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Tag: Vacation and PTO

Unlimited PTO: What It Is, What It Isn’t, and How To Use It Properly

Not sure how to use unlimited paid time off? Here’s a breakdown of what unlimited PTO really means and how to use it to your advantage!

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NYC memories loading… 🗽👉🏽 I spent last NYC memories loading… 🗽👉🏽

I spent last weekend in downtown NYC for the Women in Travel Summit @witsummit and left, as I often do, SO inspired!!! 600 women & allies of women in the tourism industry in lower Manhattan came together to discuss everything from AI (@kimcallender 💕), to photography (@boboandchichi 📸), to protecting DEI in content creation (@jesuissama @intrepidtravel 🙏🏽), to accessibility for all (@blindishlatina 🙌🏽). 

When I feel, as I unfortunately sometimes do, that “all the great travel stories have been told” and “my voice doesn’t matter,” all it takes to snap me the hell out of it are conversations like these. We have so much opportunity, and so much great work still left to do!

And, because this was my first time back in the city in 6 years, of course I had to play tourist 😜 I’m fascinated by downtown spaces that were once purely corporate, but have since reinvented themselves post-pandemic as more and more people go remote. @downtownnyc is one of them. I’m happy to report there are so many cool things to do in this once-strictly-business neighborhood! 🤩

• Check out @mercer.labs, a dope museum blending art & technology that’s open late (and I recommend going at night) 

• Grab a coffee at @printempsnewyork 

• Visit the @theseaportnyc 

• Spot Alexander Hamilton’s final resting place at Trinity Church Cemetery

• Pay respects at the One World Observatory and the 9/11 Memorial

• Explore the stunning @smithsoniannmai, which has some of the most beautiful art and architecture on display 

And, NYC being NYC, you know I had to watch a broadway show and get my fill of good, foldable pizza 😌🍕

At one point in my life, I thought I’d move to this city. There’s still a piece of me that yearns to one day, but I have other adventures and creative pursuits up my sleeve in the meantime 😌 Thank you WITS for the inspiration this tired creator desperately needed! #WITSDTNYC
We went back and forth on whether we should even d We went back and forth on whether we should even do a first dance.

We didn’t have a cake. I didn’t wear a veil. We customized so many parts of our wedding to feel like “us.” And while I love to dance (I spent years dancing salsa and bachata!), dancing in public is really not Jacob’s thing. So when I asked @jacobsmedium whether we should scrap it altogether, he completely surprised me by suggesting that if we do it, we choreograph it. He wanted to know exactly what to do, and so that’s exactly what we did.

Over the course of 4 months and just 6 private lessons, we pulled off a wild Viennese Waltz-meets-Bachata first dance, but we gained so much more than choreo. For the first time, I got to see Jacob really enjoy dancing the way I do. And even when we messed up, it was hilarious. We had fun with it!

The most fun part though? Keeping this a secret from our entire wedding until we hit the dance floor 🤭 No one saw it coming, and that’s exactly how we wanted it to go down 😌

Should I post the final dance in my Stories? #2025bride #2025wedding #destinationwedding
Married friends, what would you add to this list? Married friends, what would you add to this list? 🤍

@jacobsmedium and I agreed early on that we wanted to make sure our engagement wasn’t focused exclusively on planning a wedding. We invested our time into everything from getting healthier to starting relationship therapy to build a strong foundation for our marriage. When we did have to do wedding things, we tried to make date nights out of them so it didn’t feel like a chore. Writing our vows in the same room, at the same time, was surprisingly emotional 🥺

Stay tuned later this week for the results of #3 🤭 #2025wedding #weddingplanning #2025bride
Here’s the story of how we chose our destination Here’s the story of how we chose our destination wedding location! 

We got married in a stunning little wine region called Valle de Guadalupe in Northern Baja, Mexico.

It’s not a party town, it’s not a ‘scene.’ It’s rolling, rocky hills and these beautiful sunsets mixed with remarkable foodies and farmers and winemakers doing some really interesting things.

Jacob and I were actually invited to write about a local business in Ensenada back in 2018. That business owner, Jesse, introduced us to some incredible new hoteliers designing an entirely off-grid hotel in Valle de Guadalupe. We hit it off, and found ourselves returning here multiple times a year ever since.

I always knew in the back of my mind we’d get married here.

It’s a place that has always managed to slow the chaos in our lives and remind us to take it easy.

But it was NOT without its challenges. To get married in Valle de Guadalupe meant navigating:

• land border crossings between USA & Mexico (stressful these days, let me tell ya)

• no Ubers or public transportation (everything needed to be organized) 

• early noise curfews (it’s a wine region, not Cancun) 

• “too cool for you” attitudes (this isn’t a destination that spoils the bride & groom) 

• multiple hotels to accommodate all of our guests

• “handshake” agreements and slow response times

In the end, we learned a lot. And we managed to pull off a wedding weekend that showcased this rugged valley that we love. Each day of our wedding incorporated different elements of the region, from our favorite wines, to the best Ensenada fish tacos, to a mariachi band serenading our guests!

Comment “WINE” and I’ll DM you my guide to visiting Valle de Guadalupe! 🍷

Thank you Jesse @ensenada.massage, Matt, and Monica @uvauva_valle for opening up our world and bringing us here back in 2019 🤍
Follow along for more from our destination wedding Follow along for more from our destination wedding in Mexico! 💍

So, who’s ready for a recap of @jacobsmedium’s and my 3-day destination wedding weekend?

Everyone says it, but now I understand why. Our wedding really was the most humbling, magical experience of my life. The past 1.5 years of being engaged, planning the group trip of our dreams (what it kinda felt like, and honestly, what we wanted it to feel like, vs just a wedding), and seeing it all come to life was such a surreal feeling. We had many, many ups and downs along the way. It even rained on our wedding day when the weather forecast didn’t predict a single drop!!! 🥲

But it was the privilege of our lives to bring some of our favorite people together in one of our favorite places in the world. 

Stay tuned for more from our wedding weekend✨ #SheSaidSIgala #2025bride
“It was lifechanging. A dream. The best weekend “It was lifechanging. A dream. The best weekend of my entire life. An experience that I will continue to daydream about instead of focusing on this job for the foreseeable future.” 🤪

But seriously, how many times have you come back from PTO or an epic weekend and had these same intrusive thoughts when hit with this question? 

How do you ever answer in a corporate setting? Do you just drop the “it was good, thanks” and move on, or do you go deeper? 

When is it appropriate? When isn’t it?

My thoughts (and how I handled coming back to work after my wedding) continued in the comments! 👇🏽
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