Have you taken one lately? Was it a true, relaxing vacation or one of those that when it's over you go back to school/work burned out from it?

We just came back from a couple weeks in Panama which is where my wife is from. Our time down there was pretty good but it was bookended with prepwork to leave and recovery work when we got back. I'll probably go into that later but here's the photo album I made of the trip.

I only take a vacation from these forums.

That looks likes a blast, nice album. Also congrats for not being lazy and actually creating a dedicated URL for it rather than just dumping it on Facebook and fishing for likes.

I've been travelling 10 months now; starting in Colombia and making our way clockwise around the Pacific, planning to finish the trip in China in September/October.

I don't want to whinge because I realise how lucky I am to be able to afford to do this and I've seen/done some awesome stuff but I'm starting to get burnt out on travelling. I look forward to having my own home again, a steady life with seeing good friends regularly, the ability to focus on projects, be comfortable in my own skin in my home country etc. I think Thailand where I am now hasn't helped much for various reasons so I'm hoping my enthusiasm will pick up in Cambodia (Angkor Wat! Muck diving! A ****ed up history I am at least vaguely familiar with!).

I took a three year sabbatical myself.

I'm a startup business owner, so it's tough to step away from the business for any length of time. The last time that I did, however was in 2014 when my gf and I went on a cruise to the Bahamas. It was nice being able to turn my phone off and just relax. I've been looking to do it again soon, but finding the time is tough. In between, we do a lot of weekend adventures. We live in Florida, so hitting the theme parks in Orlando is an easy goto. But we also like to go primitive camping and fortunately there are a lot of places near our house where we can do that.

Just got back from 1 week at Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood a couple weeks ago. We had fun. Not relaxing at all. Go, go, go the entire time. But it was fun. We'll do something more relaxing either this winter or next year.

Photos look great, everyone looks happy. Except the one (I think it's your wife) looks like she's going to rip your head off unless you get the camera out of her face. Do you speak spanish?

Serious (but goofy) question: at what point do you stop calling your company a startup, and just call it a company?



Costs so much that ya gotta see everything, even if it means running your ass off the whole time.

I try to go on at least one trip a year. Usually it's just a weekend camp out somewhere nearby. In January I went to Florida and spent a week at Disney World with my in-laws, I hadn't been before and there is so much sensory overload in places like that I still haven't completely processed it.
In early august I'll be going to Alaska for the first time. I'm admittedly more excited about this trip than Disney World because I like the aspect of hiking, and get more out of natural wonders rather than manufactured experiences, if any of that makes sense.

Great album though, I've never been anywhere in South America, or anywhere tropical for that matter, but hopefully I cross that off my bucket list someday.

This year I haven't done much apart from conventions within the eastern half of the U.S., and if I do end up doing anything this year, it may be to visit my sister in Harrogate, England for a bit.

Next year, in May, I'm planning a trip to Japan with a few close friends, so that should be fun!

I often find the same, kitshy tourist places are fun but it's also fun seeing the realer side of a place. I still remember a wall with broken glass cemented into the top of it in a random neighborhood in Pisa, for some reason small parts of a country stand out. Though Europe is a poor examplw because so many of the main sights to see are unforgettable and incredible. I guess I just mean sometimes seeing things you aren't deliberately meant to see can be surprisingly memorable and interesting.

Well, as I touched on in my backing up data thread I decided to back up my image and video files to google photos. I haven't tried non personal video files but all the camera/phone pictures and video are there. Personally, I find it to be an amazing resource with the only downside being my DSLR pictures are lower resolution. No problem, as they are all on the hard drive but I do want to institute another back up solution at some point.

I was actually a fan of the way Facebook used to handle pictures because you could click on a picture and get a JPG url that you could use on forums or what ever. Well, as far as I can tell they closed that loophole which broke every link I ever used on a forum with a picture. I haven't tried with google photos yet but that wasn't my purpose for the move.

Another cool feature is being able to use google to search your pictures. If I remember when it was, I can put the date as accurate as I know it and look at a range of pictures. For example, my 16 year old niece that has several pictures there, I could search for the last time I was there and show her some pictures she's in from 2007. My wife was asking me why there were so many pictures of her and another woman and I told her I knew there were too many but I wanted to give them an opportunity to get their pictures. A tangent to all of this is it's sad just how many great pictures might exist of you and you've never seen them because they're on someone else's device. I do think I'm going to move some of those to a separate album though.



Yeah, it's been a very long time since we visited those places but we had a good time. We were in Fresno at the time so the process was a little easier. No that my son is old enough to do pretty much everything a trip to Florida should occur within the next couple years or so. Other than passing through airports, we've never been there.



