Dr. Neill Neill

In the spring I said to my wife Eileen a number of times, "I need a break." Well, I got my break. I fell and broke a rib in May. The pain slowed me down a lot, but the pain is almost all gone now and I’ve got most of my energy back.

Vacations (I don’t ask for "breaks" anymore.) are important to mental health, and we self-employed types are especially bad at remembering to take them. Periodically I do manage to interrupt my busyness with a vacation.

I found myself in June to be in desperate need of such an interruption. I hadn’t taken so much as a full weekend off in months. I left my work behind and took off on a 5,400 km mental health motorcycle trip by myself. It would my first real trip on my new BMW R1200RT motorcycle from Island BMW.

On vacations, not only do I get to see and do things that aren’t part of my at-home experience, but also I usually learn something new about myself. This vacation would prove to be no exception.

I rode into Northern B.C., a region I had never been to before. I was prepared to tent, but decided to motel it because I was still nursing my broken rib and thought sleeping on the ground would be asking for trouble.

After traveling north almost 2000 km, the third night found me tired and sound asleep in a motel by the Alaskan Highway in Fort St. John, B.C.

I was rudely awakened by yelling and banging in the parking lot. I peeked out to see flames shooting 50 meters in the air just beyond the other wing of the motel. That was the night of the big hotel fire in Fort St. John. Two motel/hotels and another building were destroyed. I got out safely with all my gear at 2 a.m. As my wife would say, "What some people will do for excitement!"

The Peace River district of B.C. and Alberta was new and interesting to me, and I learned a few things about differences in attitudes as I moved north and east. For example, the drivers in northern Alberta have a different attitude about saving fuel than I think we have here. The majority of vehicles on the road were 1-ton pickup trucks and most of them traveled in the range of 130 kph (80 mph) to 150 kph (95 mph). I followed briefly one truck at 150 kph and it pulled away from me. I slowed down to a more sane speed as he disappeared in the distance. Imagine the amount of fuel he was pouring through his truck!

What I learn about the external world while travelling, however, is really just the backdrop to what I learn about myself. I was travelling by myself and staying in motels. Although exhilarated by the trip, I felt lonely and isolated in the evenings.

I realized that at the core of my being, I like to travel to connect with new people. I guess I knew that, but the learning came clearly into my consciousness on this trip. And, of course, awareness is fundamental to good mental health and self growth.

When I look back on previous travels, what I remember most are the interesting people I have met — the barefoot mechanic in small-town Mexico, the anti-guns lawyer in a campgrounds in Florida, the boat-building woman chiropractor in a campgrounds near San Francisco, or the Russian school teacher vacationing in Cuba. She knew more about Canadian geography than I did. In fact, she taught Canadian geography to her grade 4 students in Omsk, Siberia.

On another solo motorcycle trip 30 years ago I stayed for a couple days in a small motel in Nicaragua. I met a Spanish-speaking chambermaid of Chinese extraction. She was healing from accidental injuries sustained while performing a high-wire stunt in a circus. She begged me (in Spanish) to marry her and take her away, but alas, "no intiendo" allowed me to escape that one and get on my way to Costa Rica.

What I learned about myself on the 5,400 km trip just completed is that when I travel alone, I need to have built in opportunity to meet people.

When my wife and I travel together, we always have each other’s company and we still meet new people. Since she doesn’t ride, we drive or fly.

Someday my wife and I would like to see the sights and connect with people in the Yukon, Alaska, Northwest Territories, Northern Québec, Newfoundland and all the parts in between, and we would love to do it in our own self-contained camper-van. Our dream is to have the wherewithal to buy the camper-van and the time and health to enjoy it.

I would invite you to reflect on what you have learned about yourself while on vacation. If your answer is "Not much," consider taking a different kind of vacation.

Dr. Neill Neill, Registered Psychologist and Diplomate, Comprehensive Energy Psychology, maintains an active psychology and life-coaching practice on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. He is a member of the treatment team at Sunshine Coast Health Centre, an alcohol and drug treatment center for men. His goal is to help you to help yourself to a better life. http://www.neillneill.com