Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Vacations- work in disguise?

If you read a P.G.Wodehouse book, you would think vacations are all about salt airs or the country sides- eggs for breakfast, heavy lunches, afternoon siestas under some shady tree (not that kind of shady) and dinners with wine and some suitable post prandials like brandy suitably followed by deep dreamless snoozes.

Of the many years I have been in US, I have rushed through vacations. Vacations and sight seeing have been indistinguishable from each other. Result? I come back a lot more tired than I left..... All this changed recently in Hawai'i (yes, for all you mainlanders-- its Hawai'i not Hawaii).

We really really chilled out. No schedules of what to visit and when., there were times I woke up to an idyllic day with nothing but the sound of waves seeping through the window pane and not having a clue what day or what time it was. I did exactly what I loved to do on a vacation- run in the mornings, drive around a bit, lunch well, watch t.v/post processes pictures in my laptop taken the previous day with a beer in hand, sleep, drive around a bit, photograph during the golden hour, wine and dinner, t.v or a book and sleep. Repeat and rinse for 8 days.

I was surprised when some of the folks i spoke to thought I was crazy to:
- Run on a holiday
- Use a computer to go online on a holiday
- Didn't fill my day with places to visit...

Oh well! All I can say is that- it was my vacation doing what I love with whom I love in a place that I loved.

6 comments:

nourish-n-cherish said...

Manu....you did hit the nail on the head about lading up more tired than ever after the vacation. When you have an extended trip like 8 days in Hawai'i, it must be lovely to just laze around, and enjoy the siestas!

Suresh Sankaralingam said...

I think the term vacation is often used interchangeably with sight-seeing...though it is only part of it... I always love a vacation where I can do what I want and when I want instead of crumbling under time pressure...So, I am with you Mano...

Meera Manohar said...

No work whatsoever, lazing around to the sound of waves lashing on the shore was wonderful.

Ofcourse, I spoiled Manu's day sometimes by explaining how a Tsunami could strike us anytime *grin*

BrainWaves said...

Manohar wrote:
"what I love with whom I love in a place that I loved."

Mindframes wrote:
" I can do what I want and when I want .So, I am with you Mano... "

Hmm...interesting... :)

Survivor said...

@Brainwaves,
GOOD ONE !! LOL...

sdpal said...

Good take on vacation Mano.
If we have the mindset, we can have similar vacation at/near our home! No need to go to hawai'i