This post is part of the A to Z Challenge.
What's the difference between a holiday and a break? Most people will have their own ideas of what constitutes a full-blown holiday and what is merely a break, but here's my personal rule of thumb - to me, a break is six days or less and is a temporary respite from the treadmill of work, whereas a holiday is seven days or more and feels far more permanent.
In my pre-solo camping days my partner and I would have several short camping breaks during the year with a 2-week holiday to Italy in June or July; things changed somewhat when I became a solo camper, and though I knew I would miss Italy I made the conscious decision to spend a few years holidaying in this country and so far I haven't regretted it.
The nature of my job means that I work early mornings and for a couple of hours in the early evening, Monday to Friday, but I'm lucky in that I can change some of my hours to suit myself - if I want to go camping on a weekend I'll do my Monday morning's work on Friday evening and leave home for a site very early on Saturday morning. Having no work to do until Monday evening means I get a good weekend's break as I don't need to come home until Monday afternoon; during the spring and summer months the van is permanently packed for camping so I can take off at a moment's notice if I want to and I very often do.
When it comes to actual holidays, instead of taking a full two weeks at once I split them into two separate 5-day weeks, taking one in early June and the other in late August/early September. If I use the weekend at each side of the week plus another Monday morning I get a 10-day holiday for only five days off work, and as I usually camp somewhere where the pace of life is slower than at home then that 10-day holiday can feel like a month.
So, holiday or break? What does each mean to you? I may eventually decide to resume my annual two weeks in Italy, but for now I'm quite happy as I am - I reckon I've got my camping life ticking over nicely with both holidays and breaks so long may it continue!
About Me
- Tigermouse
- Hi! I'm Eunice and I live in Bolton, Lancashire, with my two dogs Sophie and Sugar and an assortment of cats - well it used to be Sophie and Sugar, now it's Sophie and Poppie. I first began camping back in 1997 when my then partner took me to Anglesey for my birthday weekend. We slept in the back of the car - a hatchback - using the cushions off the settee at home as a mattress, and cooked and brewed up on a single burner camping stove. The site was good, the views were great, the weather fantastic and I was completely hooked. Following that weekend we got a two-man tent and some proper accessories and returned to Anglesey two weeks later, then over time we progressed to a three-man tent followed by an old trailer tent, then a new trailer tent, a campervan and finally a caravan. When my partner decided that the grass was greener on the other side of the street - literally - in April 2009 and I suddenly found myself alone after fifteen years, I decided there was no way I was going to give up camping and caravanning if I could cope on my own. This blog is the story of my travels, trials and tribulations since becoming a solo camper - I hope you like it
1 comment:
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Two things about being retired - loss of income which makes travel difficult and total freedom to go where I want. One of the reasons for switching back from the vintage trailers to the tent is that it is cheaper to throw the tent in the truck of the little car than to try to put gas in the ever hungry truck. I have to agree with your assessment, a break is a break, which is a quick getaway verses a holiday or vacation which I think is a week or more. Like you, with the car already packed, a quick getaway is always possible.
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