Travel is a privilege. It requires time, money, and energy to plan. My childhood was pretty devoid of travel—my family never indulged in that typical American vacation to Disneyland or embarked on road trips beyond our home state as my parents focused their resources on other priorities to make ends meet. So you can only imagine how much angst for adventure I accumulated to leave my hometown when I graduated from high school.
In college, quarter-long study abroad programs in places like Central America and the Mediterranean comprised the bulk of my international travel. In graduate school, presenting research at conferences that typically last a week at a time in the Global South and Western Europe was the norm. Outside of bachelor parties in the tropics with my close fraternity brothers, hardly ever did I get to travel outside of work and school for recreation’s sake. Now that I’m in my late twenties and have recently finished an exhausting doctoral program, I’m finally at a point in my life where I have the flexibility, capital, and refined acumen for travel.
This past January, my partner Val entertained the idea of taking me to Mexico after graduating, and the more I pondered the possibility of us soaking in the sun and swimming in turquoise waters, the more excited for summer I became. She then informed me that her parents own a timeshare located in Puerto Vallarta, and I was intrigued further. Again, I never grew up taking annual vacations to resorts and the like, so I was curious to see how this experience would unfold. I renewed my passport, signed up for Global Entry, and began budgeting for our forthcoming trip. Since she took care of our accommodations (#grateful), I eagerly booked our first award redemption flight together using the Delta SkyMiles I’ve quickly accumulated with my new obsession into the points and miles hobby!
As a Type A workaholic, there’s hardly ever a day when I’m not juggling 10-30 projects at once—my default state of mind is to constantly be on the move. (Case in point, I immediately interned for Boeing the weekend after I graduated from high school, and I immediately worked as a Google Policy Fellow the weekend after I graduated from college). As a newly minted doctor, Summer 2019 will be my first summer where I can finally and intentionally prioritize my well-being in front of my work. Before I relocate to The Bay and start a new journey working for Airbnb as an experience researcher (yay!), I at least get to have a moment to relax, rejuvenate, and replenish my energy after completing 24 consecutive years (K-PhD) of formal education.
informed me that her parents own a timeshare located in Puerto Vallarta, and I was intrigued further.
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