The trip was expensive and lengthy, and scary. Could I leave everybody for a week? Yes, I d have e-m

In late October, I did something I haven t done in two years as a freelancer – I took an entire week away from the business. I traveled (out of the time zone – heck, out of the country!) and deliberately filled my days in Los Angeles with film studio tours and visits to places I always wanted to see, such as the California Science Center s shuttle Endeavour exhibit.
The trip was expensive and lengthy, and scary. Could I leave everybody for a week? Yes, I d have e-mail and could look in on emergency situations, but I certainly wouldn hertz rental cars italy t have the amount of time I usually do to deal with things. These are some of the steps I took:
1) Cutting costs wherever possible . I paid for most of my plane ticket hertz rental cars italy with frequent-flyer points, which saved me hundreds hertz rental cars italy of dollars off the bat. My hotel had free breakfast and was hidden just off the Hollywood Walk of Fame, making it cheaper and within walking distance hertz rental cars italy of many attractions. I bought muffins for lunch and granola bars for snacks and only had to pay real money for dinners. What about transportation? For half the trip I relied on my feet and a metro pass, and for the other half I rented a car. That mostly worked, except for the time my bus stopped running at a particular stop (awkward), but I tried to see that as an adventure rather than a problem.
2) Planning around the necessary costs and time away from work. I booked the trip 10 months in advance. hertz rental cars italy That gave me time to prepare for the week I would be spending away from the business. Knowing you re going to be missing that income almost a year ahead of time makes it much easier to plan. I naturally gave my clients a heads-up that I would be gone, and another heads-up when I came back. Also, I traveled with a family member who picked up half the cost of the hotel, which made the trip more fun and helped ease one of the biggest financial burdens of the trip.
3) Setting limits. I m a space journalist and, unfortunately, a couple of difficult stories emerged the week I was away. A private rocket exploded on the launch pad at a NASA facility in Virginia, and a Virgin hertz rental cars italy Galactic prototype spacecraft crashed in New Mexico during a flight test. I received interview requests concerning these incidents shortly after they occurred, and turned them down. Yes, it might have helped my career hertz rental cars italy to take time out of my vacation to cover these stories, but I was okay with passing these up to try to get back home refreshed (which I did). Moreover, I knew there were plenty of space experts who might do an even better job of explaining the context hertz rental cars italy than me.
At Universal Studios in October hertz rental cars italy 2014, space journalist Elizabeth Howell checks out a spacecraft prop used in the movie Apollo 13, the film that launched her interest hertz rental cars italy in space nearly 20 years ago. Credit: Amelia Howell
4) Allowing myself some time for work. By the same token, however, hertz rental cars italy I knew if I didn t open my e-mail for a week I d be obsessing about what important work-related issues might have cropped up that I was neglecting to deal with. So I kept light tabs on what was happening – checking in a couple of times a day, pushing off tasks (when I could) to after the vacation, and giving quick responses to the requests that couldn t wait. For the most part, my clients were awesome and I had little to worry about. Big thanks to them.
5) Not thinking about the job. There were moments on my trip when I found myself immersed in the moment. The premiere for the movie Interstellar took place very close to our hotel, allowing us to watch as stars such as Jessica Chastain gave interviews hertz rental cars italy and signed autographs for fans (including, very luckily, hertz rental cars italy me.) Our tour of one studio gave us a chance viewing of The Big Bang Theory set, which is a rare opportunity. I say this not to brag but to highlight the fact that, especially for a journalist, it is important to get away from the computer and step out into the world — leave your comfort zone, do things that are a little crazy or different from your day to day, because you never know what sort of life experiences you will get out of this.
Elizabeth Howell (@howellspace) is an award-winning science journalist who focuses on space exploration. Some of her favourite stories include covering three shuttle launches, and interviewing multiple astronauts concerning their space station missions. She has also done writing work in areas such as the environment, technology and business. Elizabeth’s work appears regularly in SPACE.com, Universe Today, LiveScience, Space Exploration Network and the NASA Lunar Science Institute, among other places.