Luxury & Love

I read an article the other day that announced cruise company, Life at Sea Cruises is now booking for their 3-year, 130,000 mile, essentially once in a lifetime, all around the world cruise vacations to the tune of $30,000 per person, per year, according to their website.

Somewhat curious, I scanned through the site. The cruise line boasts of luxurious amenities such as spacious suites with private terraces and world-class cuisine. The ship docks in iconic cities such as Monaco and Mykonos and spans all 7 continents.

I sent the link to my partner and our conversation went like this.

We (mostly me) went on to talk about how much we’d miss home and wanting to be in a “routine” like working despite the ship having a fully equipped remote work center onboard. And while it didn’t come up in this conversation, I’ve been known to tell my colleagues that I don’t take more than 7 day vacations because I find it hard to relax.

The next day, I went back to the cruise line’s website and glanced through the galleries of their onboard amenities.

I don’t remember what prompted it, but for whatever reason I started thinking about retirement and how we’re taught to work hard now so we can be comfortable when it comes time to retire. Then I recalled a conversation between my mom and my boyfriend the other night at Golden Corral. They were discussing whether or not my mom would get her senior citizen discount or not. They went on about the cost of living and whether or not social security benefits will even exist by the time I’m eligible — at age 75 they estimated.

With that conversation in mind & in context of being comfortable in retirement — I couldn’t help but wonder why a 3-year escape from life to enjoy luxury sabbatical seemed like “a bit much.”

I sat with this thought for a moment.

What exactly is the hard part?

“It’s not practical for one,” my rational brain responded.

Fair enough. By the standards of the average American, it’s probably not “practical” for an individual – even one who can afford the $30K/year, to take a leave of absence from life to, excuse the pun, jump ship. And maybe that’s the problem.

Maybe instead of work hard now so you can enjoy retirement later, we normalize luxury now & later.

Normalize traveling. Normalize leisure. Embrace the soft life, Sis.

It’s crazy to me that if you asked most people to describe what being happy looks like, their overall description would include some mention of a vacation destination surrounded by loved ones and good food. Yet, American workers left a record number of vacation days on the table in 2019 —according to research from the U.S. Travel Association.

Honestly. We are so programmed to the idea of working hard

I’m all for saving for a rainy day and this is not a free pass for irresponsible spending, but — THIS is the purpose of life. To create memories and experience life with people you love. This, my friends, is life’s greatest luxury. To create a lifestyle that you don’t need a vacation from.