Vacation !== Travel

In the rarified air of the tech industry, I've noticed more and more for myself and my peers that vacation == travel. This seems even more true here in Europe where virtually everyone has a passport and cheap international flights abound. This year, we were all faced with an abrupt and radical change removing most travel options for many months and making border crossing difficult. Many folks sat out taking vacation all year hoping for some sort of quick return to "normal". By the end of year, most of us had taken minimal time off. It was beyond time for a vacation. And, the end of year presented an opportunity for a long break, where email promised to be quiet for a couple weeks. However, there were many still claiming they wouldn't take a break, because there was no ability to travel.

Well, I was going to take a break, and goshdarnit, it was going to be fun and relaxing. Now, a caveat is that I live in Switzerland, which is a dream spot for outdoors lovers (of which I am one). I live less than 30km/20 miles from high mountains and immediately adjacent to a forest, big lake and rivers, so enjoyable, socially-distant, outdoor activities can be reached by bike, car share or mostly empty public transit. Now, I could easily say the same about a similar radius around my old home in California. I decided to post daily about my "OOO" activities to hopefully inspire others to do the same.

During the break, I dedicated about half my time to enjoying the outdoors and the other half to progressing my German capabilities, reading and other things around the house. I went with my husband on three snowshoe hikes, four winter hikes, nine hikes from our house, one visit to a medieval village with castle hike and one trip in an empty tourist train over the Gottard pass on January 1. I continued with my strength training and increased my mobility training. I spent about 30 hours on a B1 prep course for German, took a practice test, and finished reading Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen. I also continued reading The Color of Law, the Bible and a fun thriller. I wrote my end of year reflection and did some video chats with my closest loved ones. I cleaned out my tiny closet and edited a YouTube video. We watched The Queen's Gambit on Netflix and made tomato fondue on Christmas Eve. By the end, I felt completely refreshed.

It's like somewhere along the way, I'd forgotten how to simply enjoy time away from work and other intellectual pursuits. My hope is that I will remember what it's like to simply enjoy a break and continuing to do so beyond COVID-19.

Days of staycation: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18