Moderation on vacation? Sure, but with a few exceptions...

Last week, my wife and I took our kids up to New York State to visit her family at their summer retreat on Lake Ontario.  We go every year, and it's a great time since we really do "get away from it all" up there. There's cooler temperatures, plenty of things to see and do, and of course, relaxation.  And as we all know, people like to relax with a nice, cold alcoholic beverage.

In order to thoroughly evaluate my drinking behavior last week, I must first look back to last summer.  I had not started my "journey" into moderation of alcohol, so once I was up at the lake, I drank like a fish.  My bad habit was exercised in full-force.  I was on vacation and I didn't have to drive anywhere.  What are vacations for, right?  My wife didn't feel the same way and after some deep introspection, I changed my mind as well.  In fact, even after my success with moderation in recent months, she was still worried that I would go up there and start knockin' em back just like last year.

So how did I approach drinking while I was away last week?  I decided in advance that since this was going to be a vacation and since it was only a week, drinking every day wouldn't be a problem.  I was careful to consume at a slower pace than I did back in my days of gluttony, but I went ahead and indulged in a few drinks every day.  By the end of the week, I had finished a twelve pack of beer and I had enjoyed a few mixed drinks.  So yes, I did go over the 14-drinks-or-less mark.  I wouldn't recommend that to someone who fears regressing to daily and/or heavy drinking after a week of indulgence, and looking back, I think I would rather cut back during my next trip.  But I'm not going to beat myself up over it, especially since I did so much better than I did last year.

Let's look at the positives here.  I drank far less, overall, than I did last year, and I paced myself so that I could enjoy myself and relax without worrying about how soon I could crack open another beer or pour another drink.  I also got a twelve pack for the week rather than a case, so I was committed to not over-doing it.  Let me add that in such a rural area, obtaining beer is not quite as convenient as it is here in the city. It's the sort of place in which you have to drive to the next town.  If you are trying to manage your alcohol moderation on vacation (and are a newbie at it like I am), this is a good thing.  Although I never got a buzz like I did last year, I still had the same amount of fun. And it was nice not feeling like crap the next day.  By the way, if you ever find yourself contemplating whether or not you should have "one more," just remember how much nicer it is to wake up without a hangover!

I learned another thing about how to make moderation easier while on vacation.  This seems obvious and self-explanatory because I already knew it and I've written about it before.  Eat plenty of food!  One of my issues has always been that I could drink more if I started on an empty stomach.  Some great happy-hour snacks to go with cocktails include cheese and crackers, hummus, pretzels, and raw vegetables.  We usually have potato chips with the old sour cream n' onion dip out too, but paper-thin chips tend to vaporize when they hit the stomach, so you can't quite count on them to fill you up and slow the absorption of your booze. It's never a good thing to be plastered and stupid by the time dinner is ready.  Snacks combined with pacing one's self makes consuming a beer or glass of wine with dinner a lot more reasonable.  That's just common sense.  Ya know?

I haven't reverted back to my bad habits this week, so that's another good thing.  With what I've learned so far about myself and moderation, I honestly don't feel that such a regression is in my future.  I will just continue to practice good habits while giving myself a break for the occassional indiscretion as far as drinking is concerned.  If a vacation involves daily drinking, that's not necessarily a bad thing as long as the old "no-holds-barred" attitude remains a thing of the past.