Many Americans simply don't think vacations are worth the time, expense & effort
Jul 16th, 2007, 01:55 PM
#21
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There are also a great many people to whom the words "travel" and "vacation" mean a long weekend in Vegas, or a week in Florida to play some golf and soak up some sun. Period.
Jul 16th, 2007, 02:18 PM
#22
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Europeans travel on vacation a lot it seems. I notice that 39% of Irish people travelled abroad in the first 3 months of 2007 alone. In Ireland if somebody decides to visit America (Irish women love shopping in New York ) they just go on the net and fly out a few days later.To make things easier for them there is an American immigration office in Dublin and another in Shannon so they can go straight to a mall once they arrive in Kennedy Airport.
Jul 17th, 2007, 05:37 AM
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Sandylan has introduced an element that should be interesting for this Forum. Europeans (esp.French and Italians) consider the family vacation sacred time. They rarely miss their 2-3 weeks away and it almost invariably includes getting together with the immediate family AND the grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins etc. Thats why August in Rome is "chuiso" but you can't get near the Adriatic. Thats why our visions of Italy and Provence include those tables in the vine-draped shade full of laughing, happy families breaking bread together.
H-m-m, maybe they know something the folks in this so-called "survey" don't?
H-m-m, maybe they know something the folks in this so-called "survey" don't?
Jul 17th, 2007, 06:16 AM
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When we returned from our European vacation this year I heard two interesting responses from friends -
From a friend who spent a week at Clearwater Beach while we were in Tuscany, "Don't you find that kind of trip exhausting?!? My idea of a vacation is laying on a beach!"
From a friend who has WAY WAY more money than we do - "We think with the dollar being what it is, it is not very fiscally responsible to take a European vacation."
Alrighty then.
From a friend who spent a week at Clearwater Beach while we were in Tuscany, "Don't you find that kind of trip exhausting?!? My idea of a vacation is laying on a beach!"
From a friend who has WAY WAY more money than we do - "We think with the dollar being what it is, it is not very fiscally responsible to take a European vacation."
Alrighty then.
Jul 17th, 2007, 06:20 AM
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There's a lot of rubbish in the article.
FWIW, some of our friends who don't like to travel during their vacation have taken the money they would have spent on beach holidays over the years and made their homes into places they love spending their free time in. One couple put in a wine cellar, a fitness room, an outdoor kitchen and inground swimming pool. As a result, the whole family DOES spend time together, without having to leave home. What's wrong with that? Why would trekking off to some beach or lakeside cottage be a better way of spending their free time?
Another friend who's in customer service and spends all day helping people takes her vacation in summer. At home. Alone. She has her mail stopped, sends every call to voicemail, doesn't check her email, treats herself to a facial and massage, gets her hair done, goes out for dinner or eats in as she feels like, sleeps late, spends her days reading fat novels, and returns to work fully recharged. As she says, "some of the best vacations are when everyone ELSE goes away!"
FWIW, some of our friends who don't like to travel during their vacation have taken the money they would have spent on beach holidays over the years and made their homes into places they love spending their free time in. One couple put in a wine cellar, a fitness room, an outdoor kitchen and inground swimming pool. As a result, the whole family DOES spend time together, without having to leave home. What's wrong with that? Why would trekking off to some beach or lakeside cottage be a better way of spending their free time?
Another friend who's in customer service and spends all day helping people takes her vacation in summer. At home. Alone. She has her mail stopped, sends every call to voicemail, doesn't check her email, treats herself to a facial and massage, gets her hair done, goes out for dinner or eats in as she feels like, sleeps late, spends her days reading fat novels, and returns to work fully recharged. As she says, "some of the best vacations are when everyone ELSE goes away!"
Jul 17th, 2007, 06:38 AM
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In my Pennsylvania Dutch world, you don't lie on a beach or lay on one either. You "lay out." As in: "are you planning to lay out today?" "It's too windy to lay out for long." As commonly used as "the cat wants out" or "I've got to redd up my room" or "don't talk to Josser, he's pretty gretzy today."
