I got this idea from the Netflix documentary “Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates.” I love the part where he takes a weeklong “vacation” to read a stack of books. What a great idea. For nerds like you and me, that is. 🤓
Personally, I have conflicting feelings about Gates. But I wouldn’t be a struggling artist if I didn’t have some level of disdain for the super-rich. It must be in my artsy-fartsy DNA. I’m not saying I don’t like the guy, I’m just saying there are some things he does that give me pause. In all fairness, he’s self-aware of his shortcomings so I’ve gotta give him that.
Somewhere, inside of us all, we want to take a break from the hustle and bustle of modern life and read a good book on a beautiful beach. Add a cold beer and some random people playing volleyball or dancing to 50’s music and the whole dream is complete.
I’d love to be on a gorgeous, sunny beach or a secluded cabin in the woods. That makes me like 99.9% of all Americans. Then why don’t we do it? What’s stopping us? Do we not have the time off from work? Have we even asked for it, even if it’s unpaid? Do we think it will cost too much? Have we even priced it?
Maybe you’re thinking that doing the above would take too much time and would require a mini-vacation to plan. I understand. In about two minutes, I searched for cabins in my area and the search engine took me to this site. Within another minute, I found rentals from $88 per night and up. A cabin at about $100 per night for six nights is, of course, $600. If I were to put $50 in a savings account each month for a year (and this can be done automatically), I would have the rental fee. It’s not that $600 is a lot of money, in the whole scheme of things, but I realize that it’s still a chunk of change. My point is that it’s possible and perhaps easier than we think. Add another $100 per month for any payment that may be forfeited as well as food for the stay and there you go!
You do realize that I’m talking more to myself than anything. Vacations don’t just happen, they have to be planned. Again, speaking to myself. But if you think it’s a good idea too, let’s both get to planning! Maybe we can read a book on how to do it.
Jason Salas, Creative 