Travel versus vacation

Soaking up some sun!

Is there really a difference between the two? For a long time, I didn't really think so, but in the past couple of years my view has changed. 

Since moving to Europe a few years ago, BK and I have done some serious traveling. Not so much on the vacationing side of things, but big time travel. I think both are important, but for us, I've discovered they both have their specific purposes. One of our main goals of moving abroad was to travel and explore places that we had never been. And at the time, vacationing never really crossed our minds. We both had good jobs and worked hard, but for us relaxation was exploring and being active in a new place. 

For us, when we travel, it is full steam ahead, how much can we possibly cram in while we're there to make sure we see everything we possibly can. We're not there for rest or relaxation, but instead we're there to experience all we can off that culture- the sights, the architecture, the food, to name a few- soaking up all we can during the time we have. 

But now things have changed a bit. And yes, I'm sure it's partially because of our little person, but I've heard similar things for other expats as well. It's almost like after a while we all start to get travel fatigue. And typically you'll find that most expats in Europe have been more places than native Europeans. I used to wonder why all these Europeans would say that, no they rent the same vacation home every summer and go to relax. Now I sort of get it.

So yeah, vacationing...we're working on it. We are on our first vacation in over two years. We're in the Canary Islands, and we chose them not because it's somewhere we were dying to go, but because we wanted somewhere that would have tropical weather in February and wasn't a crazy long flight from Switzerland. So the Canary Islands is was. 

We're even at a resort that we don't necessrily have to leave if we don't want to. Very not us. Of course it does also have a nursery for Baby K- good for her and good for us. And what are we doing on vacation? It's up in the air- we came with no plans set in stone, a couple of spa appointments made, and not much else on the agenda. Weird...but good.

Not to worry though, we'll be back to our usual traveling selves quickly after we get back. I'm not sure when our next true vacation will be, but I have a feeling it will be after we return to the US and it will not include Baby K. Grandparents, take note!