I've been back 3 days now since our trip to France/Italy & the days have been dragging. How did I ever sit for 8 hours at a time? I like my job, but nothing compares to traveling - new experiences everyday; waking up every day and doing whatever you want. I love that freedom! A little taste of it leaves you wanting more..

I'm hating Carlux and Lisa already, LOL. Maybe the problem is that the USA workers take FAR less vacation time and work more hours than so many countries.
http://www.hrmguide.net/usa/worklife...d_vacation.htm
47 for Italy, 13 for USA! Plus, they shut the stores down for at least a 2 hour lunch a lot of places and some places are still closed the entire weekend. At least that was the case in Switzerland and I'm talking larger towns such as Sierre, too! I have trouble getting my husband off his blackberry even on vacation, but at least he loves his work!

"I have to work mainly on ... the mental aspect as I can get quite 'excitable'."

You share that issue with Colin Montgomerie.

College Professor. Love my job, and love all the time off. I still get a little down when its time to come home from international trips. I always begin to plan the next.

I enjoy what I do. Sometimes I enjoy not doing what I do.

It's times like these I go far away from what I do until my wallet begs me to go back and do some more of what I do.

It would be great if everyone could make a living doing what they always wanted to. The world couldn't possibly ever have too many ballerinas or astronauts. Could it?

I don't understand this question.

If you don't like what you do for a living, get yourself a different job.

The thought of getting greater satisfaction from dragging a suitcase round a foreign country a few weeks a year than from what you do the other 48-50 is possibly the saddest I could contemplate.

Post-holiday depression is God's way of telling you you need to change. If you're suffering from it, go to your nearest bookshop, buy a copy of "What Color (sic) is Your Parachute?" and follow it to the letter.

No, I don't like my job at ALL. But it pays a higher wage than anything else I am qualified to do, much higher. So I feel stuck in it until I am able to retire from it (15 years from now give or take). That is the exact reason DH and I and now DD and I started traveling. We don't want to "wait until...someday" Just my two cents on the question.

Yes, I love my job, because I really like my boss. And my job pays me enough money to go to Europe at least twice a year. Did I mentioned I love my boss?

I love my job, and I am self-employed which means far more work and it's harder to get away or for as long (17 days could never happen) and it's impossible to fully disconnect. When we return home I take clients the same day while my jet-lagged Biggie Corp-employed husband takes it easy for another day or so. But something we both do is place a box filled with the small things we've bought, odd mementoes, sketches and such on a table we pass many times a day. It stays out for several weeks as it is slowly emptied and each time something in it catches our eye it refreshes pleasant memories and helps extend the enjoyment of the time we had plus remind us how happy we are to be back home and how grateful we are to be able to have had that experience.

The whole reasons travel is so great is that it IS different from 'real life': food, the pace, activities, sensory experiences, and so forth.

Pure happiness stems from appreciating what you have right now, this moment. For most people this is easy enough to do on holiday but too easy to forget when they return home. Life is far too short not to find (or make, if necessary) bliss wherever you are.

It's weird....I do love my job, but I experience that vacation letdown harder when I have yucky stuff in my personal life waiting at home. I've had jobs that I hate, but my vacations always give me the same feeling. It's only when my personal life is suffering. Weird, eh?

If life back is looking dim, wic, start small.

If discontent is nagging at you, start by looking at how you are spending your free time once you are home. There may be more to this than just your job.

When you return, avoid falling into the trap of assuming that contentment came about as a result of passivity. It very likely wasn't the case on your vacation, so it won't be at home. For example, how many hours did you slump passively in front of the TV in your hotel room when you were away?

For most of us on vacation, we get lots of exercise. We pay attention to what we eat. We go easy on ourselves the first couple of days, to allow for a gentle 'decompression' from jet lag. Most of us have a general idea of something we want to do each day - and yes, sometimes it goes wrong, so we modify our expectations.

Are you planning your first few days home with the same care as you did your vacation? Do you have a light project lined up for your first weekend back?

It is possible that yes, you need a new career or some other change. But pay attention to HOW you do it as well as what you do. The one place all of us work is inside our heads. Make sure you have housecleaned your head, so to speak.

And forget the 'perfect bliss' part, especially if you ever plan on keeping any husband/wife past the honeymoon.

I have the best job in the world...homemaker & mom to my 4 kids. I think I'm a pretty good wife too. Althouth being a stay-at-home mom is quite a luxury these days, I must confess, it does get tedious and boring after a while. Travel & planning trips for my family give me the chance to escape the routine.

Good grief! I just noted the date of the first post. Oh well, 'twas an interesting thread nonetheless.

I actually enjoy my job. I have a great time on my vacation but I use my job to recover from my vacation

I noticed that I responded to this thread over a year ago. I didn't say much then.

I'll most likely retire within a year. At this point my concerns are mostly filling the time reasonably and making sure health care is covered.

I guess we can't travel 6 months a year but if we plan it correctly we could go on several different types of trip a year.

That may be a plan.

laclaire, if you're doing your job by email right now that must mean you're back in Texas from Spain?

We could meet for coffee again?

Buongiorno tutti

I love my job! I'm working towards within a year or two moving to Italia and work out of our affiliated offices in Roma o Firenze!

Ciao

I don't care for my job but it pays our way to Europe so for that it's worth it.
DH loves his job, however we are both looking forward to his retirement in three years so we'll have more flexibility with travel dates. We both have a hard time adjusting to the "real world" when we get back....I simply start planning our next trip!

We retired recently and early. What used to bother us more than the job was returning to our apartment which was small. When we moved to a larger space, it was not as oppressive.

Our jobs were relatively good paying and it was a means to an end. Next year my wife will walk the Camino and 2009 we will visit India, Seychelles, Madagascar and maybe Sri Lanka.

I love my job--I literally would do it without pay if I could afford to--and I love my wee little apartment; it's the "homiest" place I've ever been and I love to walk into it after a trip.

But with all that, BOY did I not want to be home after my last trip (and most previous ones.) It's just tough to give up that joy of traveling and seeing and learning new things, plus, let's face it, boatrides on the Amazon is not something that I'd get tired of quickly.