Travel – Page 2 – Physician In Numbers

Thoughts On My First Trip Abroad Since The Pandemic

It’s been a long few years.

Mr. PiN and I love to travel. Even after discovering FIRE (or, at least, the concept of cutting costs and saving more, to be able to leave paid work early), we traveled.

However, our last trip abroad was in 2018. We were getting close to paying off the mortgage, and we agreed to cut back on travel for a year to finish the job. 2020 was to be the year that we started traveling again; we all know how that turned out.

We have recently returned from our first trip out of the country since the pandemic started, and I thought I would share a few reflections.

Lessons From A Somewhat Sucky Staycation

I just took another staycation.

Mr. PiN and I went back and forth several times about staying home versus trying to get away; our desire to travel was up against an unreliable car and unreliable planes. We finally decided to stay put once I scheduled several medical appointments. I elected to call it a self-care staycation.

To be honest, it hasn’t been the best vacation I ever took. Since I am likely to be taking more staycations in the future, I thought I had better take away some lessons (again), and remember to use them next time I decide to stay home.

I hope that these may be useful to you as well.

Comparing Shoulder Season and High Season Travel

As you may recall, last summer Mr. PiN and I went to Maine (aka Vacationland) for the first time last year. We had a blast.

Since COVID is still affecting travel this year, we decided to go back, and see if it was just as nice as the first time.

The short answer: yes.

The other answer: it wasn’t quite the same.

The biggest differences related to visiting in the shoulder season, rather than high season.

For our international travels (back before COVID), we loved traveling in shoulder season. We were unconstrained by the school holiday calendar, and could find cheaper flights to destinations that had great weather and fewer crowds.

This year we found that shoulder season in Maine had some of the same advantages, and a few more drawbacks. I thought I would go through some of them.

Take More Vacations: A Book Summary. Part 1.

I have been thinking more and more about travel recently, though I am not sure the time is quite yet right for me. (The thought of being unable to enter the country if I have a positive COVID test–and thus missing work–is a real challenge).

While cruising the Internet, I found this book by the founder of Scott’s Cheap Flights. I was intrigued, and decided to get it from my local library.

Cover of book, with a plane silhoutted against the sun, rising between two palm trees — Goodreads link to Take More Vacations. Not an affiliate link.

Mr. Keyes was previously a journalist, and his prose is easy to read. His book is peppered with anecdotes about people looking for deals. Not unsurprisingly, a number of them find success using his website.

He has a number of tips for finding cheaper flights, some of which I have used before, and some of which were new to me. I’ve decided to take notes on the book, to refer to after I return it. It’s entertaining enough I might decide to add it to my permanent shelves, but in the meantime, here are the highlights of the first 4 chapters.

Building A Travel Bucket List

While on vacation with my husband, taking our usual daily walk, I asked him to think about something that has been on my mind for a while.

We are still young (-ish) and healthy, but we are getting reminders of our mortality regularly: his mother’s passing, his father’s decline, my mother’s surgery.

In the past few months, my parents have lost several friends and acquaintances that I had known for decades, and one of my local friends lost her mom.

Some of my patients are showing signs of decline as well. They aren’t quite family, but I still find it quite stressful.

I’m starting to feel a little pressure to make sure that I actually make it to some of the places that I always figured I would get to…someday.

2021 Is In The Rearview Mirror

Early January is when people about their resolutions for the next 11 to 12 months. Usually there is talk of losing weight, saving more money, getting ahead at work.

Before I consider resolutions (or plans) for 2022, I would like to review some of the highlights of 2021. I find it is healthier for me to pay attention to things that have gone well, rather than always pointing out what needs to improve.

November 8, 2021

If you are reading this, then I don’t have internet access and/or wasn’t up to posting.

I probably was looking at a similar view, though.

sunrise over a sandy beach with palm trees — Peace.

Monday Melange, Marital Missives

In May, I published a round up post of some of the links I have sent to Mr. PiN in the last year. I was pretty surprised at the number, and decided to split the list into 2 posts.

Many of the subjects are similar to what I write about on the blog, so I hope that you might find this collection interesting.

First Vacation After COVID: Making Travel More Affordable

A few weeks ago, the PiN household returned from our first trip out of town since COVID hit. I had previously written:

I didn’t have much of a budget for this vacation–after over a year at home, I sort of didn’t care what it cost. Sometimes it is time to loosen the purse strings, and for the PiN household, this was that time; though I still like to get a good deal if that is possible.

It isn’t quite true that we didn’t have a budget: I gave Mr. PiN a rather high number as a limit to our hotel spending, thinking that our food budget couldn’t possibly be a big issue. (I haven’t seen all the credit card bills; I am not sure that assumption was correct!)

Nevertheless, even though we had a very high budget (for us) for our vacation, we both like to get a bit of a deal.

Below are some ways we saved money on our trip, and some thoughts on ways to make future trips affordable. As well as things that, to us, are worth spending more on.

I hope you may find some of these tips helpful in your own travel planning in the future.

Fitness Log #142 And Friday Firsts

I have been keeping track of my exercise every Friday for over 2 years, and plan to continue doing so.

I started the Friday Firsts sections as a way of keeping track of some of my “firsts” as I dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic. Things seem to be settling down, but I will keep it for now–more as a way to be aware and thankful of what is happening in my life.

Being on vacation–my first travel in over a year–I paid much more attention to my firsts. I exercised a bunch, I think, but didn’t measure it carefully.