When I am on holidays, it really means holidays
I will be going to Calgary from December 19th, 2009 to January 2nd, 2010. Officially, these will be my first few days of real holiday in about a decade. I heard some people complaining that they hadn’t had a vacation in a few months. I can’t remember the last time I actually had a real, disconnected, unplugged and restful few days off. So, since my 2010 promise to myself is that I will be focusing on my own growth, I have taken an extra step.
I have set up my emails’ auto-responder to request that anybody who contacts me re-send their email. I am not going to check email, Twitter, Facebook or blog while I am on holidays. I refuse to actually have anyone contact me by phone or text message. I want to be away and spend my vacation with my family and just disconnect. Therefore, I will be 100% unavailable then. Sounds a bit harsh perhaps and for some people, even presumptuous. But that’s my decision. This 2009, my vacation will be 100% offline. My friend Gillian Shaw (who is the digital reporter of the Vancouver Sun) did it (disconnect fully for a few days), why shouldn’t I?
So, don’t take it personally if I don’t respond to your tweets, phone calls, emails, Facebook wall messages, etc. It’s my decision – when I’m on holidays, it really means holidays.
Related posts:
- Suggest wording for my email auto-responder
- What Pride means to me #VanPride 2010
- Catching up on reading while on holidays
- I am going away on holidays
- Friends are the family we choose
Are you going cold turkey? My biggest challenge when on vacation is my itching curiosity about what’s going on in the virtual world. I’ve thought about tapering off to see if it helps.
Good for you!
@ Doug – 100% cold turkey. I’ve decided that I won’t be checking my tweets. What would happen if I don’t? The world will continue on
@ Holly – thanks!
Enjoy! Have a wonderful holiday – sounds awesome.
I hope you have a fantastic holiday… you DESERVE it! Try not to sneak in work and tweeting hey?
Good for you, Raul! I remember when I went on vacation a couple years ago where I made the semi-voluntary attempt to disconnect. I was on a cruise and the on-board Internet was expensive and painstakingly slow. As soon as I found myself on dry land, however, I couldn’t help but to log on to check my email. This was only after a few days and it was before the advent of Twitter. Good luck!
On a side note, why Calgary in December?
@ Allie and @ Michelle – thanks! I will definitely NOT be tweeting
@ Michael – my family is there, and I spend Christmas with my family!