Resolution: Take Your Vacation Days
Your vacation days exist for a reason. Need us to give you one? Taking days off refreshes you, so that you’re even better at your job when you get back. So, back away from the laptop for at least 15 days next year.

Execution: You can spend your days off getting pampered at a local spa, taking a road trip to Milwaukee, or — if you’re willing to get a little exotic — trekking through cloud forests. Introducing: the Shedd Aquarium’s new Shedd Adventures.

Designed for members of the aquarium (you can sign up here, though purchasing a travel package automatically makes you a member), the new program offers way-cool trips for nature lovers. The first adventure, which leaves from Chicago on January 26 and returns on Feburary 5, is a 12-day jaunt to Costa Rica. The itinerary’s jam-packed with snorkeling, scuba diving, and hiking through the aforementioned cloud forest, filled with exotic birds. (A bit more exciting than that to-do list on your desk, right?) Throughout the year, there will be outings to the Galapagos, Mexico, Churchill, and the Amazon. Pricing varies from $3,795 to $5,759 — plus the $5 cost of a big ol' bottle of sunscreen.

For reservations and information, contact Cheryl Mell at Shedd Aquarium, 312-692-3161, cmell@sheddaquarium.com


Photo: Courtesy of the Shedd Aquarium