Summer Vacation?

People around my office are gearing up for a major conference that our organization puts on. This year, it will be in a southern U.S. city. Without a rental car, I'll be trapped at the conference hotel and wherever I can walk from there. I'm not looking forward to being stuck in a very expensive hotel property, but I don't have many options... that is unless someone drops me a note and says, "let me take you and your boots away...." (LOL!) [If you write to me, I'll let you know when and where I'll be.]

After the conference, my office will be a ghost town as many will be going on holiday during August. A lot of colleagues are asking, "where are you going on your summer vacation?" They presume that I'll take off during August like most others.

I am taking one week in the middle of August off work -- for a "staycation" at home. My partner and I have quite a major project lined up for that week with contractors coming to do some renovation work in our home that I might be able to do myself if I had four months. Alas, as my eighth brother (AZ) keeps chiding me, "stop killing yourself! Hire somebody!" ... we are. But someone needs to be home to keep an eye on things. So that's my "summer vacation."

A few colleagues make assumptions that when gay people go on holiday, they go to "gay destinations" like "P-Town" (Provincetown, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod.) Some have asked me if I am going there. Sure, I enjoy spending time at the ocean, but I'm one of those weird guys who actually likes to swim in the ocean, float on a raft, or go body surfing. The water up there is too cold for that. I have my eye on the Gold Coast of Australia... but that's a different story for a different time of year, and probably won't happen since my partner is unable to travel.

A few have asked me if we would go on a gay cruise. No way -- yuck. Without offending the diverse Gay Community, let me just say that the clientele and what the cruises have to offer (destinations, activities, and food) do not appeal to my partner and me.

I resent that straight people assume that gay people always go to gay destinations for vacation/holiday. I'm just as happy with going to my Maryland Atlantic beaches or nearby Delaware, where I spent many happy times as a kid through adulthood. But I don't like crowds -- crowds of gay queens or crowds of screaming kids. When I go to the beach, I prefer late September or October, when the kids are gone (back to school), the ocean water is still warm, the sun and heat is not as intense, and the hotel rooms are less expensive. I can spend hours watching my partner laying on a beach blanket. I love just to gaze at him. (I'm still deeply in love with that hunky stud.)

I do have a few extra days of time off planned for the fall, for a very special visit with some very special friends. But I am the superstitious sort, so I won't announce it yet. I don't want to jinx the chances of one of these guys not being able to join us. My travel is already set, since the vacation time follows a commitment that I have confirmed for work.

I will concentrate most of my time off at the end of the year to enjoy Christmas with family and friends who live nearby.

Alas, I once had quite the wanderlust, and would take weeks at a time to travel to Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, or Africa. But with the economy the way it is, and with my partner's inability to travel, most of my vacation time is a day here-and-there where I may saddle up on my Harley for a nice long ride, or stay at home to get things done.

Life is short: make the best of it!