One of the many perks of working at Meta is Recharge: after five years of employment, you become eligible for 30 days off work! Having an entire month off sounds incredible, but I quickly realized that making the most of it required answering two surprisingly difficult questions:

  1. When is the best time to take recharge?

  2. How do I make the most of recharge?

Recharge Planning

(1) When is the best time to take recharge?

The first question is more complicated than it sounds. There are several factors to consider:

  • Work schedule: Depending on project lifecycles, planning cycles, and team priorities, there are better and worse times to be away.

  • Weather and seasons: Depending on where you want to travel and what activities you enjoy, the difference between summer, fall, and winter can be substantial.

For me, fall seemed particularly appealing: cooler temperatures for hiking and cycling, beautiful foliage, and fewer summer crowds.

(2) How do I make the most of recharge?

This was the more interesting question. I started asking friends and coworkers how they had spent (or planned to spend) their recharge, and their answers were surprisingly diverse.

Some preferred staycations, spending time with their kids or simply enjoying a month without work. Others pursued ambitious expeditions, such as trekking to Everest Base Camp or climbing mountains. International travel was another popular choice, especially for destinations like Asia and Australia, where longer trips help justify the flight time and jet lag. A few used the opportunity for learning, whether through cooking courses abroad or independent study.

The possibilities were almost endless, which, ironically, made deciding what to do even harder.

Strategy given (1) and (2)

After a lot of thought, I settled on several priorities:

  1. Visiting family in Romania: I grew up in Romania and visited every year until leaving for the UWaterloo in 2016. Since then, more than a decade had passed without returning to Romania or seeing my grandparents. This was something I really wanted to prioritize.

  2. Spending time with my girlfriend: Traveling together and creating new memories.

  3. Exploring nature: Visiting national parks, hiking in the mountains, and taking advantage of the fall weather and foliage.

  4. Taking care of administrative tasks: Getting around to the appointments and errands that are inconvenient to schedule during a normal workweek.

  5. Actually recharging: Several friends warned me that excessive traveling can lead to its own form of burnout. Coming back to work more exhausted than when I left was definitely not the goal!

The biggest trade-off was between doing one extraordinary, month-long adventure and using the month to accomplish several different things that mattered to me.

On one hand, cycling across Europe or embarking on a multiweek expedition would have been incredible, as these are precisely the kinds of adventures that are difficult to fit into a typical vacation. On the other hand, I didn’t want to spend the entire month traveling, especially when spending time with family and having some breathing room at home were equally important.

Ultimately, I chose a hybrid approach: two shorter trips, first to Romania to reconnect with family, followed by Utah to explore the national parks with my girlfriend, with some downtime in New York in between.

Phase 1: Visiting Romania

Sibiu

Our journey begins in Sibiu, my hometown, a city of approximately 134,000 people found in the historic region of Transylvania. Known for its charming medieval architecture, cobblestone streets, and colorful buildings, Sibiu retains much of its historic character, including sections of the fortified walls that once protected the city. Beyond its picturesque old town lie the Southern Carpathians, including the Făgăraș, Cindrel, and Lotru Mountains.

Catedrala Evanghelică Sfânta Maria. Sibiu is also known as “The Town with Eyes” because of the distinct eye dormers on older builds, as you can see on the roof of the building on the left

One of my objectives for the stop in Sibiu was to go hiking in the mountains with my dad and a childhood friend. The Făgăraș mountains are the highest altitude mountain range in Romania, reaching over 2500m (8200ft) in altitude. Luckily, there was a “heat wave” in the high mountains and a lot of snow melted making this hike more doable!

Scrambling to get to the summit. This was below Balea Lac, at around 1900m which didn’t have any snow. The later sections above 2200m had more snow and more technical pieces.

Romania is home to one of Europe’s largest populations of brown bears, and encounters can turn dangerous. Bear attacks are a serious concern. Even during the very week we were visiting, a mother was killed by a bear while walking her daughter to school.

Knowing the risks, we came prepared with bear spray and whistles. Little did we know it’d come in handy, as with just 3km remaining on our hike, we came face-to-face with a brown bear! We immediately started blowing our whistles, hoping to scare it away. Unfortunately, the bear seemed completely unfazed. It casually turned its head, looked around, and then slowly began approaching us.

Fortunately, a passing driver spotted us as we got to the side of the road, stopped, and rescued us from the encounter! Heart-rate escaped zone-2 for a bit ;)

Picture of the bear from the road where we got rescued by another driver

Drone footage from my friend of Saua Caprei which was the peak we reached. The hike in total was 24.47km long with 1295m elevation gain and reached a peak altitude of 2309m.

In Sibiu we also did several runs, notably through the Sub Arini Park. I also saw one of my uncles in Sibiu who came to visit from Germany.

Focsani

We continue the journey in Focsani, my mom’s hometown. Focsani has a population of 66,648 and is situated in the east of Romania, close to Moldova and Ukraine in the historic region of Moldavia. While there are no mountains nearby, a fun-fact is the region is the most seismically active in Romania with frequent earthquakes.

The main highlight of Focșani, however, was reconnecting with family. I had the pleasure of seeing my grandparents for the first time in nearly a decade, celebrating my grandpa’s 85th birthday with my family, and catching up with my uncle, aunt, and cousin. It truly felt special having everyone in one room to celebrate his birthday.

Beyond the family reunion, Focșani is admittedly not the most exciting tourist destination. There are several wineries in the surrounding region and a nice ~10-mile running route to a nearby park, but otherwise it’s a relatively quiet town. After the adventures in the mountains around Sibiu, though, a few slower days were a welcome change of pace.

