Start the steel band, intro music to Medicine Man here...what ever in the world possesses an aging web developer and his workaholic wife to traverse and repel some 100+ feet over the jungle floor in Belize? Consider it a genetic disorder or insanity (inherited from the children, of course) but re-discovering "vacation" is something that we have avoided for too long. I can now recommend it.
For a whole week, neither of us were tied to a computer...for the first time, ever, in over seven years. Cell phone were off and locked away in a stateroom safe. Watches were banned for fear of leaving tell-tale signs of un-tanned skin. Fiction books were read...yes, Virginia, they still print things on paper and bind them neatly into volumes. Bleachers, Street Lawyer, The Brethren, and Innocent Man (hmmm, I see a John Grisham pattern here)... all fell subject to the ravenous reading appetite of one who abandoned the technological journals and textbooks for the week.
Relaxation included frequent immersion into a bubbling hot tub, floating in a salt-water pool, long afternoon naps, and snacks at all hours of the day and evening. Even early morning walks on the ship's running track took on a refreshing tone with a stiff sea breeze and watercolor-like sunrise drama greeting the horizon. And yes, there was coffee... just a few cups each day (but available 24 hours as a safety net).
In just a few minutes, the reality of life on a college campus returns and the "vacation" ends. I am very grateful to my employer for providing generous vacation time...and even more appreciative when time away is actually used as a break from work-day activities. I might even try it again, sometime...but without the rappel from the Belize treetops. I have seen the picture of me in mid-rappel, taken from the ground. It screams for the caption, "does this harness make me look fat?"