# Vacation.....smile



## raynnh6 (Sep 28, 2006)

So...I just got home from Mesa, AZ and 6 days of vacation....whooohooooo.
Great fun..always is...go almost every spring....woman ONLY no men or children....
Got my nose pierced....did hurt a little..but it is all good...

So..anyone else got any good vacation plans....???


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## ishbel (Jan 5, 2007)

I'm off to Portugal for a few days at the beginning of May. Then to France in July. Hope to get to Cornwall in late summer.


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## jayme (Sep 5, 2006)

Vacation???? what's that???? LOL
We are trying to take 1 day off and run upstate to Trinity County... but that's about it right now..... (took a vacation about 3 years ago.... 3 days)


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## ishbel (Jan 5, 2007)

On this side of the pond, employers seem to be much more generous about holidays.... Here the very minimum is 4 weeks paid holiday per year. Some of us get considerably more!


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## mezzaluna (Aug 29, 2000)

We just got back from a 10-day cruise to the Panama Canal, Costa Rica, Jamaica, the Caymans and Cozumel, Mexico. Reality is harder to adjust to after you've been pampered, met and laughed with some great people, and enjoyed sunsets over the Caribbean with the perfect martini in your hand (vodka, dirty, on the rocks with three olives). :smiles: We don't expect to go anywhere until late fall- if then. But we'll see....


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## jayme (Sep 5, 2006)

Izzy- unfortunately we are self-employed, so there is NO paid time off... but 4 weeks paid? that's great- I'm definately on the _wrong_ side of the pond...LOL


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## ishbel (Jan 5, 2007)

I get quite a bit more than 4 weeks.. my husband is a consultant and just factors in his holiday requirements to any contract he takes. We are so lucky to have mainland Europe within such easy travelling distances. The channel tunnel has made it so much easier to take a car to France, load up on food and/or wines and get home so quickly.


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

I'm really green waaaaaa......gee at the end of April I get to demo wild shrooms at a winery in Belleville, Ill....my friend the restaurant reviewer said take the money don't barter for wine....not a good sign.


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## nofifi (Jan 14, 2007)

I'm lucky that I get a day off and feel really lucky if I get two in a row, that's a vacation to me, lol. I think we should all pack up and head to the UK, lol. 

I'm glad some of you got to cruise and vacation though...we all need that time to be pampered and relax. My days are numbered here before I move and plan on taking alittle time off after the move before looking into working again (maybe a month or two) and I plan on doing absolutely nothing but eating good food and relaxing.


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

NOFIFI, where are you moving to?


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## nofifi (Jan 14, 2007)

Being originally from St. Louis, I'm moving to Wichita, only because that is where my brother and family now live. I don't look forward to living there, (hated even visiting there over the years, lol) but I'm getting older and they really would like me near to them, plus, my brother's new wife doesn't cook and I think he's starving, lol.


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## raynnh6 (Sep 28, 2006)

Thank you all for sharing. 
Wow....paid vacation for FOUR weeks...whooohooooo......
*thinking*.....I think I need to move....LOL


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

how does the French or Euro economy support all this vacation....guess health care would be a whole lot less since, hey there is more down time......so is quality of life significantly different than ours? Do they make less an hour to compensate? Weren't there horrible riots relating to unemployed younger generations in Paris?


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## ishbel (Jan 5, 2007)

Shroomgirl - I can't talk for the whole of Europe, only my little bit of it.. and the following are my views - many other British/Europeans might have a totally different view!

France is still a highly unionised society. They have even MORE annual leave than the British do....

Try finding a French family in Paris during August, for example!

Our health service is in a bit of a decline at the moment - but it is free to all citizens, so we don't have to scrabble around, worrying if we can find a job with health insurance coverage... Many of our member countries in the EU eat what is termed a Mediterranean diet, so less health care is required, maybe?!

I can't talk for all Europeans, but I know that I earn more than my counterparts in the USA, with lots of annual leave and other, allied benefits.

I manage to afford at least 3 or 4 overseas holidays per year, with long weekends to other, nearer European destinations - plus a longer, more distant holiday, like Australia, every two/three years. 

Our houses seem much more expensive here than those in the USA - but then again, our houses are much more expensive than an equivalent home in Italy or France, too.


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