Bucharest

The next leg is the capital city of Romania with 1.71 million people and where my cousin lives. In stark contrast to the quieter Focșani, Bucharest is a bustling metropolis filled with grand boulevards, monumental architecture, and an intriguing mix of historic and communist-era buildings. The city has several importance sights, including the ‘Palace of Parliament’ and ‘Catedrala Națională’ (largest Christian Orthodox Church in the world).

Picture of the ‘Palace of Parliament’, which we had a guided tour of inside. It is the heaviest building in the world (9.04 billion pounds), has over 1100 rooms and is the largest administrative building in the world.

Brașov

Heading back into Transylvania, Brașov is another historic town with ~237,589 residents and is situated by the Southern Carpathian Mountains. It is generally considered one of the most photogenic towns in Romania (maybe after Sibiu?) and it did not disappoint. We got caught in a hailstorm near the summit of Poiana Brasov. Near Brașov is also the famous Bran Castle (Dracula’s Castle).

Panoramic view of Brașov from the mountains near Poiana Brașov. Look closely and you’ll spot the Hollywood-style “BRAȘOV” sign perched on Mount Tâmpa!

Sibiu (Part 2)

Heading back to Sibiu, preparing for the return flight! Below are some photos from smaller hikes and park visits.

Photo from Dumbrava, one of the parks that I frequented when I was a small child

Finally, we did a short ~3 hour hike in the nearby Păltiniș, which is the highest elevation ski resort in Romania situated at 1440m in the Cindrel mountains, a short 35km away from Sibiu.

Closing out on my Romania trip, I am most happy to have seen my grandparents and family. Beyond that, the mountain visits and understanding more of Romanian culure (and its evolution since I last visited) were rewarding!

Part of the trail in the Cindrel mountains near Sibiu.

Phase 2: Visiting Utah

After a short break in New York to get adjusted, I went with my girlfriend to Utah! The goal was primarily to visit two national parks: Arches and Canyonlands.

Salt Lake City

We first stopped in Salt Lake City, did a brief walking tour of the city, and then drove up the Wasatch Range to the Alta Ski area for a quick hike. My impression of SLC is that it is very clean and quiet. We had a small detour near BYU and then headed over to Moab as our main base for the hikes.

Government building for Utah (quite a bit smaller than the Parliment in Bucharest)

Dead Horse Point State Park

This state park has an excellent view of the canoyon showing a gooseneck bend of the Colorado River and Canyonlands National Park

Me and my girlfriend at sunset ;)

View from the 5900ft elevation viewpoint. There was stormy weather, and people’s hair was sticking up, meaning higher chance of lightining… so we evacuated early as a precaution. Several were struck by lightning in weeks prior.

Arches National Park

The closest national park to Moab is Arches. Generally, the Arches National Park felt like a gallery (like in Death Valley). None of the hikes seemed particualrily streneous, and the views were fantastic. It is great if you don’t want to go on isolated hikes and more of a “drive to take a picture” type of national park.

Delicate Arch Trail, it’s a pretty easy hike with a nice view

The Windows Loop Trail, similarly a fairly simple hike

Canyonlands National Park

Canyonlands felt like the complete opposite of Arches. While Arches was relatively accessible and filled with iconic viewpoints, our experience in Canyonlands was much more remote and rugged, with challenging hikes, limited cell reception, and considerably more difficult navigation.

We spent around 6 hours completing the 19km Murphy Loop, going several hours without encountering another person! Navigation proved surprisingly difficult, and we lost the trail multiple times. The most stressful part came near the end, where a series of steep switchbacks made it nearly impossible to distinguish the correct trail on our map. With several possible paths appearing to lead toward hundred-foot drop-offs, choosing the right way down became quite an adventure. Definitely added to the bonding experience! ;)

There are several districts of Canyonlands. We explored both “Island in the Sky” and “Needles”. The Needles felt even less populated than Island in the Sky. Both have distinct feels, so I would recommend trying both.

Scenic Drive (Utah State Route 128)

The drive from Salt Lake City to Moab was very scenic. There is an optional scenic route instead of taking I-70 to take UT-128 which is the scenic variant. I highly recommend it! We were also fortunate to have a fun car, so it made driving it even more enjoyable.

Colorado River view from the scenic drive

Overall, I had a blast on my trip to Utah. It was an absolute pleasure (like always) to spend time with my girlfriend, and Utah certainly didn’t disappoint. We are fortunate to have such a diverse set of geographies in the United States, I truly believe every national park is special in its own ways.

Life Between Adventures

Beyond the two flagship trips, of course I partook in several other activities such as playing tennis, cycling, running, and dressing up as bunnies with my girlfriend for Halloween. The time between trips in New York was well spent, and I am glad I balanced it this way.

Fall foliage from my annual NYC to Poughkeepsie Ride (with a Bear Mountain detour)

Run in Jersey City Liberty Harbor with sunset view

Retrospective

Looking back, I would consider this recharge a success! I managed to strike a good balance between traveling, spending quality time with family and friends, staying active, and actually relaxing.

The biggest highlight was undoubtedly reconnecting with my grandparents and extended family in Romania after nearly a decade. Beyond that, hiking in the Carpathian Mountains, exploring Utah’s spectacular national parks with my girlfriend, and enjoying the fall season in New York made for an incredibly memorable month.

In hindsight, I’m glad I didn’t dedicate the entire month to one ambitious expedition. While cycling across Europe or embarking on a multiweek adventure would have been incredible, splitting the time between different experiences allowed me to accomplish more of what mattered personally.

Perhaps the biggest lesson is that making the most of time off doesn’t necessarily mean filling every single day with activities. Sometimes, having the flexibility to slow down is just as valuable as the adventures themselves.

I’m already looking forward to my next recharge in five years. More importantly, I promised my grandparents I wouldn’t wait another decade to see them — five years at the latest! ;)