I'm sitting here at......10.00pm, just finished completing tonights bookwork/accounts and read the last 3 threads..... Hawaii ..... Maui ..... France .

I once went overseas to Tasmayneya, which ironically, is only a couple of hundred nautical miles Sth from where I live. If I can get 1 afternoon a fortnight to get out on the water (windy-will sail, calm-will fish) I'm a happy camper, let alone a week, or month(s). I was once, mid conversation, invited to Maui, (I think it was Maui), with a couple of windsurfers who make the annual journey, but laughed it off!!

I'm not asking out of spite, well..I don't think I am?? I applaud you guys for travelling and especially posting your adventures & photos for us home&work-bound hics. I hope that one day I can take up that offer to travel (with family) and enjoy some of what you guys are living at the moment...

My question is to you seasonal travellers, is, between work, family, friends, and work (oops..I mentioned that one already), how do you get the time and the finances (and the inclination) to get away and travel to these awesome locations?

BTW - disregard my avatar, it dosen't 'accurately' represent my easy going personality.

Simple - Make the time!

We planned our holiday initially for Mauritius, but it got way too hard and expensive, so we looked into Maui, found it was only 14-15 hours away, booked our flights, booked accomodation, hired a car, hired some gear and took it in turns looking after kid (5) at kiddies beach (its a sort of easterly protected swimming beach thingy) at Kanaha for 12 days straight.

Still the best 2 weeks of my lfe so far!

One must live according to their values.

Make a list of your values hierarchy, from most important to least import.

Then ensure you devote a proportional amount of time/energy/effort and resources etc to the things you value the most.

You may value work etc. more than you value wsurfing therefore you work much more than you wsurf, therefore you are in accord with your values hierarchy, however if you value wsurfing highly and are devoting only a limited time/energy/effort/resources, then this will cause you psychological distress, and the only solution is to realign your life with your true values hierarchy!!!! This may take time, took me about 5 years to work it out, 13 years to make it happen, and have lived like a pig in schit for the last 14 years or so!!!!

what hardie says is correct, however compromise, will and a little luck plays a part as well. Goal setting is a powerfull thing and a necessary one. If you choose to windsurf more, in what areas do you compromise? financial, family obligations, smaller house in a "lesser" suburb, old car?. Business status, guilt (should I be surfing at 10am on wed morning) and peer pressure play a part as well, we could all work harder and longer and probly make more moola, but do you need it? I look at that Italian guy who does a blog from Maui from time to time, and admire his dedication to the cause. He emulates the extreme, no work and pure wave hunter, a life dedicated to the water, this however, may be as binding as the other extreme, (working too much). Book a trip for next year and make it happen.

Sailhack, I can sympathise with your post.

I've been sailing since I was 14 (now 38) and there are plenty of times I reminisce for my days as a uni student when the long summer break provided ample opportunity for bulk windsurfing financed in the main by pullings shifts of barwork at night. They were gloriously carefree days and I was fit, tanned and happy .

Now I'm a dad with two younguns (4 & 2) and a demanding career that leaves me wanting for more sailing time.

It ain't easy juggling those competing demands (currently in the midst of negotiating a trip up north for later in the year with the missus).

The only advice I can offer is that already posted here...you have to make the time/effort to get away, and you have to bear in mind the wants / needs of the family.

I draw some solace from the fact that a lot of the seabreeze.com.au community are my age or older. So long as I maintain my fitness I should be able to sail for another 20 or 30 years!

The blogger from Maui mentioned above certainly seems to have the life...I've been reading his blog these past few days and feeling the envy rising within. But I wonder if I would find that life fulfilling long term .

I met a lot of older, single guys with a similar life / philosophy backpacking through India when I travelled there, and somehow they seemed a little full of themselves and their own self-importance. Not saying I wouldn't like to live in Maui for a year or two, but ultimately I think chasing wind and waves to the exclusion of all else may become a little hollow.

At the end of the day, as Hardie posted above, it's all about finding that balance. Self awareness is the key...I don't have a value hierarchy as such, but I keep a journal and I think I'm pretty well across what makes me tick. You need to invest that time to understand your own personal drivers and motivators.

Sailhack, I agree with everyone's advice and I can sympathise with you. But at the risk of sounding like some motivational guru YOU CAN DO IT if you really want. And I think the good people on the forum can get you to your dream destination, so long as you pay. The bastards on the forum won't help though.

Towards the end of last century, I had lunch with a friend who said Why don't we go to Cape York?" I thought that sounded fantastic, but then I started thinking it was just impossible. How am I going to get 6 weeks off work? The kids are too little. And I don't even have a 4 wheel drive. But it was time to offload the car anyhow, and instead of replacing it with something similar, I then bought a Pajero. Then it was the at least physically possible. But what about work. I had fallen into the "I'm indispensible" trap. Luckily someone else had recenly had an extended holiday and the business didn't collapse in their absence. I decided to save up my annual leave, and no-one even blinked when I put in for 6 weeks leave which was eventually owed to me. The whole thing was then very possible,and after much planning, research and preparation we eventually did the trip and had an absolute ball. 2 vehicle, 4 adults, 4 kids under 5. Actually achieving what I had though was just a fantasy was sensational. Since that trip, we've had many other trips that at the start just seemed impossible. Not exactly crossing the Antarctic on foot or anything, but you know what I mean. Last January it was a drive across the Nullabor to sail Esperance, Margaret River and Coronation. Fantastic!

So let's see if we can't get you off to Maui, or Noumea or something.

First, where would you really really like to go? We can work from there. I assume you have your own business. When is a quiet time of year that you can either close up or get someone in to cover for a week? Might then need to chhose a destination with reliable wind for that time of year. And if you did have to close for a week, would that really be so bad? I guess your family would have to buy into the idea- Hawaii shouldn't be too hard to sell to a spouse surely. As for budget, give us a location and collectively we might be able to give you an idea of what it might cost and how to save for it.

Sailhack, you can do this! Believe me, it really ain't as hard as you think. Don't make excuses why you can't, just treat them as logistical problems to be solved. There's got to be enough experience on this forum to help get you where you dream of going! Partners, kids, finances, travel, gear, destinations, timing- someone will have solved that problem before. You just have a new combination of them.

Just do it. Now, where would you like to go?

Great post MickeyS, you are so right! We organiesed our trip to Maui in about 8 weeks, lots of internet research and emails to people on the Island. After going there now, we would do things a bit differently, like car hire (going for a cheaper option) and food, eat more from home and supermarket meals, two very key areas to save money in Maui. Remember we also travelled with a 4 year old, so keeping her entertained was important too, plenty of friendly local kids to hook up with....believe me, the place is paradise!

quote:

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Originally posted by Sailhack

Thanks everyone,



Where should I go & when's the best time of year to go? keeping in mind - family, and the fact that I'm not a wave-jumper, just a bit of air and a good wind, & weather.

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In autralia from November to March it's pretty hard to beat WA. If you want flat, then Swan River Perth, Safety Bay South of Perth or Mandurah, 80 south of perth, all are flat water estuaries, with heaps of other things to do.

In vicortian winter you have Northern Hemisphere, take your pick. In Autralia, FNQ from whitsundays to north of Cairns. Cocos Is west of WA, Fiji.....

Others suggestions?