# 46% of the Americans will go on holiday this year



## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

I read this in TIME magazine. For European ears it sounds unbelievable, that the majority of Americans will just stay working the whole year round. My question to TC Americans (and the rest): are you going on holiday? How long and how far from home....


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Yes, I am! Although I'm not American.

I've already had one week of holiday, outside a little town outside Trondheim. Whilst there, I played with the Norwegian Youth Symphony Orchestra. Then, in about a month, I'm going away to play in yet another orchestra outside a town called Mosjøen. Then, I think I'm going to head up to visit some friends and hopefully some family in Vesterålen, which is a bit further north from where I live.

All of the places I'm visiting this year are in Norway, and not more than 450 km at most from where I live.


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Yes this year I will travel abroad to 4 different countries on 5 separate trips, for a total length of 19 weeks, which is above average for me.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I'm not planning on going anywhere this year, mostly because I have to pay for other expenses right now, partly because I'm involved in some activities on a regular basis that pretty much require me to be there. But if a weekend opens up, I'm not averse to a road trip.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Probably I won't go anywhere. It is highly possible that I will spend whole holiday time in terrible, hated place in very bad company. 

Yyy, no, I don't mean TalkClassical.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

TxllxT said:


> I read this in TIME magazine. For European ears it sounds unbelievable, that the majority of Americans will just stay working the whole year round. My question to TC Americans (and the rest): are you going on holiday? How long and how far from home....


:lol:

It must be a European thing to use up all your Vacation Weeks offered by the Government. You dachniks! 

I'm not a dachnik, but some Americans are. Not many though, that's not our tradition the way it is in Europe.

FYI: "Dachnik" is the term for someone who has a second home to go to in the summer.


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## dmg (Sep 13, 2009)

My vacations consist of either 'staycations' (staying at home and doing things locally while off work) or short trips to domestic locations. I would love to travel overseas, but I both do not have the money, and am not allowed to take more than 5 work days off in a row.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Money has been short. I may have a staycation, organizing my opera collection, getting the unwatched pile to be less huge, eating good food and drinking good wine, reading good books. I may actually have more fun and get more rest than when I travel.


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

The trips my family takes usually consist of driving for an hour and a half to get to the coast and staying there for three nights. We do this a couple times a year. Once every several years we take a longer vacation to somewhere further away. My parents are both teachers, so they do not work during most of the summer, and we have time to go on longer journeys as a family, it is just money that prevents us. Most people I know don't travel more than I do, unless they are rich.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

I'm not going anywhere this summer. I just don't feel the need to, although next summer I'm thinking about just taking a train somewhere just for the sake of it. Provided I have the money, of course.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

I can't speak for places outside the US, but in the US vacations (or certainly time off) depend a lot on whether someone is a student (especially college student). Students have much more time off and seem to be willing to travel and stay very cheaply (e.g. drive all night and stay at friends houses). I have two children, one is a student and the other recently finished. They both took vacations with my wife and myself but also went places without us. I generally take 2-3 weeks off every year and travel to visit my wife's and my family.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

When I lived in Europe I noticed that Europeans take summer vacations a lot more seriously than we do in America. In August, Paris is empty; everybody heads to the coasts of France or Spain, just like the Brits go to the Channel Islands, Portugal, etc. People take a whole month off... Here in America we're lucky when we take a week off. We work hard...


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## dmg (Sep 13, 2009)

While I get 4 weeks off starting this month, I do not get to take any of them consecutively. Which sucks.


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Live to work or work to live?


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

My family went on a cruise to the Caribbean, and they left me behind because I had to work 

Not taking any vacations this year; I've got two jobs to keep up for now, then my two majors to wrap up in the fall and I absolutely have to stay on top of everything. I'm just starting my permanent career, after all.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

This year I reached the old age of fifty years, which is in Holland acknowledged not with a payrise but with an extra week of holidays (obviously they slowly want me to get used to swimming in the sea of free time, that will engulf us like a tsunami later on). I don't want to  you, but it really requires almost a fulltime job  going on vacation, coming back, looking for a new destination, booking hotels by internet, organising the holiday pictures from the last holiday etc., etc.) to get our holiday-time well-spent. So please, have some pity on the Dutch!


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

emiellucifuge said:


> Live to work or work to live?


 Not everybody is wealthy like you, Emiel.
So, we do need to work.
While I pay for my kids' education, there is not much left.
Things will get better, though.
In some three years I'm planning to travel internationally a lot more.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Back when I was a working stiff in a factory job, weeks of paid vacation depended on longevity in employment; e.g. 3 years gets 2 weeks, 10 years gets 3 weeks.... If business was good, I could pass up a week's vacation and still get paid for it. That equaled DOUBLE PAY. The European concept of August off with pay was viewed as a fairy tale.


