I just spent two terrific and relaxing weeks of family vacation in Italy. It's hard to put into words how much I enjoyed this time and how I felt the positive effects on my well-being. I felt once again confirmed that 8 to 10 days are the absolute minimum of vacation necessary, so one can actually feel its the positive effects. Everything below that is of course nice but it does not really give you the needed distance to everyday life that puts you into that special "vacation peace of mind".

What also helps in a great way is to detach from social media and online news. Because (at least for me) it's nearly impossible to read tech news on Twitter and not think about work and tech projects of my own.

However, going offline is something I hadn't thought about for a long time. Only after I had depleted all of my roaming data at the end of week one (which in itself says a lot, I guess) I figured "what the heck" and disabled both data and WiFi. This reminded me about a blog post I wrote more than five years ago, when I used to do this regularly as part of my vacation. A lot has changed since then, but I think "pulling the plug" has helped me a great deal during this vacation to better relax and being able to enjoy holiday life.

It's probably easier said than done, but I firmly intend to make this a vacation habbit again from now on.

It's next to impossible to read tech news and not think about work all.