say it quickly, but it's like if you're at a certain point in your career where you really do set your schedule and you have that authority, then um one thing that you know I've practiced is um about three weeks before I know I'm gonna go on vacation, I start setting it up. I don't start new. I don't start new projects.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:06

I don't start taking on work, you know, that I know is gonna have a deadline days before I have to go. Um now, you know, you may not be in a position where you can do that, but what I'll say to our listeners is what can you start to do? Like, can you start saying, well, you know, um I um have a planned vacation um during this time. So give yourself some buffer and don't lose your buffer. Like five days before, you know, I'm gonna need to make sure I get this to you then by that date because I need to wrap up some other things and I'm gonna be out. Um, and you know, my vacation is important to me, and it's important that I spend that time with my family, and so I want to prioritize it.

SPEAKER_02 26:43

Well, and that's an example in one of your mantras, you have many, but one of them is you know, you teach people how to treat you. Yes. I think too, you teach the people you work with. Yeah, I'm available all the time. You can call me anytime. It doesn't matter. I'm fine. It's fine. Call me, call me, call me on vacation, it'll be cool. You know, instead of saying that that time for me is really important, and then and tell everybody now sometimes things happen. Sure. Sure. Of course. Sure. But I think you can try to set expectations. I think you mentioned too the pre-planning for it.

SPEAKER_01 27:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:13

You know, to make sure it goes well. Yeah. Um, also, I think important on vacation, like you talk about once you're there, is talking about stuff. We talked about the financial, we talked about, you know, also how do you like to spend your time? Maybe not stuff you plan ahead on, like for us and some friends at our house. Um, and we were at the beach and and our I never thought about it this way, but one of our friends said, you know, because what we do is we we do a lot of stuff together. We we play games every night. That's kind of a Johnson family thing.

SPEAKER_01 27:45

Yeah, it's a thing. Games and games and games. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:48

And um and one of our friends said something about, yeah, uh we said, I'm talking about the week. And he said, You all have a very high engagement vacation.

SPEAKER_04 27:59

High engagement.

SPEAKER_02 28:01

How is feedback? High engagement.

SPEAKER_04 28:04

High engagement vacation.

SPEAKER_02 28:06

Coffee on the porch in the morning, everybody's talking. And then we, you know, in the evening, you're playing games. And and but people do your thing during the day. Yeah. But morning and evening, you tend to kind of do things together. And even during the day, there's a lot of you don't have to do things, but a lot of activity. And it kind of made me laugh because I realized we all vacation differently. That's right. You know, our normal of what we what we want gets back to where we started this conversation.

SPEAKER_04 28:34

You got a contract for it. Yeah. And make sure like this is what we do. How what do y'all what do you want to do? Because you don't have to do that with those, honestly.

SPEAKER_02 28:42

No, do your thing.

SPEAKER_04 28:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:43

So in this spirit of um let's talk about our tips to make vacation a vacation. We've mentioned a lot, but if you think about what are the the other just anything we've missed or anything else that you think is super important that for those people that are really thinking, okay, it's vacation season. Yeah. How do I how do I make this all fit?

SPEAKER_04 29:05

Um don't um my thing is I I hate well, let me back up. I you know, I've traveled a lot in my life, you know, internationally, domestically, and everything, and I've gotten to the point where it's one suitcase, I don't check.

unknown 29:20

I have to check.

SPEAKER_04 29:21

I don't check, and I can I can get away with it, you know, and you know, one whatever they tell me I can take one carry on and one personal life.

SPEAKER_02 29:29

Really? Those of you that that don't know Mark, you should see. I haven't been in it. I've seen photos of Mark's closet.

SPEAKER_04 29:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:37

You got some clothes.

SPEAKER_04 29:38

I well, I told you I told you that my closet is delightful. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

I feel like Shelly. You said Shelly's is bigger, I don't believe. I'm gonna call her.

SPEAKER_04 29:46

Her side is bigger. Um I'm gonna send you a picture. Anyway.

SPEAKER_02 29:50

But anyway, I'm shocked you can get to work.

SPEAKER_04 29:52

I can. I really can't. That's the goal. Don't overpack. Yeah, but like some people they'll overpack like and and they pack enough underwear or something like they plan on having an accident every day. I mean, you know, and or two. And it's like, or do you do that? Okay. Anyway, I think that don't overpack because then you're trying to get through the airport with all these bags. And if you have young kids, and sometimes when you have younger kids, yeah, you do have to pack a lot, but teach people like we our boys travel so well. Yeah, right, they got it down to a science. I'm like, listen, if y'all check, I'm gonna see you there.

SPEAKER_02 30:26

See, yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_04 30:27

Yeah, you're waiting on that bag, I'm gonna be laid up. I'll see you when you get there.

SPEAKER_02 30:31

Now, business, I'm in one bag.

SPEAKER_04 30:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:33

Vacation, what am I gonna want to wear?

SPEAKER_04 30:35

Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:36

It might be a little cool. Well, it might be a little warmer. I might need a jacket. I might not be in the mood for that.

SPEAKER_04 30:42

Well, I always reserve the right that if I'm someplace where I might need to do a little um shopping.

SPEAKER_02 30:46

There you go. That's what you're doing. Well, you gotta be somewhere that you know I can do some shopping. That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_04 30:52

And then if you have extra, you just ship it back.

SPEAKER_02 30:54

You just ship it. We just bought an extra suitcase. We went, we were just in California, bought an extra gym's like, yeah. Okay. Okay. You you have I gotta get the extra suitcase because we had extra stuff. That's stuff. You gotta do it.

SPEAKER_04 31:06

What's a tip that you have?

SPEAKER_02 31:08

Well, I think, you know, uh we talked about the work situation.

