Prescription: Vacation!

I don't know a single person who doesn't like to take a vacation. To elaborate, I am referring to not only taking time from your job, but to actually travel somewhere. Pack a bag or suitcase, get in a car or on a place or ship etc and leave your home/city and explore a new place or visit a favorite. Taking the time to go on a vacation can be a much needed getaway to allow for your own mental decompression, but your partner or spouse, if you have kids it's that but also a great learning experience and of course, for all who vacation, it should mean a plethora of wonderful memories that come from the experience.

For Marzz and I, we like to try and have a balance of our vacation destinations split between places we have been before but wish to return to and those thousands of destinations that we have yet to visit. Sometimes this decision is more difficult than anticipated. For example, you all know we enjoy going to Disneyland. We are annual pass holders for the Disney parks here in Southern California, so we do make that our escape frequently, however, neither of us really consider that a vacation, mainly because we only go for the day, or on rare occasions, we stay overnight. We are very fortunate that we have the means and ability to visit Disneyland so often. But on that note, speaking of Disney, we also visited Walt Disney World in November of 2017 along with my parents and had a great time. That is a destination in which we would like to return to and revisit but also, like most Disney parks, they continuously change, so even in our eventual return, it will be a new and different experience than our first time. Because of this reason, it is a very tempting proposition for us to make plans to return in the near future.

On the flip side of returning to places that we have visited before, is of course, the rest of the world. Not exactly a small feat nor short on interesting landscapes, experiences, cultures, food etc. All of the reasons people may travel for and return to enjoy.

The allure of traveling the world, visiting new countries and experiencing their way of life is very appealing to us. Even within the United States of America, there is a lot of enticing places to visit, historical sites to see and food to eat.

When Marzz and I are thinking of planning a vacation, we try and take all of these things into consideration from the standpoint of choosing a place or places that we wish to visit. The next thing we do is try and determine what the trip would cost, and often times we do this by searching on travel sites and picking different times of the year or days of the week to see how it affects the pricing. Now obviously if you're traveling for a specific event, such as the cherry blossoms in Japan, then you're restricted to the month that the trees bloom and have to work around that.

After we suss out the estimated cost, then we decide when we could best take the time from our careers and then when would we have that money for the trip. To us, there's a difference between simply having the money and when is the most opportune time to spend that money and what affect does it have on our finances overall? Just because you have the cash on hand does not mean it is a good idea to blow it on a vacation; although that would be nice!

Unless you are traveling for a specific event or need to travel during a specific time period, as my example of the cherry blossoms in Japan demonstrated, most people, and Marzz and I included, want to travel when it's best for us and when we can save on things such as a rental car or plane tickets. Hotel stay and perhaps when it's less crowded.

Another place we enjoy returning to again and again that is NOT Disney related is Las Vegas! We love Vegas, baby! For us living in Burbank, it is close, it is cheap and there are tons of entertainment options and amenities in one place; meaning within a hotel and casino and there are lots of hotel and casinos! Truly, I believe you can travel to Las Vegas and depending on the hotel and casino you could spend 2-3 days eating, seeing shows or other entertainment options and gambling and drinking without leaving that hotel and casino! Now this may not be for everyone, but my point is the abundance of options that Vegas has to offer and for a relatively cheap price, it will always be a getaway for us...at least as long as we live close.

Traveling should be an array of different experiences, such as learning about a new culture or local area. Do something that only locals do. Historical is another great reason to visit a location, whether it's domestically in the United States of America or abroad. Just in the USA alone, we have a rich history of events that tell a story of America and how we came to be. It is complex, violent, heartfelt, exciting, sad, and beautiful, all at the same time and definitely worth learning about.

These days, traveling for many is about social media and showing off where you have been to and where you at etc. This is great! It isn't new, we as people have done this for as long as we have traveled. We used to write letters back to loved ones and told great tales of our adventures when we returned home. In more recent history, we sent postcards, or wrote letters or telephoned home to share with friends or loved ones about our travels. Today, it is via Instagram, YouTube or Facebook and an array of others. As long as you're having fun, not doing anything illegal or being a jackass, then I'm in full support of it. Go find your adventure and share your experiences with others, inspire others to travel and seek their own adventures.

Our videos on YouTube are really our version of "home videos" for Marzz and I and our family and friends. But we wanted to put them publicly to share with others and possibly influence or inspire them to travel some place...or perhaps we make someone change their mind and NOT travel to a destination, and that is fine too. I think human interaction and communication is very important; and not the yelling kind or political rhetoric etc, I mean the simplistic art of sharing and story telling from person to person. We as a species have done this for centuries and I believe there is a lot of value in it and although social media can and is, used for malicious purposes; I would like to believe that there is a positive and good reason that it can exist. People have a chose of travel locations, just like they have a choice on how they use their social media influence.

Sorry to get a bit preachy, back to travel!

This year, 2020 has been very different and due to the Coronvirus, made it difficult to travel, but things are beginning to turn and open back up. Now is a great time, if you have the means and your job allows, to travel and go visit some place new or an old favorite. Traveling is a wonderful way to decompress and relax and buy yourself another few months of sanity.

I hope that everyone has the ability to travel and see new places. If you don't have the means to now, then I hope you can find financial success so that you can. I believe travel is just as important as eating healthy or exercising. It can and is, in my opinion, a way to keep your mental health up and broaden your horizons. So as summertime approaches, get out and see something new. Go to parts of your city that you've never been to before, visit a nearby town, or travel out of state or out of your country! Get out and find your happiness!

Happy travels everyone!