Tag Archives: vacation

Thoughts

Why I Love Vacations

*Hypocritical*

This is going to sound very hypocritical from one of my previous posts, but I need to readjust my viewpoints. Vacations are all about meeting new, cool motherfuckas (people). I cannot express how entertaining, enchanting, heart-warming, awesome, dope my last vacation was because there is nothing like meeting new people, especially mutual friends.

From Pittsburgh -> Richmond -> Hampton -> NYC with love, my vacation has really allowed me forget about all the necessities and hard work involved in The Grind. Vacations allow me to take that crucial step back from the working world and realize that there is more to life than just progressing your career. Admittedly, it would be nice to make some guap in the future, but it's also mentally and physically vital to maintain your relationships outside of work, something that Berkeley doesn't teach you at all.

After one fender-bender, one meal-a-day for a week straight, one amazing music festival (I love our family), one unforgettable, well maybe partially-forgotten New Years in NYC, I've made it back in one piece, and I am so stoked to see what I can do for myself in 2014.

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Thoughts

Why I Hate Vacations

With winter break coming up, and my last round of finals almost over, I feel obligated to write about my thoughts on the time off. Success is earned, not given. I'm almost full-time graduated from Cal; I just got accepted into the Graduate school I want to attend, and I'm almost full-time employed in Silicon Valley, yet I feel absolutely no need of slowing down.. Granted, everyone needs to take a breather -- mine's going to be a sick East Coast city sampler with lots of friends, lots of rest, and lots of fun this Christmas. But what's the point in a real vacation?

Two years ago, I traveled with my sister to Prague for my what should have been an awesome spring break and birthday bash.. The whole experience felt surreal: the people, the food, the bars, the hostels, etc. But at the same time, I always felt like I was wasting time -- Prague feels like a fleeting memory at this point, and I would have much rather slept and played video games the whole time I was there.. If you stay in foreign country for less than a month, then the time spent there is a sinkhole. It isn't a so-called new experience through vivid, cultural puppeteering.. Hell no.

Traveling to different countries for that long just makes you a damn tourist, the same tourist that does the exact same things as generations past. What happened to novel experiences where the culture is shoved down your throat, rather than spoon-fed through some English reading tour guide?

Iceland, Greenland, and Antarctica are just 3 of the many countries that I want to LIVE in, not vacate to. Push your boundaries and stay curious. Vacation is just a pitiful excuse to avoid both of those things; you end up seeing more than you're doing, and in my line of thought, you're better off watching a slideshow of HD images from your bedroom, than to fly out for a mentally disorienting dreamland.

If I'm not learning, I'm wasting my time. I have an insatiable thirst for knowledge and novel experiences, and being a tourist bores me. I think vacations are stupid. I'd much rather head home, eat a delicious meal, and hang out with my family -- that too me is the best vacation I could ask for.

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