Sundance Vacations: “What Would You Do With an Extra Week of Vacation?” Part 7!
What would you do with an extra week of vacation?
Seems like a simple question, but then when you start to think about it, a million possibilities cross your mind and you end up finding it is a more complex question that you had really thought.
Over these past few months, Sundance Vacations has been taking a look at what answers this question can hold for many of our employees. A while back we asked them to write essays about the subject and what they came up with were some really great ideas.
In our last entry, from Justin G, we heard how he would take his family back to New York, perhaps a trip to Coney Island and then use the rest of the week to take his wife on a beach vacation that she would love. Weeks before that, we heard how one employee would use her extra week to volunteer, others wanted to head south to where the weather is warm.
To read the full catalog of entries associated with our question of, “What would you do with an extra week of vacation?” Feel free to view our publication with the same name. You will find the link below this entry!
Part seven of our series comes to us from Janet C! She ponders what her life and vacations have been like through the years. From early vacations to now taking her own kids on them, here is Janet’s entry entitled: “The Meaning of Life……..Vacation”
“If you were to ask me my favorite word, I won’t lie. It would have to be my children’s’ names, Jacob and Jadyn. However, if you asked me what my favorite word of my entire lifetime was, I would have to say “vacation”. It was my first “happy” word. I was around 3 years old when my 5 year old brother came running in my room and yelled “we’re going on vacation!” Next thing I knew we were jumping on my bed and laughing. He was actually being nice to me instead of tormenting me. It was all very confusing but I knew it had to be good. Then thrown in the back of the station wagon with our pj’s on and a pile of comic books, we were off to “vacation”…and it was awesome. Atlantic City waves, feeding seagulls, pretzels with huge salt and ice cream on the boardwalk and the best part was everyone was laughing and having fun. It was great! Atlantic City was our vacation point every year till I turned 16. Then my family lost me to my friends and suddenly it was a whole new game. Wildwood here we come.
So then there was Wildwood. Hanging out with the girls, cute outfits, suntan oil, checking out the boys, looking for the best t-shirt, cruising at night. It was the ultimate adventure. And when we turned 20ish, we saw Wildwood in a whole new light. It became the amazing night life of all the shows at the bars. We learned the meaning of “bar hopping” at its best.
Later came college life. In researching, I discovered that the most money to be made in the summer between college semesters was in Ocean City, Maryland. So I was game. With my expert convincing skills, I managed to get 6 friends to go with me, but they all chickened out in the end and “Roommate Registry” managed to find me an incredible roommate. So now I was living the “vacation life”. My living quarters were above Shenanigans right on the boardwalk and 3rd. There were 18 other people in my building, 2 people per room. They came from all walks of life, mostly college kids, but there were couples and older people too. Gary was the closest to a parent that we had. He watched out for us and just got out of a bad 30 year marriage. He was trying to “find himself”. I got a job at Flashback Photo on the boardwalk. At first I was an actor wearing the different old time costumes and coaxing vacationers in to get their photos taken. Then I became a photographer and by the end of the summer I was assistant manager. It didn’t even feel like work to me. People on vacation are the most wonderful people you will ever meet. They are full of life, looking for the most fun they can have. We stayed open till sometimes 3am because the drinkers at The Purple Moose loved getting their picture taken. Everyone knew me as “Kayleigh”. My roommate and I decided to change our names for the summer since nobody knew us there. I became a LOCAL. It was a great honor to be part of the locals. We were the entertainers. Our purpose in life was to make sure that the vacationers had the most fun possible, so they would love us. Us being “the locals of Ocean City, MD.” I loved being part of this group. Every morning we ate at the Dough Roller. At night, we hung on the beach and played guitar and solved all the mysteries of life. It was the best summer ever. I came home with $7,000 for having fun. I would recommend this experience to any college student.
Then, vacation became a couple’s thing. We would follow our bands to the shore. If they were at Wildwood, we were going to Wildwood. Suddenly going on vacation with couples made us feel like adults. We were all about the restaurants and fun experiences. Parasailing, speed boats on the ocean, the pier of rides, and yes, the bike rentals were in there also. We wanted to do it all. Hair weaves, henna tattoos, oyster bar. Vacation wasn’t only beach time. We also did the condo in Vermont with 4 couples. Snowmobiling and wine tasting…and there was that ice water to hot tub experience. Then we talked about it until the following year of vacation time.
Suddenly Jacob came along and again the vacation experience changed. Now we were investing more money on the better hotels. 122nd street, away from the crazies so our precious baby boy could get sleep while we sat on the deck overlooking the ocean with our beverage of choice. Pictures and pictures of Jacob’s first ocean experience, first seagull, first everything. We liked tradition with our vacation. As Jacob got older we became the expert mini-golfers. We took him deep-sea fishing and got him a kite. It was a family bonding.
Now our vacations center on where ever John is working. One year when he was building a casino. He had a beach house in Briggentine. Jacob learned to surf that summer and do this thing called skim-boarding. Last year we went to New Hampshire. It was an adventure. We drove up Mount Washington and walked through the spirit rocks. One day while John was at work, we decided to just drive around. We found a river park and met some amazing people. Jacob and Jadyn made friends with some beautiful Burmese Mountain Dogs that swam with them down the river current and Jacob jumped off a 20 foot bridge. Then we decided to go to the closest beach point. We never saw a rocky beach before and we found one. I think we may have been on private property but we couldn’t find a public beach and I was determined not to let my kids down.
The beauty of it all is that no matter how old or where we were, vacation was always an amazing time. Everyone was suddenly happy and at their best. I will never forget a single vacation and look forward to future vacations. So, in conclusion, I would have to say my favorite word is “Vacation”….and Jacob and Jadyn.”
Well there it is! Quite interesting to follow Janet’s life and how her vacations changed as her life did. How has your vacations changed over the years? No matter how they have or haven’t, the amount of fun you have has probably been as high as it possibly can be!
Thanks for reading! For the rest of the stories in this series please head over to the publication and continue to read! A link to that can be found here: “Sundance Vacations Asks: ‘What Would You Do With an Extra Week of Vacation?’”
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