Six years ago I cut back drastically on my clinical shifts in the ED. I asked the person in charge of planning our schedule if I could batch my shifts such that it would allow me to travel for 3 weeks in the summer with family. I got the green light, and never looked back.
When I reinvented my career a couple of years ago with a shift to an administrative position, I negotiated to preserve a 3 week block for family travel each summer. I was explicit that this was a commitment I'd made to my family and needed to be able to fulfill. My boss was able to accommodate this obligation.
It's been a remarkable run of family travel:
- 2018: Greece (Athens, Napflion, Kythera) and Mexico (Mexico City, Oaxaca for Guelaguetza). This ambitious summer taught me that 5 weeks of travel is too many for my family, while 3 weeks is the sweet spot.
- 2019: Spain (Madrid, San Sebastian, Barcelona, Toledo)
- 2020: COVID - no travel
- 2021: California Road Trip (up near the border with Oregon, rerouting half of our trip along the way to avoid fires)
- 2022: Croatia (Dubrovnik, Korcula, Hvar, Split, Sibenik, Zadar, Zagreb)
- 2023: Mexico (Mexico City, Taxco, Grutas de Cacahuamilpa, Cholula, Puebla)
We travel at the higher-end of independent budget travel. We exclusively rent airbnb's, so that we can choose places with kitchens (dine in for breakfast, load up at the local grocery store for picnic lunches on the go) and washing machines (results in lighter packing to enable carry-on travel, the only kind my kids have ever known).
This allows us to stretch our dollar, so where we stay feels fancier than I would choose while possessing more rustic charm than my wife might opt for (full disclosure, she is low maintenance and I am lucky; she just doesn't like to share bathrooms with strangers, whereas I really don't mind).
When the kids were younger, they'd share a bed and it was fine. As teens, they occupy more space and the shared sofa bed is less fun than it used to be. Our budget has grown accordingly.
Aside from Mexico, which has very reasonable flight costs from California that warrant payment in cash, all other international flights have been paid for with Chase Ultimate Rewards points. We put every expense on the cards, transfer points to my Chase Sapphire Reserve to increase the spending multiplier through that card, and book airline tickets via the Chase portal to maximize the purchase value.
There's the pleasure I derive in in planning a trip, which comes in part from getting a good value from what I spend. This fits with the psychology literature finding that anticipating the pleasure of something before it happens increases the perceived pleasure when it actually occurs.
There's the joy I get from creating an itinerary that unexpectedly delights astonishes my wife and kids, the gift of recalling that shared experience as a foundational family moment.
But quite aside from that is the pleasure that comes from looking back over the years and realizing that there is a direct connection between envisioning a lifestyle and making it a reality.
3 weeks off in the summer for 5 out of 6 years (interruption of 2020 courtesy of the pandemic) does not happen passively.
Dear reader, I know you are here because you, too, are interested in having an unusual flexibility or feature added to your career in medicine to give you greater control over your time. I'm going to share a few oversimplified steps to help you get from here to there.
- Begin by envisioning your ideal life and then reverse-engineering your career to support that life.
- Prepare to accept conflict and occasionally endure derision by your peers on the quest to change internal group policy. You are trailblazing. Nobody else knew they could even bushwhack the path you have trodden, Some colleagues will insist the jungle is dark and inhospitable. You alone will realize it is also full of diamonds.
- Adjust your financial projections to fit your new trajectory. You will forego peak income during the prime of your career in exchange for more time focused on family, friendships and fitness.
- You won't miss the money. When you look back and realize you've enjoyed something most others did not know was possible, you will feel exhilarated.
I wish for you the discipline to pursue your version of this dream.