I read this at THE WEEK and thought I’d pass it on. When was the last time you took a full weeks vacation (and went somewhere) let alone 2 weeks.
The great American vacation is slipping away. The number of Americans taking off from work for less than a full week at a time has more than doubled since 1990. Fewer and fewer workers are willing to risk a full two weeks away from the job, fearing perhaps that they’ll return to find their sales trophy in a box and a stranger in their cubicle. Instead, vacations are reduced to a couple of days tacked on to a long weekend, like a housekeeping addendum to an inter-office memo. Worse, the more senior the employee, the more likely she/he spends some part of that mini-vacation in the death grip of a digital-communications device. -Francis Wilkinson
I remember growing up the annual summer vacation was something everyone looked forward to and parents never dreamed of NOT taking a vacation. For us it was the trip from Ohio to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where my parents
rented a cabin. They packed up the green station wagon with supplies for the week, made a bed in the back of the wagon with pillows and blankets so my brother and I could sleep on the long drive. Once there, no phones, no video devices and high tech gadgets. We boated, fished, swam, played in the sand dunes, met other families, and became best friends with their children. Campfires at night with plenty of marshmallows and chocolate bars for smores. Kids went to bed happy and tired from being outside all day and physically active.
As the years progressed our vacations became fancier and locations more upscale. My fondest memories though are the summers at the cabin.
We’re fortunate enough to take 2 and sometimes 3 vacations a year. Usually they’re cruises that I’ve planned for extensively and bargained for.
But… I’d go absolutely bonkers without a vacation.. *S*
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We take at least ONE nice vacation a year, but we travel so much to see our kids it seems we’re always going somewhere. You and your wife like cruises eh? Gene and I have tried it but it wasn’t our cup of tea. Too much food for us, we’re both pretty light eaters. I never made it once to the Midnight Buffet. He really wants to go back to St. Martin (french side) but I doubt that will happen this year.
I think this pattern has changed for good, sadly. I am not sure what the future will bring in this context but I fear it may be a step backwards.
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It seems to me that sometime in the last decade, travel became a yuppie commodity, and then it turned into oneupsmanship.
I’m still sad about the very first Galapagos T-shirt I saw.
I’m sure it is wonderful, but I don’t *want* to ever go there.
I wish that place could be kept only for scientists; plenty of money would still pump into Ecuador.
Anyway, we’re pretty much on the one nice trip a year plan, too.
We already did our biggie, but we still have Halloween weekend in New Orleans (not too far for us).
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Your childhood vacations sound a bit like mine. It was also me and my sister but instead of a station wagon it was a “Checker Marathon” that my father bought new in 1964 before they made it into a Checker taxi cab and the destination was the old family farm in Vermont for the moth of August. When we were young’uns we both had beds made up on that huge floor between the backseat and the front. Later, when we got bigger, she got the back seat and I had the whole floor to myself (didn’t I love that!).
After I left home I never really did take a real vacation, more like working vacations as there was always work to be done at the old farmhouse (unoccupied at that point) or work at my own home once I was married the first time.
I have to agree, the old family vacation is a thing of the past. Ironically enough it’s the “older” generation that’s been picking up on the idea of vacations and why not? They’re the ones who’ve been working all their lives…they need the break.
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