Is A Ski Vacation Still A “Vacation”?
March 21st, 2009Posted in Skiing Everywhere
One of the great things about skiing is the high level of concentration needed to actually ski. Most people can’t think of anything while skiing except keeping their balance, reading the snow, deciding where to turn next, and making their body do the complex skills needed to successfully turn their skis. Even the thought of an IRS audit disappears when the skis start down the hill.
But the minutes when the sport focuses the mind so completely are short, compared to the other hours a vacation day provides. If we retreat to our lodgings and hop online, or text a zillion times, just like we do at home, does it still count as vacationing?
Remember when vacations really were vacations? When people went away to have fun and forget the stuff they have to deal with at home the rest of the time? Heading for the remote mountains used to put people out of touch with work and worry until they showed up again, tanned and energized. With cell phones, Blackberries, cable news and Wi-Fi all over, I wonder if some of the incentive for fleeing to isolated mountain valley’s isn’t being lost. Why spend all the money and still be depressed by all the bad news?
I wonder if there might be niche market for lodges banning all electronic ties to the outside world. Vegetarian restaurants caught on, no smoking establishments have too. Lay people go to monestaries to get away from the modern world, why not court those people who still really want to escape the usual rat race concerns 24/7 instead of just when they are making turns down the mountain? This is probably a stupid idea to most people. But I have heard I’m not alone in seeking escape. When I head for a distant resort, other than a glance at the TV’s weather report, I am very happy to let the world sink or swim on its own for a few days.
A good argument can be made for having all the telecommunications technology available to guests so people can feel free to take a vacation and still get work done, monitor things, and feel assured nothing bad will happen due to their absence. Maybe some people feel they can sneak away more often if they check in at lunch and do some work in the evenings. Perhaps this does increase bookings. However, it doesn’t do much for the concept of “vacation”.
What has all this commitment to work gained us? I read a couple of years ago that workers in the New York office of one of the now failed big investment banking firms who went home at the normal quitting time did so on their own dime. But, if they stayed and worked until late into the evening, they were given free rides home in company provided limos. I think the article said that at 10 P.M. there would be a huge line of limos outside waiting for employees. That worked out well didn’t it? All that brain power and extra hours and the company still went down and took lots of our money with it.
Since there are always opportunities in times of adversity, along with the many other changes being talked about, maybe its time to resurrect that trend that ended in the 1950′ or 1960’s- increasing vacation time for all workers. Perhaps if unemployment gets to be a real problem, maybe requiring workers to take a paid month off each year would create opportunities for hiring more people to meet the work load while improving the sanity of the existing workers. The travel industry would love it and would have to hire more people. Smart companies might like to see employees spread their vacation time out around the year, not such a bad thing for winter resorts, no? To make it really work, maybe bosses should be required to confiscate their employees’ cell phones, Blackberries and laptops until the employee returns from vacation.
Shannon commented:
Although I completely understand your point, and agree that the concept of a vacation sounds appealing, I have found a way to live my life as a vacation and technology makes it possible. My husband and I have literally traveled full time for the past 6 months- Hawaii, Canada, road trips to almost every ski town in the west… Yes, we sometimes have to cut a powder day short because there is work to be done. But at least I got to ski on a Tuesday!
snowman commented:
Hooray for the folks lucky enough to be untethered from conventional jobs! This lucky lifestyle has much to recommend it, but still, there is nothing quite like really getting away from everything. Thanks for your thoughts Shannon!.