Do Freelancers Get Vacations?
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Several weeks ago, Tamara and I realized that we were both wanting to go out of town during the first week in August. “Hey, let’s close down for a week and take a real vacation!” It sounded like such an awesome idea.
Awesome and totally, totally doomed to fail.
My little family arrived here in Seattle this evening. As I unpacked our clothes and set up a changing station for the baby, my husband got to work setting up an internet connection. Within 15 minutes, I had checked the company email and was drafting my to-do list for the week.
- 12 SEO articles
- 3 blog reviews
- 3 Mama Hacks
- 1 Nonprofit Perspective post
- 1-2 Freelance Parent posts
- Podcasting class on Monday night
- Catch up on Google Reader
- Oh, and that sooper-secret thing I can’t tell you about ’cause it’ll spoil the surprise
So, I suppose there is a bit of a question as to whether or not I’m really on vacation. The fact that I am practically in the shadow of the Space Needle tells me that I am. (Seriously, I’m looking at the Space Needle and typing this right now!)
My plan for the week is to intersperse the above projects in between visits to the Children’s Museum, the Pacific Science Center, and whatever other wonderful things I find to do. I have a sneaking suspicion that I won’t have any trouble finding a Starbucks with an internet connection around here!
Lorna Doone Brewer is both a writer and an entrepreneur at heart. This is where those two worlds meet. She also blogs at 
Tamara Berry used to miss interaction with her daughter. Now she misses interaction with adults. Freelance writing is her happy medium.
Yes, I’m afraid that working from a different Starbucks to normal doesn’t count as a vacation!
Heh, this is why I love working for myself and making an income from my sites that is largely passive. I really had no trouble taking off three weeks to go to Europe a while back.
Buuut, I would still love being a freelancer, just because you can be location independent in many cases. I actually get antsy for projects when I’m on a vacation (I wrote the first five or six chapters of a novel while I was on that trip–all those bus rides between countries!), and find that after a couple of days of “relaxing,” I’m ready to do some work again.
The thing I love about writing is that it is something you can do from anywhere in the world, especially now that the Internet is so prevalent.
Anyway, enjoy Seattle! I grew up there. Make sure someone takes you to the troll in Fremont while you’re there.
Lindsays last blog post..Yes, You Need a Blog, and Yes It Should Be…
Well that to do list doesn’t sound like vacation at all, LOL.
I just got back from vacation myself, and as DIFFICULT as it was, I forced myself to NOT bring my laptop along. The most I did was setup Gmail to check my POP account so I could check for any emergency type emails. It was tough, but I was pretty “good” about limiting the work I did over vacation. No work at all (I couldn’t… I didn’t have my files, LOL). I responded to a few urgent client emails, as well as to a few new inquiries (couldn’t risk loosing out any potential new clients… in fact I signed a new client while on vacation, too!)
Anyway, just want to wish you a Fun and Relaxing vacation.
I know how tough it is to get your mind off of work, but I really feel renewed and refreshed after my break. Yes, I had a heck of an email backlog to deal with, but things are under control now.
I say just do the minimum this week - the break will do you good!
Selene M. Bowlbys last blog post..Lessons from Paradise… Back From Hiatus in the US Virgin Islands
Hey B-B, we travel A LOT. For work, to a family ranch in mid Mexico, constant camping, and around the US for the benefit of my kiddis. But I don’t designate ALL of these as “vacations.”
If you want to check out and take a vacation, you should. If you want to travel and keep working, you should. But you need to decide which in order to have up the appropriate boundaries.
If this is like a “family vacation” you have to wonder if you want memories where you are rushing the kids through museums so you can work. I’ve been there done that and it didn’t work well. Boundaries. “Vacation” isn’t the same as “traveling” necessarily.
Allenas last blog post..Thought You Were Avoiding That Glass Ceiling?
@Adam - I’m usually home 24/7, so working at a Starbucks sort of is a vacation for me!
@Lindsay - I was looking forward to seeing the troll but didn’t make it to Freemont. I suspect there will be more trips to Seattle in the future, though, so I’ll get there eventually.
@Selene - I more or less did as you suggested and just did the minimum. It was a really fun trip. I have another coming up in Sept, and I’m going to work to have a whole lot less work to do for that one.
@Allena - This was more of a “traveling” situation, as the whole reason we were there was because my husband had a week-long class for work. I got my work done, but I really was able to focus the majority of my time on checking out the sites with Dot.