Experts say that the ideal vacation length is ten days because it takes about a week to unwind and dissociate from the rhythms of everyday life. That process, however, can be augmented and the resulting vacation experience enhanced by anticipation of the vacation. We can anticipate vacation by packing for it, talking to others about it, or just daydreaming about it.
I’m preparing for an expedition in the Guadalupe Mountains, and while I don’t have time or space for hard-core preparation, I’m am taking taking anticipatory steps. I’ve camped out twice this past couple weeks in the backyard, once as the temperatures dipped to 26 degrees; the other 40-degree night I slept in just the sleeping bag. The purpose is twofold: firstly to accustom the body to the hard ground and chill air and secondly to kick the tires, as it were, on my gear. It’s important to know one’s limits and the tolerances of the equipment. Additionally, I went hiking with a friend in a local park with two hills of 25-foot elevation. Twenty laps on one hill and twenty on the other with 20 lbs of dumbbells in a weighted pack was good preparatory exercise for the shoulders, knees, and ankles and yielded 1,000 feet total elevation gain in the space of an hour. Now I’m planning my kit and looking at the trails.
In the weeks and days leading up to the trip, I’ll be psyching myself up for that 19 mile loop in the actual mountains. There will be five miles of bushwhacking (i.e., no trail). There will be awesome sights few have seen, and the pain of the ascent will etch the vistas into my memory. But my mind will be ready because of the preparation, the anticipation. The anticipation itself will enable me to capture more of the experience.
What are you preparing for today?