The Travelling Wilburs will be travelling to Barbados for a week in July.

was in 2013 when I took a cruise. I've taken a week off and gone somewhere here and there 2 more times since then, once in 2022 and then in 2023.

I don't say that as any kind of dumb humblebrag; I say that being ashamed for being so stupid to not use all my PTO on every job I've had in my lifetime.

Typically I've frittered away some of my PTO on a day or two here and there, and lost a lot more time than I have ever taken. I've let companies and corporations manipulate me to the detriment of my own mental health and personal well being for decades, and it appears I'm stupid enough to let it happen again this year as well. I'm on a work call in the background right now.

We're going through a pretty big shake up at work right now, so I feel like I need to be there for what's happening as there may be some very extended unpaid time off coming if I'm not there.

And I bet I've probably said that 30x over the years.

Tiggity®

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Yep. We hit paydirt in Athens doing this.

May 18, 2024, 11:34 AM

Forget the tourist books. Find a packed, local, hole in the wall place where you see no tourists, these are the type places I seek out, to wife's angst.

Dad would always get a Fodor's guide every place we went, and he would book the nicest restaurants, but other nights we'd just wing it and crash some local dive places. Honestly, the best food you will find are at the dumpy local places.

In Athens we ate at some 5-star place without a menu. The staff would literally roll the dishes past your table (raw/uncooked) and you picked your meal. Next night we ate at a taberna in the plaka that was a literal hole in the wall and met a local artist and some of his buddies. We literally walked into the place and there wasn't a tourist to be seen. The table of old locals sent over a bottle of retsina and dad sent them a bottle of scotch. They won that deal. I have one of the local artists paintings hanging in my house today. He painted murals in many of the restaurants and tabernas in the Plaka (base of the acropolis/touristy area). Think he died about 20 years ago. What was amazing was the table of old Greek guys, they all looked to be about mid-60's or so. We learned the youngest guy at that table was over 80yo. And to this day, I still think the best food on Earth is greek. Ate like a defensive lineman the entire time there, came back and had lost 5 lbs.

The local artist was a guy named George Savakis.

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10 days from now I will be here.

Re: 10 days from now I will be here.

Nope. Can't afford Haiti. This place is a little more laid back and safer.

14 days from now I will be here.

Cancelled my vacation this year

Yeah, well I got a laptop for that.

I'm not sure what would ruin a vacation faster

Run a small business sometime.

The first time I had taken a complete week off from work to go on vacation

I just finished up some work just now.

Yours is a humble brag I fully support***

Cruise or staying? I like the French side way better, FWIW***

We're staying on the french side. At the place you probably would stay

Re: We're staying on the french side. At the place you probably would stay

Yep. We hit paydirt in Athens doing this.

Awesome. If you visit the ruins of Sam Lord's Castle, that's where I stayed

I hear jet fuel smells amazing and is good

Being blasted with sand is good for the eyes. Cleans them out.

Re: 10 days from now I will be here.

Yeah c'mon!***

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