The Importance of Vacation.

On May 20th 2022 I went on the first vacation I have been on in I don’t know when. On the way home from this vacation I realized for the first time ever why taking vacations are so important as I was enjoying myself. What I came to understand is vacations are not really about getting away, but really just about finding a new way among what is already taking place.

So from May 20th to the 27th I was staying in Orlando, Florida with some friends of mine at Holiday Inn resort, enjoying the city and eventually spending a couple days at Universal Studios. This trip was basically 3 years in the making. These friends of mine go on this trip every year and had previously invited me to go with them back in 2019 after they took the trip that year. I agreed to go with them the next time they went, but by the time the year 2020 came around we were now in a pandemic and like many things for a lot of people that year the trip was cancelled. The trip was also cancelled for 2021 as well, but with everything back on the up and up for 2022 my friends decided it was time to take that annual trip again and this time they invited me. I jumped at the idea with no hesitation being that I had never been to Florida before and it had always been one of my dreams to go to Universal Studios my whole life.

So I went with my friends on this trip and couldn't have been more perfect, but it was when I returned home the next week that I came to understanding that I had never given much thought to before. Vacations really are important. Though many see them as a luxury, truth be told they actually are Necessities. When I was growing up my mom would take me and my sisters on vacation a lot and though I always enjoyed those vacations, I never really thought about how important they were as opposed to how fun they were. Fast forward over 20 years later as an adult, I have come to understand the significance of taking a vacation in the process of preparation and the aftermath of returning to life.

When most people go on vacation they view it as an escape from reality, but its really not. Vacation is more of a journey to another reality. To go on vacation is not to go to a good place that is unreal to escape a bad place or situation that is real, but to escape a draining and even stressful situation by going to a good place of peace that takes all that stress away. This is where I was when I went to Florida. Though I wasn't exactly in a stressful place in life when I went, to go to Orlando and Universal like I did was to take a trip to another good place that did exist. Traveling and taking a good road trip is a great way to see the world and these are the nostalgic memories of my mom taking me and my sisters on road trips in my childhood that came back to me as we were road. This other place is a place that gave me some great memories because of the good time well spent. All of this time well spent made me realize that this is why my mom loved taking us on vacations to begin with, not to escape the world, but to go to another great part of the world. Even the time leading up to the trip was a great feeling because it was a feeling I had not had since I was a kid, a feeling of a good trip worth looking forward to taking.

When I got home from the trip I wasn't sad about leaving Florida even though I knew I would miss it, but I was very glad to be back at my place because all the time away actually had me missing home in a positive way. This is also the importance of vacation. When you spend a good amount of time away from the place you think you can't stand on average you really learn to appreciate it a lot more, because no matter how much a great getaway can be, at the end of the day there is no place like home.