SPEAKER_01 31:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:13

I think um don't set yourself up. You know, I think you have to make a decision if sometimes you, as you know, you've got your vacation if you planned if you're a pre-planner like we are, and I know a lot of times you've been in a in an environment where you needed to pre-plan vacations. That's true. But then all of a sudden there's a great big old fat issue that's landing right in the middle of your vacation.

SPEAKER_01 31:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

And you have to decide sometimes in those situations, am I going to have to work a little on vacation?

SPEAKER_01 31:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:43

Or am I in a situation I can reschedule it and push it back? And which it neither one of those is great. I have had it done.

SPEAKER_04 31:49

That happened to me just um earlier this year. Really? You know, didn't plan it. They knew how to contact me and they called me and there was an issue. Yeah. You know, and we just had to work through it. But I also kind of said, again, what can be solved right now? Right. That, you know, how do we immediately kind of figure it out and what things can actually wait?

SPEAKER_01 32:07

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 32:08

You know, because if I'm responsible, you know, for it, you know, there's nothing I can do from here. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:14

And I think, you know, that the work piece, I think, whether it's, you know, it's it's in the business world or you have a committee responsibilities or nonprofit, it doesn't really matter. It is anticipating what's going to happen when you're out.

SPEAKER_01 32:27

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 32:27

Um, I think the other tip we started back at the very beginning about the little mini, mini trips, yeah, or mini vacations rather. You know, uh don't put so much on those three or four weeks. Because you're gonna kind of setting up if that is where you're going to refresh, recharge. If it's gonna you're gonna go have fun and do something different, that's that's great. If it's if you need refresh and recharge, you know, maybe you know, take a Friday afternoon off. Yeah, that's great advice. What is enjoyable to you? Maybe it is get together with friends and you know, maybe it's a you know, a weekend road trip. I don't know what it is, not in a Volkswagen bus. Yeah. Don't do it. Going to Alaska. Going to Alaska. Yeah. Anyway, but you know, mm create little mini pockets. You know, go to the spa if you can. Yeah. You know, little things like that because you know, we talk a lot about, we've been talking a lot about mental health and about not putting yourself last in one of our prior episodes. Yeah. It's gonna take more than those three or four week vacations for you to feel that. So don't put too much on it.

SPEAKER_04 33:30

That is so wise. I think also, depending on, you know, everybody has different jobs and different things. And so your vacation, you know, you may have very limited vacation or have to take it very sparingly. So find those opportunities, yeah, to to take care of yourself, you know, and build it in, you know. Um, I think that's important. Yeah. It's really important.

SPEAKER_02 33:49

You know, I also this is not a tip, but um, one thing I have always done since we've been married is every time, everywhere we go, yeah, I get a Christmas ornament.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

Oh, we do that. Do you? Yeah, we do that.

SPEAKER_02 34:02

And so our tree is full of, and of course the boys now don't like it because I'll be if they're they're not here, we're putting it up. I'll be sending pictures. Remember that time? Remember that time?

SPEAKER_04 34:12

Remember that time when time we went to Vermont? Maple syrup um ornament.

SPEAKER_02 34:19

I have a Vermont, I have two Christmas ornaments, and that is one of the jokes. My most favorite trip. And I said, anyway, so uh yeah, but what a great that's a great way also to have memories of these incredible vacations. And uh so that's super fun.

SPEAKER_00 34:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:37

So um before we wrap up, any closing thoughts, Mark, on vacations?

SPEAKER_04 34:41

Um you know, I just will say that um you can have room for both in your life, vacations and trips. Yep, you just have to know what it is. And here's the thing um I have a really good friend that told me that the way to keep the energy going is when one event trip or vacation um is ending, immediately start planning the next one.

SPEAKER_02 35:06

You know what? Um I'm a believer in your friends. Yeah. In fact, yeah. That's yeah, I have a drive people.

SPEAKER_04 35:13

It gives me energy. I'm like, you know, we we we are on our way to the airport coming back home, and I'm like, What are we gonna do next? What are we gonna do next?

SPEAKER_02 35:21

I love that. Yeah, because you can look forward to it. And planning is part of the fun of it. Yeah, isn't it? And that's fine. Doing the research and all that. So, guys, it's vacation season.

SPEAKER_03 35:29

It is.

SPEAKER_02 35:29

Uh we hope this is giving you some tips to think about what kind of vacation you want.

SPEAKER_03 35:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:35

And if you've already planned it, how do you make sure you avoid things that you just come back exhausted and thinking what?

SPEAKER_04 35:42

Well, I'm hoping that people have heard this to your point and they might reassess. Maybe they have a plan. They're like, oh, well, wait a minute. This might be turning into a trip.

SPEAKER_02 35:50

It might be. Right.

SPEAKER_04 35:51

So you can you still might have time to reassess.

SPEAKER_02 35:58

And um we hope you gave some tips to make them great.

SPEAKER_04 36:02

Some news you can use, right?

SPEAKER_02 36:03

News you can use. And we hope that on Mark, tell everybody how they can follow and find us and listen to us.

SPEAKER_04 36:10

Yeah. So on Instagram, you can find us on um aren't you tired of underscore social on Instagram. So we invite you to join that community. You can listen to us on Apple and Spotify. Um, please, uh, we'd love to hear from you. So, you know, DM us, uh, send us um your thoughts. Um, we love to hear from you. We love to hear what we're doing well that you appreciate and that resonates with you because it helps us to make sure that we're doing more of it. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 36:38

And leave a review. We would love that. We love that that we love that feedback. And thank you so much. Have a great week and a great summer vacation season. Take care. Thank you all. Happy traveling. Bye.