(FORTUNE Magazine) – My wife is a saint. Not once did she hurl sharp objects at me, or even make piercing sounds, when I ditched her and the kids in Oslo one August night long ago to race back to the office and cover some transient crisis. Nor did she shatter glass when I cut into a holiday in Los Angeles to grab the redeye to JFK and confront yet another Big Story. And the list goes on and on.

Vacationus interruptus is no fun. As I look back on those early exits, I conclude that they weren't all that necessary. If I had done my manager's job well, my able aides would have handled everything smoothly (perhaps with a little phoned-in counsel from me). All of which--while this vacation season approaches the Labor Day peak--leads me to consider some rules for taking a really successful, unstressful, revitalizing vacation.

--Rule One is--you guessed it--don't ever, ever interrupt a vacation. That is, don't do it unless (1) some really career-changing event explodes, and (2) you can do something about it. Those situations are extremely rare.

--Rule Two is to go to your boss right away and schedule the vacation you plan to take two years from now. Better yet, schedule not just one but three vacations for 1998. Sound crazy? Well, Norm Augustine has been doing just that since he was a middle manager in the 1970s. Today he's CEO of Lockheed Martin, so it sure hasn't hurt him. Augustine figures that if you put in for a holiday two years in advance, "your boss can hardly say, 'Sorry, I was planning to have a crisis then.' " But if, indeed, some world-class, last-moment crisis should erupt, you can always take one of those other vacations you've scheduled.

--Rule Three: Plan your vacation so that you go where and do what you really want. "It's remarkable the number of people who come back from vacation feeling more anxious and traumatized by them than they did before they left," says psychologist Richard Friedman of Harvard Medical School. "They were simply impulse shoppers for vacations. They didn't consider that they would be bored stiff after 20 minutes lying on the beach." Plan your vacation, and what you want to get from it, with the same care and objectivity that you bring to any important business decision.

--Rule Four: Choose quality over quantity. "Invariably," says Friedman, "seven days of the best vacation you can buy is better than 14 days on a tight budget. Two weeks in hell is no bargain." In fact, the trend in travel is toward shorter vacations--partly because more people are going the briefer but better route, and partly because two-career couples find it hard to coordinate their schedules to take long vacations together. And, says Wendy Perrin, an editor of Conde Nast Traveler, there's also a trend toward adventure and learning vacations--Outward Bound is attracting record numbers of adults; campus courses for couples are ever more popular. The boomers rightly figure that such ab-tightening, mind-opening efforts will expand their horizons and enhance their careers.

--Rule Five: Do actually take your vacation. No kidding. A large and growing number of managers don't. They foolishly figure that they'll gain some points at the office. In fact, their performance stands to suffer, they are 75% more likely to suffer heart attacks than their colleagues, and their bosses will only think that they are suck-ups or suckers. Many an insecure manager fears his job may be wiped out while he is away. Alas, this happens with disturbing frequency these days, but by forgoing a trip, the vulnerable executive can at best delay the inevitable.

Also, recognize that you need that vacation. Stanley Plog, author of Vacation Places Rated, surveys 13,500 travelers a year and concludes: "Corporate downsizing, uncertain futures, and having to handle the work of two or three people mean time away is a necessity, not a luxury."

--Rule Six: Do keep in touch with the office--but on your terms. Pick a time when you will phone in every day or every second day to get truly important messages. Let your colleagues know that they can speak to you then, but only then. Limit the period that you take calls or do work to an hour or two a day. Authorize one person--your deputy or your secretary--to call you at other times, but only in cases of emergency.

There is no escape from the info highway; E-mail has been delivered to climbers on Mount Everest, and UPS has brought packages to riders in the Grand Canyon. But keeping in touch on your terms liberates you to enjoy your vacation. It also liberates your staff and colleagues. Says Martin Payson, a Manhattan business adviser who takes five-week treks every two years to places such as Nepal, Kenya, and Pakistan: "People get used to focusing without you. You're showing a sign of confidence--in them and in yourself--and giving a healthy signal that nobody is indispensable."

REPORTER ASSOCIATE Victoria Brown