This week I read a family's story of taking a "radical sabbatical". They took a year off from all activities. It is great two part piece about stepping outside of the norm to make time for family. I love the name radical sabbatical. It has stuck in my head for the past few days, perhaps because we are half way through our own family's radical sabbatical. Each winter my husband and I take the girls to the Bahamas for three weeks. When I tell people this, I get one of two reactions. Our non-Americans friends say, "How nice, have a good trip." Basically they have no real reaction. Our American friends say, "What? Three weeks? That must be nice!" People react as if I have told them we are taking the kids to Mars. A three week vacation is pretty much unheard of in the US. The fact that we do it every year is just flat out nuts to many people. We are told over and over again that we'll have to stop this next year when Sarah goes to Kindergarten. We are asked "what will you DO for three weeks?" What about work? What about your house? How do you afford this?
I read a study this summer that said 50% of American's do not use their vacation time. American's take a pitiful amount of vacation time compared to our European counterparts. So to encourage all of my overworking friends out there to take a nice long vacation, I thought I would answer some questions about our radical sabbatical.
What do we do?
Not much. We stay right on the beach. We head out to the beach around 9:30. We swim, play in the sand and collect seashells until about 2. We come up and take a nap or read until 4:30 or 5:00. Have dinner and go to bed by 9. Then we repeat that about 21 times. Right now the weather is bad so we are spending a few days doing art projects and watching movies. Each year we do one big touristy activity. This year we all went on a dolphin encounter (Our Christmas gift from my grandmother). We went to a dolphin sanctuary. Learned all about dolphins and were able to get into the water with them. It was amazing. For the most part though, we do not do touristy activities. A few days, Pete will go out and play golf. But we really don't do much. This is the whole point of the trip. We do a lot at home!
Will we stop when the girls are in "real" school?
No. Yes we believe in schooling, but we frankly think the girls learn more spending time in a different country, making new friends, exploring the beach and building relationships with their grandparents and great grandmother. Sarah (5) has been tracking the tides and the moon since we got here. Emily (2) is learning to swim and growing more confident with strangers every day. Most importantly, they are learning the enormous lesson that time with them is a big priority for us. (Don't tell the school but in about 5 years we are planning on pulling the girls for a year to travel!)
What about work?
Pete uses about 10 days of vacation for this trip. His company closes for three days for Christmas and New Years and we have four weekends so that adds up to 11 of our days here. We know a lot of people who pride themselves on never taking a sick day or a vacation day. We find this so sad. People need time off. We both feel that we are better workers because we take time off. By the time we come back, we are ready to hit the road running! Yes there will always be co-workers who look down on Pete for taking his vacation time, but we really don't care. Family is much more important than work ever will be.
What about your house?
We have amazing friends. Thank you Betsy and Doug! They are checking our house every week or so and will call us if it blows up, burns down or floods. If so, we'll just stay here longer. J
How do we afford it?
I think a lot of people hear that we spend 3 weeks in the Bahamas and think that it must cost a fortune. It is actually very reasonable. During the year we charge everything (and I mean everything!) to get frequent flyer miles. By the end of the year we can normally get most of our tickets for free. We stay in a two bedroom condo on the beach which costs $100 a night. It is pretty bare bones and far from luxurious but it makes a great base for us. We make most of our meals. There are limited dining out options and the kids prefer cheese sandwiches on the beach anyways. When we take out all our normal expenses that we don't have here such as movies, classes, Starbucks, fast food, babysitters, and runs to Super Target, it is overall very reasonable to come here.
We love our mini sabbatical. It is an essential in our year. Every January we sit down and look at our calendars and finances and figure out how we will make this happen again in the New Year. In these three weeks our bodies are recharged, our hearts reconnect and our souls heal from a year of fast paced and often stressful life. Our holiday prepares us for another year. If your family has ever considered taking a good long holiday I encourage you to sit down with your calendar and make a commitment to do it. Life is short and kids grow fast, you'll never regret taking the time off to be together as a family.
