Friday OT #1 - Nine Days A Week

[Angie]

Thanks so much to @cyclones500 for another awesome thread idea! Here is how he puts it - I can’t improve on his description:

Suppose you have a 9-day time off from work … officially begins at 5 pm Friday, ends at 8 am the Monday after 2nd weekend.

Thought-experiment portion: Roughly 5 days of the stretch contains fairly structured activity/events/socializing, involving at least a modest amount of travel. The remaining days are lower-key and unstructured. You may organize it any way you wish.

Assumptions (1) the “high activity” isn’t locked into a weekend event (as might be common) (2) You don’t have to “eat a day” on the front-end for preparation.

What days do you do the “busy stuff” and the when do you do the remainder? First-things first? “Adventure” at the end? Mid-week intensity (build-up then wind-down)?

For those who are retired: Think back to the glory days when you had to work for a living

 

[Angie]

I personally like to alternate. Have two or three big days, then some less busy to recover and ready for the next batch.

 

[MJ29]

I would probably get all the projects and hard stuff out of the way early, so it wasn't on my mind when I was relaxing. Then again, I would probably just find more projects and end up never relaxing. That seems to be how my weekends go.

 

[NWICY]

Hard stuff 1st then relax. Or say the heck with it and actually take a full week off. Not sure when the last time I did that was.

 

[cyclones500]

It can vary depending on specifics, of course, but my preference is to have a day or so removed from regular routine, then hit the major activity … then have second weekend as open-ended and to unwind/recharge.

So I’d choose Sunday-thru-Thursday for high-energy and Friday-Saturday-Sunday for low-key.

If the Big Stuff runs right up to the end, I feel like return-to-work is more of a challenge, mindset-wise. And if travel is involved, it could mean late-to-return on last evening, and that's kind of a bummer.

 

[madguy30]

Probably all the socializing up front if I had to choose.

Or adventure/choose what to do during the day and then socialize at night...but that'd probably still be up front so I can decompress the rest of the time.

More than two nights hanging out with the same people is a lot for me.

 

[cowgirl836]

I would probably get all the projects and hard stuff out of the way early, so it wasn't on my mind when I was relaxing. Then again, I would probably just find more projects and end up never relaxing. That seems to be how my weekends go.

Hi are you me

 

[BCClone]

Do it they way my wife tells me we are doing it.

 

[wxman1]

Busy early to middle. One rule I have is one day at home before going back to work. I hate going from vaca right back into the normal stuff.

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

I would make plans to what I want to get accomplished and then most likely procrastinate until it's too late and get like one thing accomplished

 

[BCClone]

If outside stuff, I hit a lot of that stuff first, incase it rains, you can then do inside stuff.

I always have groupings, what we are for sure doing, what I would prefer to do, and other fun things if there is time, then a few back burner things if things go off track. Then it’s like a crazy matrix on how I incorporate things since I have a wife who comes from a family that can’t decide even basic Things.

 

[Bipolarcy]

Thanks so much to @cyclones500 for another awesome thread idea! Here is how he puts it - I can’t improve on his description:

Suppose you have a 9-day time off from work … officially begins at 5 pm Friday, ends at 8 am the Monday after 2nd weekend.

Thought-experiment portion: Roughly 5 days of the stretch contains fairly structured activity/events/socializing, involving at least a modest amount of travel. The remaining days are lower-key and unstructured. You may organize it any way you wish.

Assumptions (1) the “high activity” isn’t locked into a weekend event (as might be common) (2) You don’t have to “eat a day” on the front-end for preparation.

What days do you do the “busy stuff” and the when do you do the remainder? First-things first? “Adventure” at the end? Mid-week intensity (build-up then wind-down)?

For those who are retired: Think back to the glory days when you had to work for a living

First of all, when I worked and took vacations, I never went back to work on a Monday. I would generally take six days off -- one full week and then the following Monday. I hated Mondays, but the biggest reason I did it was that after coming back from doing basically nothing for a full week, I looked forward to a short week the following week. Try it some time.

I've only ever taken two real vacations in my life. One with an adult daughter to New York with stops at Civil War battlefields along the way and on the way home, and one with my other adult daughter and my 4-year old grandson to Disney World, with stops in Mobile, Alabama, to tour a ship, and Daytona Beach to spend a couple of days at the beach.

Most of my vacations were stay at home where I did absolutely nothing for 6 glorious days.

I had/have a chance to take a third one to accompany the Disney daughter and her husband and kids on a 6-day cruise in the Caribbean, but I'm not a cruise ship kind of guy as my blue jeans and tennis shoes would clash with the attire of the other guests on board. Also, I would be a glorified baby-sitter for part of the journey because it's my daughter and SIL's anniversary cruise. I was their last option to join the cruise after she asked her mother and her sister, both of whom turned her down also.

Now if they wanted to fly to Europe, I'm down for that.

 

[CtownCyclone]

I just did this last week.
Days 1-3: travel to meet my family, all Planes, Trains, and Automobiles style

Days 4-7: eat, drink, be merry

Days 8-9: travel back home only slightly less hectic than I traveled up there

Remainder of Day 9: sleep, do laundry, binge watch a show

 

[coolerifyoudid]

If going on a vacation, I like dropping off the bags at the hotel and then getting right back out there to do whatever. I normally have enough stress built up between work and planning for the vacation that I'm ready to drop my stress with the bags and forget about anything else besides enjoying life.

I also love putting a recovery day in the middle of a vacation, depending on where we are and what the plans are. We tend to stay out later than normal and usually need a slow-moving day after about 3 days. We just got back from a Boston/NYC trip and the late nights and walking take a toll on your legs and feet. We chilled in Central Park for an afternoon and it was what everyone needed.

And, as many others have said, a recovery day at the end after getting back is a must just to get groceries, do laundry etc.