I usually take my computer with me when I travel, and I often find myself at the hotel room’s desk for at least an hour each evening, editing a transcript.
This year, I tried something different. We planned for a cross-country road trip out to Ventura, CA, where I would speak at the California Deposition Reporters Association conference. On our way, we planned numerous stops to national parks and friends’ homes to visit. I set it up so that I would not be working on pages (all my work was delivered before we left OR is not due till significantly AFTER we get back).
Yes, I took my computer because I was doing a demonstration with my presentation, but I didn’t work-work. I had to bring my external drive for 2025 due to needing to follow up with clients, subs, and volunteer projects, but no pages were touched. These are the minute details a business owner needs to keep in mind. Having a nice little Samsung external drive the size of a credit card is lovely – doesn’t take up much space but had all my 2025 stuff on it (and I have 2024 on there too because that’s how I duplicate my backups year over year).
So what did I learn?
That I can do it. I can set the boundaries that say, “Hands off my vacation!” and it can be managed.
I can relax in the hotel room and not worry about how stable the internet will be or how uncomfortable it is to sit at the desk they provide.
Because I am not setting up my portable workstation every day, I am able to take that time to decompress from a long travel day.
And the biggest take-away was that I can enjoy a vacation full of adventure – seeing new sights, visiting friends, trying new things – and not feel guilty about saying NO to work.
This is something that has taken me my entire career to learn.
Don’t do as I did. Start setting those vacation boundaries early. Your down time spent doing things OTHER than court reporting is precious. Don’t be distracted by those pages; instead, bask in the awe of a new adventure and the simple joy of not having to do anything other than what you want to do.
#courtreporter #stenographer #voicewriter #timemanagement #transcripts #reporterlife #smallbusiness #stenotraveler #stenofriends #roadtrip #vacation #downtime #justsayno