Vacation Principles with Arthur and Alex

One of my co-workers was asking about my upcoming vacation and I describe part of what we had planned- backpacking, camping, sea kayaking, etc.  She looked at me with slight disgust and commented, “That doesn’t sound like vacation to me.”  So our idea of a vacation is different.  Maybe we should just refer to it as an adventure because our trips don’t include the rest and relaxation that the term vacation often denotes.  I'm sure this will change through different stages of our lives and someday a few quiet days in one place doing nothing will be just right.  But not now.  Here are our vacationing principles:

- Experiences are important.  This is why we travel, to experience new places and to try new things.  Currently these experiences are more outdoorsy and physical in nature.  I recently read an article about studies looking at a person's happiness with spending money on material items or experiences.  While material items last longer you might be continually reminded about a poor choice every time you see an item and are more likely to compare what you have to the Jones across the street. While satisfaction with a new thing or experience is about the same at the time of purchase, people have higher satisfaction with the experience for a longer time through sharing the memories with others.  Also an experience becomes a part of a person and shapes who they are.  On our trips we allocate more resources towards key experiences, which on this trip was backpacking Isle Royale, a guided sea kayaking trip to the Apostle Islands, and the Minnesota State Fair.  

- Eat well and eat at local or unique places. For Arthur eating is an experience.  Alex could eat PB and J sandwiches and not care.  On trips our general rule is avoiding fast food or chain restaurants.  This allows us to enjoy the local eateries and we haven't been disappointed.  Alex does usually check reviews to get a sense of the better places in the areas we will be in.  Normally we eat out of one meal a day when traveling.  This strategy helps with expenses and overeating on vacation.  This also usually gives Arthur the chance to pick something a little more exciting off the menu.  Eating a nicer meal once is still more cost effective that 2-3 fast food meals.  This technique also builds up anticipating for our "big" meal of the day.  For the other meals we have a picnic lunch or snacks and ate oatmeal or pop tarts for breakfast if we didn't have continental breakfast.

- Accommodations don't have to be ritzy.  With traveling having a place to rest your head to get some shut eye is necessary.  However I have trouble spending a lot of money for a place where I am just going to sleep and hit the road again the next morning.  Therefore we stayed in a variety of places.  This included a mom and pop hotel, small resort with shared bathroom facilities, backcountry camping,  campgrounds, and hotels.  Once again good reviews were helpful in finding affordable but clean and comfortable hotels.  I found it difficult to find accommodations in the tourist areas that we were at for a single night-- most required a two night stay.  Also prices were pretty high on Friday and Saturday nights so we camped on those nights.  We bought our tent last winter for about $150.  We have car camped at least 4 times on trips and have saved at least $500 on not getting a hotel.  So far it has been a good investment.  Saving money by car camping once or twice covered the cost of our sea kayaking adventure so it was well worth it.  However on nights before we were driving long distances it was worth the few extra bucks to get a hotel and a good night sleep.  Another trick we use is staying at state park cabins which are usually affordable, maybe a little rustic, but often have kitchen facilities to cook a few meals which is handy.

- Planning and preparation are key. One of my favorite hobbies is vacation planning.  I may have even planned vacations that I will never go on.  With this trip we were in 5-6 different areas throughout three states requiring planning to know what to do in each area.  Backpacking, especially to a remote area like Isle Royale, is only possible with planning and preparing.  I called rangers, requested state tourism packets, check reviews on Trip Advisor, and thumbed through several issues of Midwest Living.  I called to get reservations which was trickier than I expected (see next point).  We also had to pack regular vacation stuff, car camping equipment, and backpacking gear.  I also decided to make all our backpacking meals myself (for future reference buying Quaker instant oatmeal packets is worth it instead of making your own).  We are also old-school without a smart phone so having the right maps, addresses, itinerary, etc is important to have ready to go before hand. 

-Be flexible.  So planning is important but plans fall through.  This is where having a plan B or C is helpful.  One of the best things about traveling with Arthur is that he is flexible (not physically as he has trouble folding himself into small spaces like airplane seats).  He doesn't get flustered or upset if I have to change something on him.  Originally we were going to spend time in Duluth before our backpacking trip but then as I was calling to make reservations I found out that it was the same weekend as the Tall Ship Festival, one of the biggest festivals of the year.  Therefore we drove through Duluth the first weekend and came back to spend some more time later on.  On our trip we also had to be flexible when our ferry was delayed 6 hours.  We didn't have much of a choice because we were stranded on an uninhabited island but this did mean that Arthur wouldn't get to eat at the Angry Trout that evening like he had been looking forward to during 3 days of hiking.

- Enjoy the journey.  The activities and stops on a road trip are great but make sure to not miss out on the journey.  We really enjoy a good drive.  Our first day was 12 hours in the car and we really enjoyed listening to various radio shows or our audio book.  One evening we drove 4 hours through the north woods of Wisconsin and it was wonderful cruising down country highways and small town Main Streets.  You get a better feel for the area you are visiting.  Of course after backpacking there is always a deeper appreciation for covering large amounts of miles in the relative ease of plush leather seats which makes car travel seem luxurious.   Omnia Vincit Amor.