The only one I think that could be I remember joking to her to smile and she said she wasn't going to. I saw I was joking because we were visiting her father's grave.

I got along really well when I was stationed there ('90-91) but I speak less now.



I've never been to South America either.

Obviously I have some ignorant bias going on. Let me clarify. I've never been anywhere south of the Mexican-American border. Though thinking about it now, Mexico is still considered North America and Panama is in Central America. As is Guatemala, which I've always wanted to visit, specifically Tikal, because of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.

"Central America" is not PC anymore but even considering its use to describe Latin American countries south of the US and north of South America, Panama resides in the North American continent.

BTW, not trying to be insulting. I used to never think of Panama as being in North America. You can't get any closer to South America than there after all.

I haven't even left Scotland in about 10 years now I think. England is two hours drive away.

5 yrs is standard. Most banks won't consider your business for a loan unless you've been in business at least that long.

I am going camping this week, but it's so I can find a place to rent in a college town. So much fuuuuun

I thought you were older.

What's to say he's not?

I am not getting a shared room in student housing, that's for sure.

Does that rule out the frat house?

Haha holy **** yes. I am intentionally not even looking at places near any of the greek houses. Granted, it's a college in Utah, so it's pretty tame, but I can't stand that world. And I won't be able to keep my mouth shut about how I was in a better fraternity and only arguments can come from that.

So you're just a creeper, then?

Well that's good. I was never in a fraternity, but I've been physically in a frat house a few times, and it smelled really bad.

i was in eta kappa nu; hold on ladies, one at a time

Yes, but what are you talking about? That I'm not going to school? I'm going to school, I never finished.

Just messing around. It was weird that you were so focused on being in a college town but you didn't mention actually going to college.

Where else will I find so many people away from home the first time? Well, the military, but that one was ****ing awful.

What are you studying?

Land Plant and Climate Systems is the degree. They have a sustainable food production emphasis. It's interesting, but definitely the most mickey mouse of the options. But mostly, I just had to use my vet benefits or I was going to feel stupid when they expired.

Ah yeah. Well as I discussed in another thread you'll have an overall easier time finding work and getting pay with a degree and since the G.I. bill is so damn generous, I agree that you're making a good choice.

That degree sounds like it has potential though. If you get lucky you could maybe get hired by the USDA or something I'm guessing and cash in on some benefits.

Has Trump ever reversed that hiring ban? I never followed up on that..

Well I am pretty flexible with jobs since most of the benefits that employers give I have covered by the VA, so I have a lot of flexibility to do weird **** like running an experimental greenhouse or something. Honestly this degree is just about the best one I could get given the current climate (hah) since it's, you know, an agriculture degree. I am hoping to do some cool resume building sustainability stuff while I am there, since Utah State is a pretty solid ag school.

The other emphases are things like environmental soil science, which would probably be more likely to guarantee government work, but then I would also have to apply myself to more math and science, sooooo

I got a job doing science on the government's dime this summer so I think so?

But was it fake chinese climate science or real american fossil energy science?

I started and ran a site called AmazingAirfare.net for a while, looking for crazy flight deals. I took some awesome vacations ($270 roundtrip from NYC to South Africa, $330 DC-Bangkok-London).

No trips planned right now (which is strange for me), but I'm always on the lookout.

I haven't had a formal vacation since moving back to the states in October, but we did manage to take a weekend trip down to the Keys & Everglades, & we've done some relaxing things, like snorkeling with manatee, etc. My wife's brother is working in Australia & we'd like to visit with him there or meet elsewhere for Christmas, but money is tight this year, & if I don't find a new job within biking distance soon, we'll need to purchase a second vehicle. My wife & daughter are returning to Paris for a wedding in September, but I doubt I'll attend, because 'Merica (no vacation time earned yet & my employer wouldn't approve unpaid time).

I get to take a bus to New Jersey and then drive 12 hours back to the midwest with my brother in about 2.5 weeks, all in the span of one day. I get to stay there for a couple days and enjoy actually seeing the stars for the first time in 9 months. I also will be about 2 hours away from the 100% eclipse zone, so I probably get to see my first eclipse then too.

It's not much of a vacation, but getting out of the city and visiting home is always nice for a short time. Later this fall I hope to get to visit Saint Louis and take advantage of the ridiculous amounts of cheap ****ty foods and alcohol on every corner with a friend who constantly talks it up.

I keep reading this thread as anything vaccinations

I went to Ixtapa Zihuatanejo in June. It was fun.

How come you moved back from France?