What Makes a Vacation?

Since it’s Travel and Vacation Month here at The Billfold, I’d like to ask all of you: what makes a vacation?

It’s something I’m thinking about this summer, as I try to figure out whether I’m going to take a vacation or whether the travel I already have planned “counts” as vacation.

In June, I’m taking a long weekend to hang out with my parents and go to a family reunion. Is that a vacation? Absolutely. We have this reunion every year and it’s always a fun trip. But if you get to the end of the summer and someone asks “did you go on vacation?” and you say “well, I took one weekend to visit family,” neither of you are going to feel like you answered that question satisfactorily.

In July, I’m also taking what will probably be a week-long trip to Los Angeles and San Diego, to rehearse and perform two shows with Alaskan singer-songwriter Marian Call, The Duff screenwriter Josh A. Cagan, and ukulele superstar Molly Lewis. (If you’re interested in hearing me read short fiction, here are the showtimes and ticket infos.)

Is that a vacation? It is probably going to involve vacation-like aspects such as “eating at fun restaurants” and “drinking adult beverages with friends,” but it’s also a working trip, and I’m going to be writing articles in the mornings too.

Next week, some friends and I are going to two comedy shows in Seattle. Is that a vacation? I’m not vacating anything, but it feels sort of like my platonic ideal of a vacation, which is where you get to dress up, drink an adult beverage that has sugar around the rim, and listen to someone entertain you. Tack on a few amusement park rides and it would be perfect.

I should explain at this point that my platonic ideal of a vacation is basically Disneyland. Plus California Adventure, because you can drink there. (Not Walt Disney World, though. Disneyland/California Adventure is small enough that you can do everything. Walt Disney World is large enough that you can’t do everything, and someone in your group will be disappointed, and then you’ll be socially anxious because you can’t make it through the trip without disappointing someone.)

It is also my annual trip on the JoCo Cruise, but that’s a winter vacation. (Full disclosure: the JoCo Cruise recently asked me to blog for their website. Dreams do come true.)

So. Am I going to plan and budget for a summer vacation this year, in addition to all the other stuff I told myself I was going to plan, such as moving, and remember when I told y’all I needed to take a business class? That hasn’t happened yet either, and the year is almost halfway over.

And what is your platonic ideal of a vacation? Are you going to plan that kind of vacation this year?

This story is part of our Travel Month series.

Photo credit: Andy Castro

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