There are many adjustments to life back in the states. One of which this time of year really emphasizes for me. During our years of living in Europe, my husband and I (ok, mostly me) were known for early and excessive vacation planning. Jan. 1st, Rusty would walk into work and plop down plans for 6(or more) weeks of vacation. I'm not talking about just time off to work in the yard or paint the living room. But, 6 weeks of planned escapes to new adventures in different parts of the world. This year, our first year back... my husband took one week off for a trip to Hilton Head. The other 3 weeks of vacation.... well....there's always this year. But honestly, I know I will be lucky to get my husband off work for a measly week away while living back in the states. As a matter of fact, I'm looking at 5 nights in New York. FIVE NIGHTS!!! I don't get it! Why can't American employers learn that time off for it's hard workers, produces happier employees. Maybe Americans just don't know how to spend time together as a family and so we have allowed this to happen as a society. That's for another day and another blog!
It's no wonder that Europeans make fun of tacky Americans who try to see all of Europe in 10 days! What we tried to teach them as ex-pats was that many Americans don't have much more than 10 days to take off.... and even if they have 4 weeks.... they could NEVER take the weeks consecutively! Our British friends would take a month and fly into Canada and drive all the way down the east coast of the USA to Florida on a 4-5 week vacation! Stopping at all the places in between! Wouldn't that be grand!
So, back to planing for me. Maybe if I plan it..... he will take off!!!