Jul 17th, 2007, 07:45 AM
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This is OLD information. I read of it some 25 years ago that many Americans did not take vacations.
Sure it's carefree sitting by the poolside with a drink and you get to see places and do things but a holiday is a lot of hassle.
It costs a lot of money that you could probably better spend on something else. Packing takes a surprising amount of time. You get up early on the day, either at your own home or a hotel near the airport. Go to a crowded airport and check in 2-3 hours early and you meet the modern day Gestapo (Customs). If your flight is on time, you have anything from a few hours to a day getting to your destination on the equivalent of a cattle truck where you are squashed into seats only fit for children and stuck there.
You eventually get there are after maybe an hour you're out of the airport with your luggage and then you may have another hour or more getting to your hotel. People often need a day to get over the hassle involved and of course you have it all to go through at the other end.
When many go away, most holiday places are crowded and you pay a fortune for stuff you have free at home or for meals you could cook better and for peanuts and you carry on paying and paying. You also don't have your TV and computer and you cannot go out to familiar places and be with friends and so on.
I have been on hundreds of holidays around the world but I can see why people don't want to go away.
Sure it's carefree sitting by the poolside with a drink and you get to see places and do things but a holiday is a lot of hassle.
It costs a lot of money that you could probably better spend on something else. Packing takes a surprising amount of time. You get up early on the day, either at your own home or a hotel near the airport. Go to a crowded airport and check in 2-3 hours early and you meet the modern day Gestapo (Customs). If your flight is on time, you have anything from a few hours to a day getting to your destination on the equivalent of a cattle truck where you are squashed into seats only fit for children and stuck there.
You eventually get there are after maybe an hour you're out of the airport with your luggage and then you may have another hour or more getting to your hotel. People often need a day to get over the hassle involved and of course you have it all to go through at the other end.
When many go away, most holiday places are crowded and you pay a fortune for stuff you have free at home or for meals you could cook better and for peanuts and you carry on paying and paying. You also don't have your TV and computer and you cannot go out to familiar places and be with friends and so on.
I have been on hundreds of holidays around the world but I can see why people don't want to go away.
Jul 17th, 2007, 07:54 AM
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Luckily for me I married someone who has the same travel/vacation philosophy. We never end the work year with any extra vacation days to loose. That is why I have thousands of family photos that haven't made it into photo albums yet 
We vacation at the beach and we travel as well. I always thought ours was the norm in the USA. Deborah
We vacation at the beach and we travel as well. I always thought ours was the norm in the USA. Deborah
Jul 17th, 2007, 08:36 AM
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There is a case to be made for the notion that TOO MANY people are traveling TOO OFTEN. Airports and planes are full, attractions have long lines ...
As for Americans, we have a very large country with a good deal to see, and there is no particular reason that children need be "exposed" to Europe at an early age.
I grew up in Nebraska, my Dad's family was in North Carolina, so driving a few days was how we began and ended many family vacations. And that was mostly pre-interstate and pre-air-conditioned cars. People who find it all exhausting today definitely didn't drive cross country in August with all the windows down, hot air blowing in from all sides, a collective groan when another detour sign is met ... then again, they didn't know the small pleasure of sneaking ice from the cooler will sitting in the back of the station wagon amid the luggage. And later, reading Eudora Welty's accounts of family car trips on unpaved roads in the 20s, repairing tires twice a day and crossing rivers on raft=ferries, I felt a kinship I still know today when I read travel journals, exotic fiction or even the Fodor's Forums.
