I shared this to my Facebook page the other day, mostly because I noticed that my upcoming canoe camping trip is the exact length of the ideal vacation!
I was amused at the heated debate that ensued among friends. You never know what’s going to bring out competing views and strong opinions!
There were the stereotypical American friends who claimed never to have taken a vacation that long. There were the Europeans who spoke up in favour of their two months off.
To be clear, I do take a month’s vacation each year. Eight days isn’t my only vacation. But I like to take time off throughout the year rather than in one big chunk.
For me, the ideal length of any one chunk of vacation really varies. If I am flying somewhere, especially somewhere with a time difference, I like to allow some time as part of the trip to recover when I get there and when I get home so it’s usually two weeks all told but not all of that is the vacation itself. I schedule time to decompress, do laundry, and get caught up on sleep when I get back. Getting sensible in my middle age!
My biking trips south are usually a week off work but bookended by weekends for travel.
My best bang for buck vacation time wise are my canoe camping trips. Even my four day back country canoe camping trips feel like real vacation. There are no phones, no email , lots of natural beauty, and lots of movement. I sleep very well! I come back rested and sometimes feel like I’ve been off for weeks.
This is my longest back country canoe camping trip yet. Sarah is carefully planning all the things so that we have food but not too much food and we’re being very weight conscious because of portages. A couple of years ago we invested in ultralight weight camping gear so we could keep doing this even with my knees in the state they’re in.
I’ll report back on how eight days feels.
Here’s our report on the 2020 six day trip.
What your ideal length vacation? Also have you ever done a long back country trip? What did you eat? What are your favourite dehydrated meals?
Weekend to weekend (so 9 days) seems like a convenient timeframe of vacation length for the “nine-to-fivers” out there. They only need to take five days leave for nine days off and it gives enough time to wind down from work and relax. I like a two week break. Enjoy your trip!
I’m going to Zion and Bryce Canyon in Utah in August, spending 8 days in those places, and traveling two days. Will report back, but this seems not bad (with 2 hour time change).