Another selling point for the kind of vacation I’m talking about is that—equal rights be dammed—there are times when men need the company of male friends. There’s some kind of primitive magic in returning to the circle of your own kind, and there’s no need to feel guilty about that, either. Up in Minnesota, [...]
The real goal of a vacation is to get that feeling of actually having been somewhere, of having temporarily taken leave of your everyday life. But that sensation is an interior experience, a matter of the heart, and it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with pending lots of money or even physically going [...]
For Jim and me, though, the whole point was not to know exactly what was coming next. We didn’t dread the unexpected; we welcomed it. We worked it right into the agenda, by sketching out a basic scheme (head down to Cape Lookout with tents, fishing gear and boat) but making sure to keep [...]
One thing all these trips had in common (besides water) is that they didn’t cost much. The last time out, we spent all of $250 (gas, food, bait, rum) in four days, setting us each back around $30 a day. We squeezed a phenomenal amount of pleasure out of every penny. When we got back [...]
Which brings me to my point: Every now and then, when you go on vacation, you need to leave the lady and the kids behind. You must not allow yourself to feel guilty about this, either. This is not abandonment, this is renewal. When you come back, I guarantee you’ll be the better for it, [...]
Is it time for separate vacations? Family vacations are well and good, but sometimes a man’s got to get away alone.
MY WIFE, OUR TWO CHILDREN and I, all dressed in standard issue tourist clothing, are at Epcot Center, surrounded by cheerful and informative displays having something to do with The Wonderful World of Communication. As [...]