Back in early February this year, I noticed something unusual. Unusual from other months.

Typically, I can predict how my weeks would work out (or not): meetings on Thursdays and Fridays, phone calls on Wednesday and Thursday mornings, work on projects on Monday, Tuesday and potentially Wednesday etc.

However, unexpected things were happening in February. Some of them were good (getting phone calls from old friends who I lost contact with), some not so great (not finding a suitable candidate for job posting I published). However, the biggest news in February was receiving the admission letter for my father who is going to stay at the care facility while our family takes a long waited vacation.

The moment I opened the letter seeing the admission date written in bold lettering, I started panicking. I knew the letter was coming….I was the one who had applied for the application last year October and I was also the one who was going to come up with the vacation for all three of us (mom, sister and me).

With roughly three weeks to plan/execute/be somewhere warm for our epic vacation, I had to think fast.

Not only the fast-thinking, I had to also make the decisions quicker in each step of the planning.

The Vacation itself has many unknowns

The word vacation conjure up many images…relaxing, beach, no work, no deadlines etc. However, none of those images describe the need for quick thinking /decision process which is needed for the dilemma I faced at the beginning of February this year.

The questions like where to go? What to do? How much to spend? When to tell the clients ( or to your boss)? become never-ending Q/A sessions in my head that never stops until the moment you click the YES button to book the flight.

My vacation planning (concept) started one afternoon in October last year.

The idea of wanting to be somewhere warm when the temp drops to minus became the central idea behind ALL of my vacation planning without any supporting todo lists. Knowing that there would be plenty of months with below minus temperatures in Toronto, I felt safe. I felt I had lots of time…

With a somewhat simple but resolute wish list in my head, the vacation idea was firmly planted back in October last year. Except for some minor (?) issues such as destination/exact dates missing plan from the big plan.

The Mistake of trusting my capability too much

Since there were no clear dates set for the vacation ( other than waiting for cold weather to arrive) I forgot about the wanting to be in somewhere warm when the temp drops to minus vacation idea.

However, the fuzzy vacation idea had to become unfuzzy(?) very quickly one December day last year.

I received a letter from the care facility stating that they had approved two weeks in February this year to take care of my father while the family takes time off.

I completely forgot (no decisions) about the application Submitted for my father.

Without coming up with clear decisions/setting deadlines for vacation planning, I just did not do anything… In other words, I made no decisions. I figured I would somehow take care of things as they come up.

Vacation happened to me

That is how the time went… Nov, Dec 2019 and January 2020 came and went doing nothing about the vacation plan and then February 2019 brought the LETTER! the letter to act!

Unless we were going to stay at our house while our father stays somewhere else, I had to come up with the plan fast.

With the bold letter written admission dates on the letter,

I went into my “do or die” mode of the planning. I was going to execute the vacation if it was going to kill me!

I gathered my credit cards with calendar in my hand and started making calls. That was how my OFFICIAL vacation planning started the first week of February.

Within a day, I had the destination and flight schedules set with huge help from a travel agent who was recommended through a friend. It was such a relief knowing that in two and half weeks, we had a “somewhere warm” place to go to.

Of course, after this big hurdle, there were other things to decide…which hotel to stay? how many days? whether to take the big or smaller suitcases?, how many sunglasses to take? bikini vs one piece? etc.

More decisions had to be made….

Final thoughts

Although I somehow executed(?) my vacation plan this year in two days because of my decision style (lack of it), added with unexpected coronavirus crisis after the trip, I do feel grateful for all of us getting back from the trip safely and healthy. However, I don’t think I would ever recommend this two-day planning strategy for anyone. It was too much of stress for a mere two weeks of vacation!

There are many things in life you cannot plan for. I am more aware of this limitation as all of us facing this unprecedented new reality we are going through right now.

However, I am also optimistic that there are many things we can plan for such as taking time off from work and getting back to work with new renewed energy.

In hindsight, (actually while writing this post), it was not the “lack of planning” that was the problem, rather it was me not making decisions along those planning stages created the unnecessary stress for myself and everyone else around me. You can ask my mom and sister.

I will share the actual happy vacation stories in the following weeks.

What have you learned from your vacation? would love to hear your stories.