I learned the art and science of vacation travel as a child. Each June, my mom and dad packed us into our Ford with our pink camper, called the Fellow Traveler, riding behind and set off for two weeks of vigorous vacationing. The destinations were carefully planned: Colorado and Utah; Boston and Acadia in Maine; Washington, DC, and Cape Hatteras in North Carolina; the Badlands in South Dakota. We were adventurous—we hiked up Long’s Peak and down the Grand Canyon—and thorough—we visited most of the 48 lower states over 15 years.

I took a different route with my own family, staying in hotels at Disney World and then venturing to Italy, France, England. We crisscrossed Europe the way my dad crisscrossed the United States. We were adventurous, too, climbing to the top of the Duomo in Florence and down through the spooky catacombs of Paris.

Every year offers a precious opportunity. Plan ahead for your vacation, because as the year sweeps by it gets harder and harder to make it happen. And if you don’t take your vacation time, you may just as well pay your boss two or three weeks of salary, because that time off is part of your compensation. Moms tell me they don’t have enough time with their kids. I ask them if they’re taking all of their vacation and using it wisely to bond and be together as a family. Too often they’re not. So take a weekend this april and plan your fun summer vacation.

Whether you travel near or far, go!