The Destination-Holiday TrendAs I’m swapping Christmas gifts today, I’m thinking more about my next caipirinha than my next eggnog; tonight I’ll pack my bags for Brazil, off to spend New Year’s in Rio de Janeiro on my first trip to South America.
This will also be my first New Year’s Eve in a distant locale, but I’ve always loved celebrating holidays in new places, so I’m banking on it being special. Among my favorites were two Easters in France (despite being stampeded by umbrella-wielding throngs outside Notre-Dame), and I’m always intrigued to hear about others’ holiday travels—windows into other cultures seem to be particularly clear on special days.
Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member Shaken_Bake
These "destination holidays” are growing in popularity. In one poll, lastminute.com found that the number of UK travelers heading overseas for Christmas this year is up 11% over last year. Another survey names an overriding factor for this as a desire to avoid "hectic preparation, drunken antics and rubbish gifts;" this doesn’t necessarily echo my more optimistic reasons, but it does mean a lot of people are swapping the traditional for the exotic in pursuit of the holly-jolly.
Personal anecdotes point to a trend as well: I have a coworker on a Caribbean cruise right now and friends headed everywhere from New York to India. Holidays, it seems, are attractive times for many travelers: the budget seekers; the do-gooders; the partygoers; the culture hounds.
So now, along with my good wishes for a merry holiday, I’m sending everyone a travel question: Where have you jetted for holidays past? And do you agree that holidays are optimal times to travel far and wide—great days to observe and reflect with locals?
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Comments
Michelle,
I think that the holidays are a great time to travel, though I tend to stay near the family. I am looking forward to being at a wedding this New Year's Eve and think it will be the ideal type of celebration on such a night. New Year's is an appropriate holiday for formal attire!
I am biased though, and would be pretty upset if someone had me go to a wedding on, say, the Fourth of July, when I want only to kick back in shorts and a t-shirt next to the grill. Unless burgers were the chosen reception fare...