A decade ago, when I was 14 years old, I decided I was going to get a jumpstart on my dream of being a journalist. I didn’t want to wait for college; I was far too eager to wait four years. Also, my 60-student-per-grade day school didn’t have a school newspaper, so I had no choice but to pursue a journalism internship in town and hope I was given a chance. I had to scratch that itch. I had to find out if journalism was as romantic and exciting as the movies made it look.

So, I sent out an email from my Yahoo! account that had my birth year in the address — 1987. “Great,” I thought. “They’re going to see that I’m 14 and want nothing to do with me.” The magazine was Gulfshore Business, a publication based out of my hometown, Naples, Fla. I ended up getting the internship and spent my summer updating online archives and the magazine’s visitors’ annual publication. I also got to write my first story — a piece on business executives titled, “Great Getaways: Area execs head around the world for some R&R.”

I pulled out this story the other day when shuffling through all my clips in attempt to update this site. It’s been years since I read the story. Reading old clips is going back in time. It’s like reading old journal entries. Although, unlike old journal entries, this story makes me proud, not embarrassed.

This is the story’s lede:

With hectic schedules, hordes of e-mails and phone messages, and crucial meetings, area executives obviously can’t help but anticipate getting away from it all — at least for a few days. Some head to exotic locales; others escape to second homes. Those who force themselves to shut off the computer and not answer every call say they return rejuvenated and ready to delve back into business. We asked our local executives: Where are your favorite places to get away?