Germerican Denglish

Ah, vacation.  Recreation. Relaxation. Sightseeing.  It doesn’t matter whether you are going to explore someplace new or returning to a favorite place, it is one of the most wonderful events of the year (right after my birthday, of course!).  There is only one problem with vacation.  Preparation.  And the preparation is 100% stress!

After years of extensive research and various experiments, I am of the (un)educated opinion that a person actually spends more time preparing for a vacation than they do on that vacation.  Think about it.  First, you have to figure out where you want to go.  Beach or mountain?  Relaxation or active?  New or familiar?  Second, you have to find a place to stay.  Hotel?  Condo?  House?  Resort? Third, you have to plan the activities. Museums? Shopping? Sightseeing? Fourth, make a packing list. Fifth, shop. And finally, pack. All that work, over the course of months and months, for a week or two of vacation.

What’s my point? Why am I going on and on about this? Because we just got back from vacation, and by the time we left I felt like I needed a vacation from my vacation preparation. And what was my reward for all of the stress? Bad weather. Yaaayyyy!!! Now when we booked an April vacation in The Netherlands, we weren’t so naive as to expect sunbathing weather. All we wanted was to be able to hang out on the beach most days, even if we would need jackets. That’s not too much to ask in April, is it? The second coming of winter here in Europe had other ideas though, and rained on our little parade, literally. We did manage to get a couple of days on the beach, but mostly we braved the wind and rain to go shopping and roam around the local area. To our advantage, we were in Zeeland which is our favorite part of The Netherlands and our fourth trip to that area out of 5 “Dutch Vacations” in the last 4 years.

In the end we enjoyed our vacation very much, in spite of the less than perfect weather. And when you’re chillin’ on the beach or eating at one of the best Korean restaurants in the world outside of Korea, it is all worth it. But at 11 o’clock the night before you leave and you are still not done packing the car, sometimes a person thinks “Is this really all worth it?”