Traveling vs. Vacation

Once again, I’m probably just racking my brains far too much over another irrelevant topic. Nevertheless, I wanted to take up this discussion point, especially to show all you travel newbies that I didn’t spend two months chilling in the Maldives.

I never really thought about what others might think when I was wandering around South America for two months. Until a phone call with my parents on January 1, 2024. Or to be precise, it was still a few hours before midnight for me. So while I was just getting ready for the New Year’s Eve celebrations, I disturbed my parents and two of their friends with a video call while playing a drinking game. Anyway, in the course of the conversation, I told them that I wasn’t planning on partying the night away. After all, I had just landed on the Galápagos Islands and I would only have a few days to explore this natural wonder. So I didn’t necessarily want to wake up the next morning tired and hungover.

My mom’s friend then said: „But you’re on vacation“. Was I? Could you still say „vacation“ when you’ve been travelling through South America for over a month? To be honest, I even felt a little offended. I didn’t want people to think that I was „vacationing“ for two months or even a year abroad. As if I was chilling on a beach somewhere for eight weeks and doing nothing.

To look at the whole thing from a scientific perspective, I thought I’d look it up in the dictionary. The German dictionary says: vacation is „time off duty or work that someone receives [for the purpose of recreation]“, while traveling is defined as „movement over a greater distance“.

Of course, both terms can be used as synonyms. And yet they are not quite the same thing. That’s why I like asking other travelers how they see it. During my stay at Lake Atitlán in Guatemala, I actually started a very long discussion with a travel companion from New York. She herself was only away for two weeks and was of the opinion that „traveling“, „holidays“ and „vacation“ are all the same thing anyway.

Personally, I associate vacations most with week-long trips to some Austrian hiking area with my parents when we were children. During the summer vacations, both my parents always took a few days off and the four of us went to the mountains. There was usually a flexible program that consisted mainly of hiking, a bit of sightseeing but above all relaxation. We usually stayed in really cool hotels with a breakfast buffet, 4-course dinner menu and a really nice spa area. For my parents, of course, it was the perfect way to get away from the daily work routine. But me and my sister always enjoyed our family vacations too.

Well, I still do. The part about „when we were kids“ was a bit of a lie, because the next summer vacation with my parents is already planned. A 3-day escape from everyday life without spending a penny. Who wouldn’t say yes to that?

And what do I mean by „traveling“? Running around all day with a fully packed backpack, back pain, stressed out because there are new plans every day, posting cool Instagram stories alongside (which only show half the reality of a traveler, although I always try to be very honest with you) and at the end of the day returning sweaty and smelly to your accommodation, which promises anything but luxury. You think I’m exaggerating?

Of course, I have now only listed the negative sides of „traveling“, which unfortunately exist alongside all the wonderful advantages. Regularly waking up in a different place, discovering numerous new countries, getting to know lots of great people, immersing yourself in a wide variety of cultures and, of course, not forgetting the great food. That sounds more like the dream of traveling.

Vacations and traveling are both a kind of escape from everyday life, of course. But when you’re on vacation, you mainly want to recharge your batteries by relaxing. When traveling, on the other hand, we want to fill our pot of experiences and leave our comfort zone.

Since my internship in Costa Rica, however, I have realized for myself that vacations and traveling can also co-exist. For example, I would describe my time in Guatemala as a vacation because I took time off work. I wanted to relax a bit before returning to work. At the same time, I also wanted to explore another country, so there was a new program every day. So it was vacation and travel all in one.

In fact, traveling can be associated with a lot of stress and pressure. I wanted to make you aware of this with this article. While I spent two months traveling through numerous countries in South America, I rarely had a whole day off. I wanted to see as much as possible in the shortest possible time. Two months may sound like a lot, but it’s not when you consider that a country in South America can be almost as big as all of Europe. The program included various hikes, sightseeing tours, mountain biking, wildlife watching, museum visits and much more. And I actually spent most of my free time creating content for Instagram or making plans for the next few days. After all, you also have to take care of your next accommodation. But you’ll be reading more about that in my future posts anyway 😉

Of course, I don’t want to evoke pity. Because even though it may have been stressful and exhausting from time to time, it was also one of the coolest times of my life (until now). There’s nothing better than waking up in a new place every other day, excited for what’s to come. New experiences and adventures await you every day. Boredom is practically non-existent.

But now I would also be interested in your opinion. Do you see a difference between „vacation“ and „travel“? Have you already experienced both?

In my next post, I will tell you about another „travel“ experience. Until then,

Bussi Baba!