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Their multicolored plastic-like dollars with tiny see-through emblems make great sense for everything from a casual romp in the sea to letting the user instantly know the denomination. No way could someone counterfeit these bills!

Like Europe, public toilets for women have much more class with a door lock that signals "engaged" or "occupied". (How much more civil than in the US where we peer under a stall to see if there are feet!)

Australia has hit upon good ideas for conservation. Toilets offer two choices for flushing, depending upon the "need". Great sense for water preservation! Hotel room keys activate the air-conditioning so that when one leaves, the power is conserved.

The macadamia nut industry began in Mt. Tamborine, Queensland and seeded the Hawaiian Island groves. (Surprised me!)

People will always help you out if you're in trouble. Like the shuttle driver who found us a taxi when the hotel booked us on a ride going to the wrong airport; like the Jet Star agent who told us he'd let us check three bags because, as newcomers, we didn't  know the two-bag rule.

The Coral Sea has fenced areas to protect bathers from "stingers", sharks and saltwater crocodiles. YIKES.

From hotel clerks to cabbies, people know and love their country.  Most can tell you proudly about flora, fauna, and the assorted animals. I wish I were that knowledgeable about my land.

My final learning: while I'd go again in a heartbeat, there's just no place like home!

Important New Survey On Overwork In America

One in three American employees is chronically overworked.

54 percent of American employees have felt overwhelmed at some time in the past month by how much work they had to complete.

29 percent of employees spend a lot of time doing work that they consider a waste of time. These employees are more likely to be overworked. (QUESTION: What would happen if it were PRODUCTIVE WORK?)

79 percent of employees had access to paid vacations in 2004 but more than 36 percent had not and were not planning to take their full vacation. (QUESTION: What is the health risk of no vacation? ANSWER: It could be severe).

Most employees take short vacations with 37 percent taking fewer than seven days.

Only 14 percent of employees take vacations of two weeks or more.

Among employees who take one to three days off (including weekends), 68 percent return feeling relaxed compared with 85 percent who take seven or more days (including weekends).

Only 8 percent of employees who are not overworked experience symptoms of clinical depression compared with 21 percent of those who are highly overworked.

The Family and Work Institute also put together a self-assessment quiz on overwork. For more information about Overwork In America: When the Way We Work Becomes Too Much, go to http://www.familiesandwork.org.

As we approach the summer season, maybe we'd all do well to truly TAKE a vacation! If you travel, write me about your learnings! Put in a subject line: what I learned in my travels and send to Eileen@eileenmcdargh.com. With your permission, it might appear in the next newsletter!

Too often, work/life initiatives are seen as benefit-driven. Furthermore, they are perceived as either/or programs. The following guidelines can actually produce far more productive results:

Address issues with a systemic culture-change focus rather than as a benefit.

Examine traditional assumptions (hours worked is an indicator of commitment and productivity; part-time workers aren't as committed; single people can give more time to work; men have at-home wives; numbers of meetings equate to how you value the company.).

Involve everyone in the organization. Management might change their assumptions but a co-worker could believe that a part-time peer is "shirking".

Examine work flow. Does the system reward people for working all night even though they suffer from sleep deprivation the rest of the week? If work is cyclical, can flexibility be built into the schedule?

Can work be realigned to accommodate a task which needs uninterrupted, focused time?

Must Read Books

BLINK: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcom Gladwell (2005, Little Brown & Company, ISBN 0316172324) Ok, you say, "just how am I suppose to do that?!" And that's the answer: you already do! At a book signing in La Jolla, CA, I was intrigued by Gladwell's research and examples. Education, experience, and environmental context are blended to create an intuitive response that is faster than our conscious thinking. What is equally telling is the danger of failing to ask if that response is accurate. Read the book. Easy to read, fascinating, and thought- provoking. You might not even know the latter occurred!

HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN LUCK by Susan RoAne (2004, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 0471612804) Susan has a storyteller's soul and a knack for news-hidden people. In this straightforward book, she crafts a methodology for using conversation, attention, synchronicity, intuition, and basic kindness as ways to capitalize upon a current opportunity that some might call "luck". Try it. You just never know what might happen.

GET YOUR SHIP TOGETHER, How Great Leaders Inspire Ownership From The Keel Up by D. Michael Abrashoff (2005, Portfolio, ISBN 1591840740) Mike and I met a few years ago at a conference. He had just left the Navy as captain of the USS Benfold, a $1 billion destroyer. Mike had been profiled in FAST COMPANY Magazine for his grassroots leadership techniques that increased a retention rate from 28% to 100%. Spend time with Mike and you know why. He recently sent me his second book. It's just as chock-block filled with wisdom as the first. You don't have to be in the Navy to run your business, department, or venture aground.