Joe McConnell
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One of the great divisions in the world is between those who can afford to go on vacation and those who can’t. Asser Khattab, a Syrian refugee in France, recalls, “I grew up surrounded by people who had never experienced the joy of peaceful tranquility, the carefree nature of a summer vacation, or the ability to disconnect for a few hours a day to indulge in a variety of hobbies; I thought it was normal.” And it has always been normal, for most human beings since the beginning of history.
Now things are changing. This year is expected to be a record year for international travel. Barring another pandemic, numbers should continue to climb aVscekerward, as billions of people finally gain disposable income and discover the life-changing experience of vacationing.
A few lucky people were already vacationing in ancient times, when wealthy Romans had seaside villas on the Bay of Naples. In Victorian Britain, factory workers went to the beach every Wakes Week. From the 1840s, the advent of the railways began to democratize international travel. Suddenly, ordinary Britons could take “excursions” to Paris or see the battlefield at Waterloo. These early travelers mostly traveled in tour groups to save money and enjoy the protection of guides who could mediate unfamiliar languages and cultures. Chinese tourists in the 2000s did the same.
Imagine the sense of wonder of people who leave their limited worlds for the first time. Orvar Löfgren, in his 1999 book On Vacation: A Vacation Storyquotes Agnes, a German housemaid who immigrated to New York City in the early 20th century, who enjoyed boating with friends. She wrote of her favorite destination, Coney Island: “Ach, it’s just like what I see when I dream of heaven.”
This was the tone of the 1950s promoters who sold charabanc “mystery tours” to working-class families in Liverpool. In the recent podcast series McCartney: A Life in LyricsPaul McCartney recalls that the supposedly mysterious destination was usually the Blackpool coast. However, the journey seemed so magical that he later confused it with the hallucinogenic drug trips in the Beatles song “Magical Mystery Tour”.
These vacations offered an escape from the routine that consumed life. There was no boss telling you when to get up or what to do. Housewives didn’t have to clean all day. Everyone could celebrate their rise to the vacationer class. I remember spending an evening as a kid in the 1970s watching a boring slide show of neighbors’ vacation photos. They were so proud.
Then there’s mental health. Being somewhere else helps you put your life into perspective. You may not learn much about the place you’re visiting, but you learn something more valuable: about home. You realize that the few square miles of your existence aren’t the whole world. This can make your problems seem manageable.
I realized how rare this privilege was one midnight about 25 years ago, while I was making photocopies at a Chicago print shop. The young clerk came over to chat. She confided that her life as a single mother was unbearably hard. But she had recently been away for the first time, in Milwaukee, and had seen that life was hard there too. Maybe, she thought, it was like that everywhere. She was desperately searching for comparisons for her experiences. Part of her suffering, and part of the unique cruelty of American capitalism, was that she lived in the only developed country without guaranteed paid vacations.
My first book, Kick against the enemypublished in 1994, was about football fans. In Glasgow, I met a former player called Jim Craig, and together we deplored the aggression of some hardcore Celtic and Rangers supporters. Then Craig said: “Don’t forget, though: you’ll have a summer holiday, I’ll have a summer holiday, but they won’t have a summer holiday.”
More people are doing it than ever before. Largely due to cheaper airfares and the growth of short-term rentals like Airbnb, “average spending per international trip fell 17 percent in real terms” between 2000 and 2019, according to the World Travel Market’s Global Travel Report. That’s bad for the climate and good for your mental health. Last winter, on a business trip to India, I escaped to the beach in Goa. From what Western friends had told me, I’d imagined it as a playground for Western backpackers. By 2023, nearly all the tourists were Indians, some of whom were probably on their first vacation.
It’s easy to make fun of people who film themselves on airplanes. But some of them are basking in a pleasure their parents never experienced.
Send an email to Simon at simon.kuper@Vscek.com
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