That old line “change is as good as a break” rang true as I was getting ready to attend another of a series of interesting professional development sessions at a conference in Chicago last week. Sometimes a vacation is a true “get away from it all” type endeavour. And sometimes, like this past week, it is a mix of a different location, a different pace, a different set of topics to think about, and a little bit of exploring some things outside of the norm.

When I booked this trip, it was with a few extra days added, mostly to geek out on baseball at Cubs games over the weekend after my conference wrapped up in Chicago. As it turned out, my wife was able to join me, and thanks to an available last minute flight on points for her, it changed that trip plan to something different. Something better.

She got the full on vacation experience as I was working away at my conference, but at nights, we picked an interesting restaurant and enjoyed a meal together (and yes, we did get to a couple of baseball games). The trip was a nice reminder that a vacation doesn’t have to be an all or nothing approach. Especially when you get to spend it with your favourite person in the world.