Vacation Resolutions

i'm grateful for my new life, especially when it comes to taking a vacation. in my previous life as a small hunter/gatherer of graphic design business, vacations were a nerve-wrecking undertaking. i would have to prep my workflow--get everything done so i could leave and work hard to book projects so that the week off wasn't a damper on cashflow a month later. i had to prep clients and make sure they understood i wouldn't be available during that time. of course, i also committed business-owner sins during the vacation by checking voice and email. i also snuck in client calls as necessary. one beach vacation long, long ago, i brought my fax machine/printer, designed and coordinated a hot project during the first half of the precious break. that was before the internet had streamlined the design process. now, it is much, much easier. of course, having largely hung my business cap on someone else's door really contributes to the ease as well. I still need to coordinate my workflow, but i got a back-up team of crack designers to ease the transition.

mmm, vacations. i've taken two-week traveling vacations--one of my favorite types, where everyone piles into the car and you drive, drive, drive--sightseeing as you go. i've also done the sacred week long beach trip and unexpectedly had great fun just bumming around with no particular place to go. my weddingmoon was truly a vacation highlight--renting a villa on st. john, usvi, with a jeep, a future husband, a houseboy, watersports and rum, rum, rum. it combined the wanderlust/beach rental very nicely. last year my husband and i tried the all inclusive package style and went to cozumel. which was great in some respects. i did cry out in disappointment as i sat in a tourist bus awaiting the ruins. i looked out the window and saw a plucky girl with a lonely planet book in her hand happily gamboling down the side street. i had refused to do the advance planning i usually do on the trip--preferring to fully experience the all inclusive way of traveling. my husband patted my hand in sympathy. disney? got what i paid.

and now, without the weight of the business upon me and free to travel where my money and inclination could take me--now i think: what's next?

i'd like to do the following:
surfcamp, with my best girls
volunteer travel, with boy1
walking tour, spain! or anyplace mediterrean with my husband.

for the volunteer travel, i found these sites:
global village program
women build
voluntourism industry unethical?

i'm leaning towards volunteer travel, as i think it would be a good experience for my family. of course, my husband could suggest we volunteer travel every weekend, now.