Just put it on the schedule and go.

One of the biggest struggles I have right now is feeling like I can take off of work. Everyone has their own situation. For me, there's always more issues at work. There's never enough time to get everything "done done". And I always feel guilty for leaving. Mainly I worry that I've forgotten some detail or I've forgotten to cross train someone on some aspect.

This explains why last year I only took 6 of my vacation days... of which I worked from the hotel's internet cafe during part of the trip. (Note to self, do not stay in the same time zone as work) (Note to self, let very few, if any, people know where you are going)

Of course, this negates the fact that all of my coworkers are very capable intelligent people. Many of them are better developers than I am. I should trust that should an emergency arise, they are more than capable.

So, the short of this long paragraph: Book something in advance so that your can arrange coverage of your items. Book something in advance so that you have to go, and a whole year can't go by without you taking some time.

To that end, I've joined the tr4v3l3r blog. More importantly, we leave Tuesday for our first vacation of the year. Woo WOo!