Need A Vacation?

A popular song from the eighties goes Vacation's all I ever wanted... and this may have been true for you, as the song implies, all of your life. It might also be a plan for the near future. If you're unsure of where to go, this article may help to inspire you.

Today there are more people taking a vacation to one destination or another in the world than ever before in the history of humanity. With the constant breakthroughs in geography, exploration, and travel technology over the past five hundred years, it is now virtually possible to get to any place in the world from any other place, no matter how exotic, within twenty-four hours.

This is not only exciting, but beneficial to many of the local people of previously less-frequented places, such as Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, and Finland, to name but two extremes. The trend that once was solely the path of the rugged explorer decked out in thick layers of seal and bear furs, has now given way to the average tourist with little more than a suitcase in one hand and snorkels and flippers in the other. Vacations are an industry not only global in scope, but in possibility.

If you live in America when you talk about vacation you're probably thinking about going somewhere else in America, or to Europe. The same is true for Europeans, though they often will go beyond their own borders to explore. And why not go beyond one's national borders and the boundaries of normalcy.

It is true that seeing one's native land is important, yet this can be done when a person is retired and collecting a pension - when suffering from Montezuma's Revenge or getting cheated by a cab driver is unthinkable.

For those still in their youth -under forty-five (or even older), adventure is best experienced far from home. Imagine going somewhere where the residents not only speak a different language or have a primary religion that is a mystery to you, but where their very culture is a riddle. Why do they dress that way? Why do they think that way? How can a society function this way?

On your vacation some of these questions may come to mind, and sometimes a different culture may even peeve you, like waiting twenty minutes for postage stamps at a post office while the postal clerk talks to her friend and sips her glass of tea, having seen you and ignoring you just the same (true story). The experience of something so unthinkable in your own society is truly remarkable (even if not always pleasant). A vacation far from home removes the possibility of just packing it in and returning to the comforts of modern life. Rather, it forces you to think on your feet, and to build fortitude, as well as accumulate stories that you'll remember for the rest of your life.

So, take my advice: go abroad for vacation, and keep on going; you'll discover new faces and places, and someone interesting deep inside of yourself. If that is too exotic, there are always the islands! Bon voyage.