My parents worked to afford these trips (and the ones in alternate years when we didn't visit any family at all, just the Presidents at Mt. Rushmore, or Pike's Peak.) Our first day's meals were always packed with us, so we'd eat fruit and donuts in the car, have a picnic in some roadside park at lunch, and finish it all up in the motel for dinner. At the end of the trip Mom had a detailed spending log: every tank of gas, every diner breakfast, every attraction admission. (And there were the usual mix of those: Wall Drug, Linville Caverns, Gateway Arch ...) They knew exactly what the trip cost, because if the money wasn't there, we wouldn't be going: we didn't take credit card vacations in the 50s and 60s.
I was and am grateful for those trips. We had at least an idea of the size of our country, we were able to know all of our large family, we ate something different, saw something different. It was great = even if it did mean that I was almost never home for my birthday as a kid. (Neither were a lot of my friends, since the whole town seemed to take vacation at the same time.)
Anyway, I think there still are many people taking family vacations - and not just to Disney World. I see families at the beach in Florida, in little packs on the streets of New York, and I know they're stopping at the Grand Canyon and Yosemite.
There are also people who think a big family dinner is "too much effort", or doing their own gardening. But the effort, as with all things, is in direct proportion to the reward.
As for Americans, we have a very large country with a good deal to see, and there is no particular reason that children need be "exposed" to Europe at an early age.
I grew up in Nebraska, my Dad's family was in North Carolina, so driving a few days was how we began and ended many family vacations. And that was mostly pre-interstate and pre-air-conditioned cars. People who find it all exhausting today definitely didn't drive cross country in August with all the windows down, hot air blowing in from all sides, a collective groan when another detour sign is met ... then again, they didn't know the small pleasure of sneaking ice from the cooler will sitting in the back of the station wagon amid the luggage. And later, reading Eudora Welty's accounts of family car trips on unpaved roads in the 20s, repairing tires twice a day and crossing rivers on raft=ferries, I felt a kinship I still know today when I read travel journals, exotic fiction or even the Fodor's Forums.
My parents worked to afford these trips (and the ones in alternate years when we didn't visit any family at all, just the Presidents at Mt. Rushmore, or Pike's Peak.) Our first day's meals were always packed with us, so we'd eat fruit and donuts in the car, have a picnic in some roadside park at lunch, and finish it all up in the motel for dinner. At the end of the trip Mom had a detailed spending log: every tank of gas, every diner breakfast, every attraction admission. (And there were the usual mix of those: Wall Drug, Linville Caverns, Gateway Arch ...) They knew exactly what the trip cost, because if the money wasn't there, we wouldn't be going: we didn't take credit card vacations in the 50s and 60s.
I was and am grateful for those trips. We had at least an idea of the size of our country, we were able to know all of our large family, we ate something different, saw something different. It was great = even if it did mean that I was almost never home for my birthday as a kid. (Neither were a lot of my friends, since the whole town seemed to take vacation at the same time.)
Anyway, I think there still are many people taking family vacations - and not just to Disney World. I see families at the beach in Florida, in little packs on the streets of New York, and I know they're stopping at the Grand Canyon and Yosemite.
There are also people who think a big family dinner is "too much effort", or doing their own gardening. But the effort, as with all things, is in direct proportion to the reward.
Jul 17th, 2007, 09:20 AM
#33
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My theory..children should be exposed to different cultures...be it Mexico, Caribbean (including Pirates), or Europe. Travel is one of the few good ways to teach them that there is diversity, history, food, languages, customs that are different from home, but yet somehow we are all alike in many ways.
To me, there should be more international travel, to open all of our minds and foster more underestanding.
But,it still takes $$$, so I'd reserve these comments for those who can afford it. Think of travel as education...you can never have enough.
To me, there should be more international travel, to open all of our minds and foster more underestanding.
But,it still takes $$$, so I'd reserve these comments for those who can afford it. Think of travel as education...you can never have enough.
Jul 17th, 2007, 09:32 AM
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I have friends and family members who never take a "real" vacation every year and I honestly think that it often isn't even a consideration. Sure, they will do the occassional extended weekend camping trip or float trip, but taking off for a week or two is saved for special occassions done once every three or four years. But I don't think they are bothered by this fact; its just that vacations are not a priority in their lives.
