Written by Travis Kemper, PT, DPT
What is your dream vacation or retirement? For most of our country, it seems the goal of working is to retire, and retirement means an endless vacation doing whatever we want. Julia and I took an eye-opening vacation recently while on break between our Travel Physical Therapy positions in New Mexico and Arizona. We went to Hawaii, more specifically Maui and Oahu, for nearly three weeks to relax, hike, swim, surf, snorkel, etc. — as well as see some friends that are living there.
This seemed like an ideal vacation, and it was for about 10 days, but then something unexpected happened. Even with being active throughout the days in the water and hiking, we both found ourselves with achy bodies. More importantly, we found ourselves unfulfilled in an amazing destination; we felt as though we didn’t have a purpose.
We concluded that for us, all future extended vacations will need to be a combination of “voluntourism” and exploration to allow us to have a purpose, help people, and see beautiful parts of the world. This is something we both knew we would want to do in the future anyway, but we were both surprised to find that it will be necessary for our vacations to be fulfilling. We realized, that while we are still going to pursue financial independence so that we don’t need to punch the time clock in the future, we will likely never truly retire.
One great thing for us is that we have found a profession that allows us job flexibility, so that we may never have to truly “retire,” and that is Travel Physical Therapy. This has allowed us the opportunity to still work and feel as though we have a purpose, while getting to travel around to different parts of the country and go on endless adventures. Additionally, we have the opportunity to take time off whenever we want to or feel like we need a change, such as a week to a few weeks between contracts to explore a new area, go on a volunteer trip, or rest and recharge.
We are very fortunate to have this as a career option, so we don’t see ourselves with the urge to “retire” anytime soon, despite the fact we are saving and working toward financial independence.
In my opinion, travel therapy gives us the perfect work-life balance. I feel that a life of endless vacation would be unfulfilling; but a life where I have many options to work, not work, volunteer, take time off, travel, vacation— whatever I want, that’s a great life.
What’s your take on this? Do you think endless vacation would be great, or not? Where does travel therapy come into play for you? Let us know!
Author: Travis Kemper, PT, DPT
