It’s not linguistic happenstance that “vacation” and “vacate” look alike. When we take vacation, we vacate our current lives and leave for something that is different and, we hope, better. Everyone has a different idea of the best way to leave their day-to-day behind and try on something new. I know that my idea of the ideal vacation has definitely changed over time.
Ten years ago, Yukari and I took a vacation to the Cayman Islands—our first real vacation together and my first extended vacation without some kind of parental supervision.
We stayed at a then-new hotel on Grand Cayman—maybe the Westin—and had planned to learn to scuba dive. The day after we arrived, though, Yukari started feeling a bit under the weather, so we decided to bag the scuba training.
As it turned out, it was good that we canceled our diving plans. It rained almost every single day that we were on the island. We sat by the pool during the odd moments of sunshine and otherwise spent our days napping, eating and watching “Great Chefs” on the TV. By the time our week of vacation was up, I was very, very ready to go home.
Ever since then, I’ve had an aversion to “do nothing” vacations. Almost every vacation since has revolved around some sort of daily activity: skiing, diving (we eventually learned how on Nevis in the Caribbean) or eating.
When we started planning our trip to Thailand and Cambodia, though, the itinerary was pretty empty. Sure, there was some sightseeing in Bangkok with Thai friends and some high-speed touring of Angkor Wat during our short Cambodian stay, but that left an entire week in Phuket with nothing to do. Yukari was convinced, I think, that I would be driven insane by day three or so; she kept encouraging me, first subtly, then emphatically, to schedule some diving. All the reading I’d done suggested that diving in Southern Thailand in June is not the best, but I arranged a day of diving with a local outfit so I wouldn’t get too stir crazy.
As it turned out, I ended up being the one advocating for a more relaxed pace. Our friends in Bangkok did a great job of showing us the sights and the Wats of Siem Reap were incredible, but by the time we reached Phuket, all I wanted to do was sleep late, lounge around at the beach and turn in early. When we went out for our day of diving, I enjoyed it quite a bit, but I didn’t feel that if I didn’t get out and do something I was going to go insane.
Returning home, I was surprised by how quickly the real world caught up to me. In fact, I found this blog entry on my laptop just this evening, when I fired up jEdit to start writing an article for Fugu Diaries. I was planning on finishing up and posting this article as soon as I got home, but life and work dragged me back in and I forgot it entirely. Maybe I just have just saved it until the end of my next vacation!
Posted by pmk at July 6, 2005 10:25 PM | TrackBack