And often its about money. Some people would rather have stuff than do stuff. Whatever floats your boat! I'm quite the opposite; I love to travel and feel I get so much out of traveling and wouldn't give it up for anything.
Tracy
And often its about money. Some people would rather have stuff than do stuff. Whatever floats your boat! I'm quite the opposite; I love to travel and feel I get so much out of traveling and wouldn't give it up for anything.
Tracy
Jul 17th, 2007, 09:42 AM
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Personaly I get excited just by driving to an airport, regardless where my destination is, and I get to do it VERY often, but there are some that are just the opposite.
Last year I briefly dated a lady that just would not, could not, understand my need for travel. I flew about 150K miles last year. We did not break up over this issue, in fact we still talk on occasion, but she is the happiest when she's at home with her 3 pets, 2 birds and a dog. I tried talking her into taking some short trips with me and she was absolutaly not interested. We had great times when spending time around Sarasota. She was totally happy with the idea of not going anywhere else.
She sings in a local band and has a very hard time going to Tampa or Miami for a gig.
Do I think she's weird? no, just different. We are all entitled to be different. I would expect that here on this travel forum some people will have hard time understanding her lifestyle, but just as she thought I was different, but still liked me, I just see her as a great human being, having different needs. Relax folks, just because we all love to travel it doesn't mean that everybody has to believe the same. The world would be boring if that was the case.
btw, here is her band's website:
http://www.bignightout.org/default.html
Last year I briefly dated a lady that just would not, could not, understand my need for travel. I flew about 150K miles last year. We did not break up over this issue, in fact we still talk on occasion, but she is the happiest when she's at home with her 3 pets, 2 birds and a dog. I tried talking her into taking some short trips with me and she was absolutaly not interested. We had great times when spending time around Sarasota. She was totally happy with the idea of not going anywhere else.
She sings in a local band and has a very hard time going to Tampa or Miami for a gig.
Do I think she's weird? no, just different. We are all entitled to be different. I would expect that here on this travel forum some people will have hard time understanding her lifestyle, but just as she thought I was different, but still liked me, I just see her as a great human being, having different needs. Relax folks, just because we all love to travel it doesn't mean that everybody has to believe the same. The world would be boring if that was the case.
btw, here is her band's website:
http://www.bignightout.org/default.html
Jul 17th, 2007, 09:47 AM
#36
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tomas... I wholeheartedly agree. I think it sad that so few Americans take "road trips" with their children, like we did in the 50's and 60's. My favorite memories include simple pleasures like swimming in the hotel pool, fishing off a tiny pier and roasting marshmallows over a campfire with my six siblings. 
I was a single mom for 20 years and funds were tight, but I managed to take my kids on a few "vacations", mostly road trips to visit relatives. But those are their favorite memories, too.
More Americans should "see America" before going to Europe or anywhere else. Every state has something fascinating and the family bonding that takes place on road trips is immeasurable.
I was a single mom for 20 years and funds were tight, but I managed to take my kids on a few "vacations", mostly road trips to visit relatives. But those are their favorite memories, too.More Americans should "see America" before going to Europe or anywhere else. Every state has something fascinating and the family bonding that takes place on road trips is immeasurable.
Jul 17th, 2007, 11:39 AM
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Sarge: your write up brings back fond memories of heavily budgeted road trips during my childhood. I loved the campfires, the small diners with paper placemats, the chuckles we got years after my dad nicknamed one waitress "Foghorn Leghorn" based on her accent.
I'm a single dad and just took my girls to Ireland and London and it was a great experience. I hope it's the first of many trips we get to take.
With respect to the article, we all know people who value different things. If we were all alike, how boring would the world be? C'est la vie!
I'm a single dad and just took my girls to Ireland and London and it was a great experience. I hope it's the first of many trips we get to take.
With respect to the article, we all know people who value different things. If we were all alike, how boring would the world be? C'est la vie!
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