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## dmg (Sep 13, 2009)

emiellucifuge said:


> Live to work or work to live?


I would absolutely love to 'work to live', however 'the man' is preventing this from happening...


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## dmg (Sep 13, 2009)

Today, we celebrate our Independence Day. We get a whole day to celebrate. A _whole day_!


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

I was washing my muzzle while suddenly the soap got into my left eye so with both closed I started to search the water stream to wash the soap out. But my moves were so rapid that I heavily crushed into a cap and now I have huge scar something like one centimeter under left eye.


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

First, I am not wealthy - I am still dependent on my parents. This year is a special year as ive finished school, please dont think im away 19 weeks each year. And also Ill be mostly camping.


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

emiellucifuge said:


> And also Ill be mostly camping.


Camping is the way to go!  Unless you are sharing a tent with your whole family and your father snores...


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Meaghan said:


> Camping is the way to go!  Unless you are sharing a tent with your whole family and your father snores...


Something to be remembered with fondness when your parents are long in the ground.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Hilltroll72 said:


> Back when I was a working stiff in a factory job, weeks of paid vacation depended on longevity in employment; e.g. 3 years gets 2 weeks, 10 years gets 3 weeks.... If business was good, I could pass up a week's vacation and still get paid for it. That equaled DOUBLE PAY. The European concept of August off with pay was viewed as a fairy tale.


Some shared experiences, here.

I'm now in the "public sector," but when I was in private sector work, the following experiences applied to me (and I don't think they're terribly atypical)- the first year, you could take one week off _unpaid_, if there was goodwill between you and your employer. The next couple of years, you were permitted one week paid vacation. sometime on or around year three, you got your second week of paid vacation. In some places, it would take until year 10-12 or so before getting the third week of paid vacation.

Then, you really haven't experienced the fullness of American blue-collar working life until you've gone through the following- 1) your employer _lobbying_ you to take your vacation pay in cash rather than taking time off, or (even worse) 2) the "use-or-lose" concept. Here, one HAS to take time off or else forfeit the time. This is particularly insidious in places that can put all your work in a monkey-pile while you're absent, and then call upon you to bail yourself out shortly after your return. And with unemployment trending ever higher, these patterns are likely to get worse before they get better. Your supervisor carries an unspoken threat with this one- don't like these terms? I have on file the résumés of 50 people who'd be willing to accept them [a.k.a.: 'shut up and be happy you have a job'].

Now that I'm in Civil Service employment, things are better- but they're not all beer-and-skittles there, either. You can carry over vacation- but you can't carry over more than you earn in a year. My wife, for one, struggles with this situation annually. Maybe you're thinkin' [SARCASM]"tough problem to have"[/SARCASM]- but when you have to do the metaphorical equivalent of cleaning the Augean Stables every time you return, it DOES take a toll. (Note- it's even easier to put things in a 'monkey-pile' in Civil Service than it is in Private Sector work.)

Another peculiar local factor comes into play for us- one of our region's well-known radio commentators has often railed against the Public Sector's "unused sick and vacation days" pay-outs at retirement. To further reduce these pay-outs is a very politically popular measure. However (as anyone who thinks beyond step one would recognize), doing so would merely result in promulgating the absenteeism encouragement act. Lots of workplaces have folks who call off on account of the sniffles, or the proverbial "mental health day." These people wouldn't be touched by adding more restrictions to end-of-service pay-outs (they're constitutionally incapable of accumulating such time, anyway)... but honest people like me and my wife would get hosed, unless we alter our behavior to be more like the pathomimetic.

I realize that this rant hasn't addressed the issue of travel- but I'll take that up in a later post. This one has run on too long, already. Sorry.


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## Iforgotmypassword (May 16, 2011)

Nope, not going anywhere. My life is rather dreary and monotonous actually, thanks for reminding me


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Iforgotmypassword said:


> Nope, not going anywhere. My life is rather dreary and monotonous actually, thanks for reminding me


 You need to remember your password to happiness.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

Thanks to not having the stay at home mentality I've been able to go around the world on vacation throughout the years...this year I have a reunion I have to attend in Peru in December but I'm gonna try and squeeze in a cruise somewhere in there...love to get away as much as possible!


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

We will stay at home during our holidays - in fact in the UK we call it Annual Leave and if you dont take your alloted time during the course of the year you loose it when the new year occurs - totally crap I know.

My partner is goin back to university in september so we have to cut back and conserve funds - when he finishes, we hope to treat ourselves to a holiday away, but we'll see what happens nearer the time.


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