The Flagg Agency

Awww...look at that face

Sometime in the last decade or two, I remember hearing a quote from Richard Branson. Paraphrasing, I remember him saying “I don’t want to be 80 years old and saying or thinking…”Gosh if I had just…or I wish I had done…”

A few days ago, I wrote a blog about taking steps to avoid regret later on in life. Today I have a question for you. When did you last drop off the grid? For the purposes of this post, I am not talking setting up a solar house with geothermal heating. I am talking about disconnecting from the internet, from work, from email, Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and from the phone. Can you even remember? I have always wanted to make this blog as a resource for you, my reader. I want to educate you, share my love of travel and maybe help you plan that perfect getaway. It is high time that I practice what I preach.

I wanted to share something that to my knowledge I never shared on this blog. Since last August, my wife, Laura, and I have been living in two separate cities due to her job. I have been raising my daughter and running a business almost as a single parent. It has been a challenge to say the least. During one of her trips home fifteen days ago, I had a wild hair of an idea. I have a birthday coming up and we had been looking at DSLR cameras. All of the sudden I said why not take that money we were going to spend for a camera and let’s go make memories somewhere. School for my daughter starts August 1st, and the three of us had not have had a vacation together since last July when we journeyed to Alaska, much less spent time together without having work come between us. Though we had traveled separately on dad and daughter trips and Laura and I had gone to a working convention in the Riviera Maya last November, we had not been on a vacation together…as a family.

She gave me a budget and I started looking. After much debate, we settled on a resort at a location we will disclose upon our our return. For the past week, I have been getting my business affairs in order so that I could actually close my office down. I will not be taking a phone, or a computer and for the first time, there will be no live blogging during this trip. We are going to drop off the grid. Well I am at least! Laura may have to be take part in some conference calls as her company is in the middle of major scope of work change but with the time change between her work and our location, she can do them way early morning or while sipping an adult beverage and staring at the ocean.

The main thing is we will totally disconnect from our online and business world and get to spend time together before the next chapter in our life begins. As you read this, we are either on a plane on our way or we may even be already at our secret location! I am glad that I decided to forgo the camera. There was a recent article about lasting happiness coming from memories and not more stuff. These types of memories are more often than not made on vacation with your family. From the article:

…You’ll get much more satisfaction — and for longer — if you choose the experience. Most of us, it turns out, get more bang from the experiential buck. Indeed, when people are asked to recall their most significant material and experiential purchases over the previous five years, they report that the experience brought more joy, was a source of more enduring satisfaction and was more clearly “money well spent.”

My hope for you is that these last couple of posts will inspire you to reconnect with your own family. It is my desire to help you have a better travel experience, and Laura and I hope you will contact us. Just know that if you do this week, we will get back to you after July 28th, 2011! You will find our contact information at the bottom of each and every one of our posts. Something we are most excited about is that we will be checking off one of the items off our personal bucket lists. We cannot wait to tell you all about it when we get back! We hope you understand why we won’t be live blogging this trip! Talk with you soon.

Chuck and Laura Flagg are fee-based travel consultants.

We own The Flagg Agency in Canton, and our number is  770-355- 9569

We are fee-based travel consultants. We help people make better travel decisions

so they may find an experience that matches both their wants AND their needs.

Related posts:

1. Back on the grid and totally refreshed
2. Introducing my daughter to Club Med Cancun
3. What if there is an emergency back home
4. Can I get a free cruise
5. Taking steps now to reduce regret later