![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Multiple Short Trips vs. One Long Trip
Sep. 23rd, 2021 11:01 amAs we returned from our four-day weekend trip Olympic National Park a few weeks ago I thought about how we schedule vacation and travel... versus how, ideally, we'd schedule vacation and travel.
This year we've traveled to the state of Washington three times. Twice were trips to Spokane, from which we branched out in various directions north, east, south, and west by car. The third was our recent trip to Olympic NP via Seattle. Across these three trips we spent 11 days: 3, 4, and 4. We combined a couple of Monday holidays with a few days of personal vacation to stretch out three weekends.
That's great, right? I am so glad we've been able to take this trips. I don't regret any of the trips one bit. And yet... I yearn for more.
What's more? First, just within the areas we went to in Washington (and neighboring Idaho and Oregon) we could have used another 1-3 days. Second, there are other areas we'd have loved to visit in Washington. For example, Mount Rainier. North Cascades National Park— not in a tow truck.
Could we make additional trips to visit these? Sure. And we almost certainly will. If wildfires and smoke in the Pacific Northwest hadn't been such an issue this summer we might have made 4 total trips already. But you know what would have been better than that? Making one long trip.
The drawback of taking lots of short trips is that we spent a lot of time on the out-and-back travel. Given flight schedules, the airport rigamarole, and driving to & from the airports, a 4 day trip really becomes a 2½ day or 2 and two-half days trip. All that flying back and forth costs money, too. It would be so much better if we just took one trip of 14 days instead of, say, 5 shorter trips. We'd have time to do a lot more once we're there— and we'd spend less on travel, too!
But taking a full 2 weeks off really doesn't work. It doesn't work because meager vacation allowances in Corporate America— compared to what our European counterparts enjoy— make it hard to save up for 2 weeks of time off. And while that's not impossible, merely hard, what makes it even harder to accomplish is the corporate culture that has evolved around small vacation allowances. Management balks, colleagues complain about the job being left undone, and there's a widespread worry that teams and projects will fall apart in your absence— because companies basically haven't developed the institutional skill to handle routine leave of much longer than a week.
We've never had two-week trip. The longest we've managed is 11 days. That's a week off work between two weekends, plus a day on either end. We've done trips like that a few times now— three times, I think— but never longer. Shit, I've taken business trips longer than 11 days!
This year we've traveled to the state of Washington three times. Twice were trips to Spokane, from which we branched out in various directions north, east, south, and west by car. The third was our recent trip to Olympic NP via Seattle. Across these three trips we spent 11 days: 3, 4, and 4. We combined a couple of Monday holidays with a few days of personal vacation to stretch out three weekends.
That's great, right? I am so glad we've been able to take this trips. I don't regret any of the trips one bit. And yet... I yearn for more.
What's more? First, just within the areas we went to in Washington (and neighboring Idaho and Oregon) we could have used another 1-3 days. Second, there are other areas we'd have loved to visit in Washington. For example, Mount Rainier. North Cascades National Park— not in a tow truck.
Could we make additional trips to visit these? Sure. And we almost certainly will. If wildfires and smoke in the Pacific Northwest hadn't been such an issue this summer we might have made 4 total trips already. But you know what would have been better than that? Making one long trip.
The drawback of taking lots of short trips is that we spent a lot of time on the out-and-back travel. Given flight schedules, the airport rigamarole, and driving to & from the airports, a 4 day trip really becomes a 2½ day or 2 and two-half days trip. All that flying back and forth costs money, too. It would be so much better if we just took one trip of 14 days instead of, say, 5 shorter trips. We'd have time to do a lot more once we're there— and we'd spend less on travel, too!
But taking a full 2 weeks off really doesn't work. It doesn't work because meager vacation allowances in Corporate America— compared to what our European counterparts enjoy— make it hard to save up for 2 weeks of time off. And while that's not impossible, merely hard, what makes it even harder to accomplish is the corporate culture that has evolved around small vacation allowances. Management balks, colleagues complain about the job being left undone, and there's a widespread worry that teams and projects will fall apart in your absence— because companies basically haven't developed the institutional skill to handle routine leave of much longer than a week.
We've never had two-week trip. The longest we've managed is 11 days. That's a week off work between two weekends, plus a day on either end. We've done trips like that a few times now— three times, I think— but never longer. Shit, I've taken business trips longer than 11 days!
Got it? No? Good. It is confusing. Lots of terms aren't defined here. What constitutes "high risk of severe Covid-19"? Which "underlying conditions" count? It isn't the media using vague terms to keep their articles short; these are verbatim what the government agencies are saying. Trying to figure out who's eligible for a booster shot— and specifically whether I or any of my family members are— is like asking one of those Magic 8-Balls from decades ago. REPLY HAZY. TRY AGAIN.