When I first planned our cruise to the Bahamas back in the winter, I thought I had it all together. We would spend a day in Miami before embarking on a three day jaunt aboard the ship to Nassau and Coco Cay. Then we would come back to Miami and spend two days there before flying back home.
Six days away from home, just the two of us enjoying sun, sand, and wanderlust.
As the trip grew closer, my calendar began to fill up with due dates and work. I promised my teen that we would be spending the time together, all play no work on the menu. I didn’t want to disappoint her, but entrepreneurial pursuits persisted. Mama needed to make sure the bills could be paid.
Me and my daughter travel a lot together, and we haven’t had any recent getaways when I didn’t do some kind of work on our trip. She’s been wanting an excursion where I would be untethered to my business and all that it entails.
When she saw that I was packing my Louis Vuitton Neverfull with my Macbook and other work materials, she didn’t say anything, but the expression on her face said it all.
Once we landed in Miami after an early morning flight, I took one look at my corporate accessories and vowed that there would be no work done on this trip. I promised all play and no work and that was exactly what was going to happen.
And it did.
I was able to get in a full six days of vacation with her without doing any work. Not one blog post was written, not one email was read, and not one business phone call or text was sent.
Here’s how to have an all play and no work escape like we did.
Plan accordingly
Make sure there are enough activities for you and your family to do so that you don’t have time to sneak in a business call or three. We stayed doing things either on the beach or discovering Atlantis or other parts of Nassau and Miami that the only downtime was spent sleeping.
It helps to vacation with intention and with a purpose so you can maximize your experience.
We had a fully engaged trip which allowed us to bond even more so, and for that, I am grateful.
Email responder on
Make sure to craft a vacation message on your email and voicemail so that people know that you won’t be responding to them. This also helps you feel less inclined to check your inboxes, and gives you more time to enjoy your people.
I let my email responded do the work while I had all of the fun.
Live in the moment
Put your phone away for segments of time and just enjoy their company. Once the photos are taken and the videos are uploaded to Insta Stories, chill out and relax and soak in each and every moment of your vacay.
I took my fair share of pics, but also had times when my phone stayed in my bag so that I could be fully involved and present in our vacation.
Memories
Long after the trip is over and your teen becomes an adult, they will remember this time—when you put them first and allowed yourself to enjoy an extended vacation without interruptions. This was on my mind each time that I was tempted to log onto WordPress to edit articles, or check my social media replies.
Let your next family vacation be an all play no work one, and see how it helps to create stronger ties and lasting flashbacks you will recall on for the rest of your lives.
Are you ready for an all play and no work vacay?
She’s such a cutie! And stylish too.