Vacation
A vacation (American English), or holiday (British English), can mean taking a leave of absence from a regular job or leisure travel away from home. People often take a vacation during specific holiday observances, or for specific festivals or celebrations. Vacations are often spent with friends or family.[1] Vacations may include a specific trip or journey, usually for the purpose of recreation or tourism.
A person may take a longer break from work, such as a sabbatical, gap year, or career break.
The concept of taking a vacation is a recent invention, and has developed through the last two centuries. Historically, the idea of travel for recreation was a luxury that only wealthy people could afford (see Grand Tour). In the Puritan culture of early America, taking a break from work for reasons other than weekly observance of the Sabbath was frowned upon. However, the modern concept of vacation was led by a later religious movement encouraging spiritual retreat and recreation. The notion of breaking from work periodically took root among the middle and working class.[2]
Etymology[edit]
In the United Kingdom, vacation once specifically referred to the long summer break taken by the law courts and then later the term was applied to universities.[3] The custom was introduced by William the Conqueror from Normandy where it facilitated the grape harvest.[citation needed] In the past, many upper-class families moved to a summer home for part of the year, leaving their usual home vacant.[citation needed]
Regional meaning[edit]
Vacation, in English-speaking North America, describes recreational travel, such as a short pleasure trip, or a journey abroad. People in Commonwealth countries use the term holiday to describe absence from work as well as to describe a vacation or journey. Vacation can mean either staying home or going somewhere.
Canadians often use vacation and holiday interchangeably referring to a trip away from home or time off work. In Australia and the UK, holiday can refer to a vacation or a public holiday.
The Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, Carnegies, Huntingtons and other fabulously wealthy industrialists built their own spectacular "great camps" in the Adirondacks of upstate New York where they could spend time with their families in private luxury. The scions of New York City took to declaring that they would "vacate" their city homes for their lakeside summer retreats, and the term "vacation" replaced the British "holiday" in common parlance.
In Hungarian, the word vakáció can mean both a recreational trip, an officially granted absence from work (generally in warmer months), and the summer (longest) school break. For absence from work, the word szabadság (freedom/liberty) can be used, possibly as betegszabadság (sickness freedom/sickness liberty) when the reason of absence is medical in nature.
Family vacation[edit]
Family vacation refers to recreation taken together by the family. Family vacation can be ritual—for example, annually around the same time—or it can be a one-time event. It can involve travel to a far-flung spot or, for families on a tight budget, a stay-at-home staycation.[4] Some examples of favorite family vacations might include family cruises, trips to popular theme parks, ski vacations, beach vacations, food vacations[5] or similar types of family trips.
Vacation research[edit]
Research on the effects of vacations on health, well-being and work performance started in the 1990s. The first meta-analysis on the effects of vacations was published in 2009. It showed that thus far only 7 studies had been conducted which investigated the effects of vacationing on health and well-being of employees. A literature review on the health and wellness benefits of travel experiences revealed beneficial effects of vacationing.
Vacation policy[edit]
In nearly all countries worldwide, there are minimum requirements as to the annual leave that must be afforded to an employee (see also List of minimum annual leave by country).
Even in the United States, where no federal requirements as to minimum annual leave exist, many large corporations have vacation policies, some allowing employees to take weeks off and some even allowing unlimited vacation.[6] Unlimited vacation arrangements may nonetheless come with implicit expectations, for instance, it may be implied that an employee should not take more than about the average number of vacation days taken by others. They normally also have the consequence that employees who leave the company receive no monetary compensation for leave days not taken.[citation needed]
According to the U.S. Travel Association, Americans collectively did not use 662 million vacation days in 2016. More than half of all working people in the United States forfeited paid time off at the end of the year.[7] Two-thirds of people still do work while they are on vacation.[8]
Impact of digital communications[edit]
![]() | This section possibly contains original research. (April 2015) |
Recent developments in communication technology—such as internet, mobile, instant messaging, presence tracking—have begun to change the nature of vacation. Vacation today now could mean absence from the workplace rather than temporary cession of work. For a minority subset of workers in North America and the United Kingdom, it is now the norm to carry on working or remain on call while on vacation rather than abandon work altogether. Some people do remote work while on vacation. Antithetically, workers may take time out of the office to go on vacation, but remain plugged-in to work-related communications networks. While remaining plugged-in over vacation may generate short-term business benefits, the long-term psychological impacts of these developments are only beginning to be understood.[9]
In popular culture[edit]
Family vacation and vacation in general has become a common theme in many books, films and movies. Writers often draw on common occurrences that take place during a vacation such as disasters and bonding.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Swanson, Emily; Harpaz, Beth J. "This is the No. 1 thing Americans want to do on vacation". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 27 February 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
- ^ All Things Considered (17 June 2009). "The History of the Vacation Examined". NPR. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
- ^ "United Kingdom University Term Times and Vacations". Archived from the original on 13 January 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
- ^ "Tips for Staying Sane on a Staycation". Traveling Mom. 2019. Archived from the original on 11 February 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
- ^ "Destination Food Towns in America, Suzy Strutner". Traveling Mom. 2014. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
- ^ Vanderkam, Laura (3 October 2015). "Here's why unlimited vacation may be too good to be true". Fortune. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
- ^ Zillman, Claire (23 May 2017). "Americans Are Still Terrible at Taking Vacations". Fortune. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
- ^ Ashford, Kate. "Why Americans Aren't Taking Half Of Their Vacation Days". Retrieved 3 December 2017.
- ^ Williams, Ray (6 May 2012). "Why It's so Hard to Unplug From the Digital World". Psychology Today. Archived from the original on 25 November 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
External links[edit]
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Look up vacation in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
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