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
