The Journey Begins

So can you call it vacation when you’ve been off for almost 2 months?  Yes, I think you can. Tomorrow we head off on a week-long adventure. We start with a train trip from Portland to Boston. I’ve always wanted to take a long train trip, but it’s always been seemingly silly to take all that vacation time just for the journey. Two things are different about this train trip journey.
1) I’m not working, so I’m not taking vacation time.  Nice.

2) I have a new-found appreciation for the journey itself. Depending on how this goes I could imagine taking another train trip, when I do actually have to take vacation time.
We leave Portland Monday at 08:00 and arrive in Boston Thursday at 20:00. We’ve got a bag of snacks, loaded up the digital toys with books and audio books, and even a few Masterpiece Theater episodes. Hopefully, we won’t want to watch tv, but if we do, we’re ready.  I’ve even got a nice knitting bag packed, working on a lightweight cardigan.

We have a sleeper car for the overnights, which comes with meal service, and early boarding. I’ve done some looking into the tricks about train travel.  Did you know you can bring your own beverages on, as long as you have a private room? And it makes sense to go claim a seat in the view car.  I even heard a story of someone who’d taken the train back to Portland and to their surprise, the dining car was separated part way, so they were without expected meals, so we have extra snacks.

After the trip out, we’ll meet our son and his girlfriend outside of Boston for a long weekend. We picked Boston before we knew he was going to school there, but after we decided Watertown NY was not likely an ideal vacation destination. So we’ll meet in Boston, and be tourists Thursday through Monday. Monday, we fly back to Portland.

I’m well through my 3 month time between jobs, having left one job in early April, and starting the next July 1.  This week's “vacation” is a nice reminder to use the time well, both during this next week, and for the remaining time off. I was feeling a little bad about all the time off, when someone reframed it for me. They suggested I was taking a sabbatical.  Hmm.

 I’ve coached people who are taking sabbaticals, encouraging them to use the time for self-betterment, through study, spiritual practice or discipline, and rest. We’ve been busy enough getting settled in a new city and life, that I haven’t done as much study and practice, but I have rested well. So now, I’ll focus on the study and the practice, at least for the next few months, and I’ll use this trip to set my intentions for my remaining time off.

That’s why journeys, in and of themselves, are good. They give us time to think and be, as opposed to doing. To be clear, I’m both skilled at doing, and enjoy it. And I enjoy the space I achieve when I’m just being. As Carl Lewis said, It's all about the journey, not the outcome.