JandaO

Does it mean sleeping in every morning and staying up late at night? Does it mean getting up early to see the area before alot of people are out? Does it mean having intimate dinners or is dancing till dawn better?

Do you want to see every museum in sight? Do you want to lay on a beach and chill? Do you want to go deep into the mountains?

I like a combination of urban and rural. I want to leisurely get up in the morning have coffee and breakfast in a nice setting and then follow my list for that day. I plan what I am going to see each day so no time is wasted. I love to see some museum or art galleries, something cultural if I am in a city. I love to look at architecture. Shopping is fun too. Basically I just love to walk around and look at everything. That is so relaxing for me. Stopping for gelato or a cold refreshment is standard. I try to really live the moment. Take a breather and not think or worry what is around the next bend. A home I am always busy, this is my time when all the time is mine to spend the way I want. I hope this doesnt sound selfish. Vacation to me is as much a feeling as a destination of sights.

LeCanard

I agree with you but I call the whole stuff "holidays".

Scarlett

Vacation to me means going to bed when I feel like it and sleeping as late or not as I feel like. Eating when I am hungry and never cooking! Getting up in the morning and deciding over breakfast what we want to do that day.
Lately I have enjoyed luxury hotels and shopping with some nice drives into the countryside.
Wherever we go, we try to go to local museums and galleries..
Having just come home from a lovely vacation that met all my criteria, I am looking forward to the next in September. I have decided that monthly vacations is a good goal

happywanderer

Vacation means it's time to do what YOU want to do! No matter what. Without being controlled by a boss!

gualalalisa

Vacation for me is getting away from all the hundreds of people who are vacationing in my town every summer.
Vacation is also being waited on and having 24-hour Room Service, not having to worry about cooking or cleaning.
And vacation is everything JandaO says it is!

lyb

Vacation means not being at work!!! Once that has happened, my vacations have varied from lazy days visiting my sister in Hawaii, barely doing anything, to visiting Charleston, SC & Savannah, GA and visiting as many of the surrounding areas, yet still sleeping in a little, all the way to my latest trip to Italy on an organized tour, getting up early and seeing so much of Italy! I enjoyed them all for different reasons and would do each of them anytime I could.

sheila

It's something Americans have (usually not enough of)

meira

Vacation for me means:
1. Not watching news on TV
2. Not reading the newspapers
Being away from sucide bombers and blasted busses.
I am from Tel Aviv Israel......

confidential

Vaccation means to me "Urlaub" (german translation)
which does not contain work in an air conditioned office.
And includes time with my family somewhere between the european cities to explore or a week off on a sunny beach - but mostly show our son the differences in food, habitats of animals and clear air (as long as there is some) This year escaping the heat by taking a small cruise to scandinavia.

Travelnut

Meira's note kind of puts things in perspective, doesn't it..?

JandaO

ttt

suzanne

For me it means getting out of town, typically by plane, and EXCLUDES any family-visiting trips. That's a visit, not a vacation. By my own definition, I have not gone on vacation since February. Blech.

capo

To me, it's an anagram for "con a vita", not-exactly-Italian for "with life"

Statia

I can relate Suzanne. With our living in the islands, all our trips home to the US to see family turn into an errand running marathon of visits, shopping, dr's appointments, etc. We are completely exhausted by the time we return here.

Therefore, our only true vacations, where we relax and do what WE want, are our trips to Europe.

Patty

Agree that family visiting trips are not vacations as schedules are generally dictated by others or out of necessity. A vacation is when I set my own schedule. Whether that's a fully packed day or nothing except laying on a beach doesn't matter as long as I'm the one determining the schedule. That's what I consider a 'vacation'.

amyb

I'm one of those people who can't warm up to a beach vacation. If I can do it at home (lay on a beach and tan and read) I really don't want to waste time/money doing it on vacation.

Generally my vacations are going somewhere and exploring, whether it be food, museums, architectural or archeological sites, etc. I'll sleep when my body tells me to, but otherwise no rules.

DougP

Isn't that something that is supposed to happen 5 or 6 weeks a year? If not, why not?

sandi

Vacation = No Cell or Phone Calls from or to anyone back home (family or business)
Vacation = No need to access Internet to check email anytime, anywhere, for any reason.
Vacation = My time!

capo

An article on our local newspaper today mentions an online survey of nearly 2,400 Americans which found that forty percent of them said they are not taking a week or longer off this year, that, instead, they are parceling time away from work into long weekend trips.

It said that what is behind this shift is both time and money, that a third said they wanted to save money but a fifth said that they cannot or do not want to take time off from work.

Andrea_expat

For me, the first level of meaning it has is being able to see new places around the world.

The second is not having to work - but I have found that I enjoy my vacations much better when I check e-mail and reply to a few every couple of days just so I don't get the sneaky feeling that everything has collapsed without me (of course, of course, I realize that wouldn't happen . . . but it helps me to stay relaxed to know for sure!).

The one thing that we don't do so well on during vacations is real relaxing - I'm getting much better, but no matter where we go, I have a list as long as my arm of things that I want to do and see, and since we live in China I also want to spend some time shopping for daily-life stuff (mostly clothes).

So we end up running around all week and sometimes coming back from our vacation saying: "We need a vacation!"

We are getting much, much better (and we do really enjoy ourselves, it's just not as relaxing as it is stimulating/enriching), and we DO spend lots of time just sitting in cafes watching the world go by - just for an hour or two, and then I start getting antsy thinking about that great museum I heard about . . .