Vacationing Without Even Leaving Home
If summer is the prime travel time in this country, 4th of July weekend is the peak. America's Independence Day seems to be the call to battle for most Americans to declare their own independence-independence from work, from snow, from obligation, from everything that's the "norm." For those souls brave enough to venture away from home for the weekend, the battles they face will be many-fold: battles on the road, battles at airport security, battles for hotel rooms, battles for boat dockspace, restaurant reservations, good weather, a decent 6-pack from the store, and, ultimately, their own sanity. As I write this, there are already throngs of screaming kids, wirethin patienced-parents, hopeful grandparents, and sweaty couples traversing our sky and roadways en route to a place they hope will refresh and restore them, giving them the strength to survive another 6 months of house projects, yelling bosses, endless bills, and obligations to needy friends and family. It is fitting that the holiday is celebrated with explosions-a great symbol of our collective exploding consciousness on the sky of stress, and the subsequent, celebratory sigh of relief that we let out which carries us through the two months left of heat and humidity that we can't stand when we're in the middle of, but can't help but long for when buried under 2' of snow and 20 below wind chill.
What's my point? This 4th of July weekend, I'm staying home. For someone who spends so much of the rest of the year away from home, spending the weekend not going anywhere seems like a vacation to me. Sure, I thought about going somewhere…as I write this, there's still a small voice in the back of my head that's whispering, "Just drive to Mexico tomorrow. Just go." But the rational part of me thinks about the last time I did that for a 4th of July weekend and how I ended up with heat stroke and the back of my car for a bed after knocking on more hotel doors than I can remember and being told there was no room at the hacienda-anywhere. Such is the adventure of traveling. Then there's the last 4th of July I tried to spend at the Taste of Chicago. After an hour in the car inching from the South side of Grant Park to the North (a drive that normally takes 5 minutes), I said, "screw it" and just kept driving up to my friend's apartment, where we watched the fireworks from a safe, crowd-free high-rise with a/c. There's the mob I got lost in after NYC's 4th of July celebration downtown. And then there's Malibu on the 4th-a 2 to 3 hour drive, easy, to drive back on a road that normally takes half that time to cover.
The trips always sound good on paper, but this year, I've decided to stay here and explore my hometown as if I was on vacation here. Think about it: how often do you really do the things you say you enjoy in your Match.com profile? The museums? The hikes? The really good restaurants? The adventure? Right in your own backyard?! When I travel, I do it all, and I'm far more open to going places myself, meeting people, seeing where the road takes me. But at home, there's always something I have to do on my list: a house project, an errand to run, a catch-up dinner w/ someone. This weekend, I'm setting the list on fire with a bottle rocket, and taking a sojourn without the additional stress of packing, standing in line, and driving the freeways of America.
I'm writing this to suggest you do the same, kindred countrymen. Celebrate America this summer by exploring the place you hold dearest to your heart: the city you've made your home. Forget the obligatory BBQ with friends you don't really care to see anyway. Do the things you know you'll love doing, but rarely get to do--even if you have to do them by yourself. Step outside of your normal comfort zone of lethargy. Put on your best dress, go to the swankiest bar in town, and have a happy hour margarita with the cute bartender there. Go catch a matinee of whatever the much-hyped new release is this weekend, and sneak into a 2nd movie after, or a 3rd, to really catch up! Pig out at a Sunday brunch dim sum. Dig out your "artist" glasses and black t-shirt and hit that fabulous exhibit you keep hearing about, or all of gallery row, for that matter. Take a walk in the woods with no worries about having to get back in time for something specific. Read a book in the park. Write postcards to your family. Get a massage. Pack a picnic lunch. Just go, and do the things that you always talk about wanting to do here at home, but never seem to find the time to fit in.
In short, put your fears, your stress, your obligations, and your travel plans aside, and vacay as you've never vacay'd before. Because that's what travel is really about: adventure and exploration, wherever you are. Traveling is a lifestyle, not a place. And isn't that what the fight for our country's independence was all about? The right to the lifestyle we choose? That and a great margarita at home-now, that says "God Bless America!"
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