Can vacations have a mission beyond indulgence? Is maxing out credit cards the only way to escape the humdrum ordinariness of life? What of the 9-countries-in-18-days plan from that 1969 Suzanne Pleshette movie, “If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium”?
This week, we offer a travel issue for readers who grapple with the question of how vacations can add meaning to their lives. Reflecting on vacation memorabilia-broken snow globes, stained T-shirts and loads of photographs yet to be organized into albums-one wonders: What remains? What sustains us as we return and makes us think anew about where we have been, and where we are going?
Several of us recently embarked on vacations intended to do something other than escape the demands posed by work and home. Making such a course correction as we sail through life can take us in several different directions-from pushing the limits of physical stamina to venturing out to do some good in the world-yet still be fun.
Of course, fun is a matter of taste. For Tribune reporter Barbara Brotman, rock-climbing with her family was life-altering. “I find myself looking at my daughters with increased respect,”she says. “At home, they don’t even like to walk down a flight of stairs to deliver a message. But on the rock, they were unstoppable.”
More Top Picks Autel Evo Ii Pro V3