Question: when is a holiday not a holiday?
Answer: well, it depends on where you live.
Where I grew up, in Australia, a holiday was any day, or group of days, that one didn’t have to work or go to school.
In many places, however, a holiday refers to a public holiday or bank holiday, as they are known in Britain — that is, a day gazetted by the government as a nonworking day. Of course, many people do work on public holidays, but government offices, schools and many workplaces are closed.
The word holiday comes from the term “holy day”, because they were originally days of religious significance.
So not only has the name changed, the function has too. In days of yore, a holiday would be about prayer and other observance, not about trips to the beach and barbecues.
As I said before, I would call any break a holiday, but for Americans and others, annual leave from work, or the break between school terms zone is a vacation — but often only so if it involves going somewhere.
The kind of holiday that you spend at home is now often called a “staycation” (and not a starvation, as spell checker wants me to write).
Anyway, I’m not sure exactly what I’ve been doing for the past few weeks, which I’ve largely spent with family and friends in Australia and Thailand, but it’s coming to an end in the next few days.
This blog, however, will continue with news about travel, be it for holidays or vacations or whatever else you want to call your precious time exploring the world or your own backyard.
