The Retirement Newsletter: Can you go on holiday (vacation) when you are retired?

Issue Number: 170 (23) — Is it still a holiday?

Photo by Author — can the retired go on holiday?

Welcome

Welcome to issue 170 (23).

This week, I will explore if you can go on holiday (vacation) when you are retired.

Well, can you?

Welcome new subscribers

This past week, I added five new subscribers in one day—in the space of about two hours. First, a big welcome to all the new subscribers. Second, if you are one of the five, please let me know where you found my newsletter. Something significant must have happened to cause such a burst of subscriber activity, and I would love to know what it was. Thanks. (I also saw a spike in my reads at the same time coming from the Substack App. Most odd.)

Holidays (vacations)

This is an interesting question; it was something I hadn’t considered until I retired. It seems like an odd question, but can you go on holiday (vacation) when you are retired?

When I worked, vacation time was sacred. It was something to be protected, to be carefully used, and not flittered away. And when I was on vacation, I always felt pressure to spend the valuable holiday time in the best way possible, to make the most of it.

My holidays tended to be quite hectic, and I would dash around trying to cram in as much as possible to make the most of my time. As a result, I often came back from my holiday feeling more exhausted than before I went away. On the plus side, it was a different kind of exhaustion — not ’work’ exhaustion.

Holidays and emails

Around 1994, yes, 30 years ago, the nature of vacations started to change for me, and I guess for most workers — email arrived.

Initially, it wasn’t a problem, as I didn’t take a computer on holiday. But I would come back to an inbox full of messages. And the worry of that lurking inbox and all the work I needed to deal with on my return soured the holiday and took the shine off my time away.

When laptops arrived, there was no excuse not to take a computer on your holiday. And lots of us did. I did. The plus was I didn’t come back to the bulging inbox; the minuses were I never truly got away from work, and there was the hassle of taking a laptop away and getting an internet connection.

Then the BlackBerry arrived in 2002, smartphones came next, and there was no escaping email. It was always with you.

Initially, there seemed to be an expectation that you would check your email while on leave. I used to check and respond to my email while I was away.

Thankfully, most employers no longer expect you to check your email. But that has meant the return of the old problem — the post-holiday inbox.

Holidays in retirement

Since I retired, I’ve had two holidays: a three-day excursion on a narrowboat and two weeks in July.

The narrowboat holiday felt like a pre-retirement holiday. There was the excitement and rush of going away, the fun of the holiday, and the return. I think I felt this way because it happened in the first month I was retired. I didn’t feel retired. But there wasn’t the post-holiday blues. There wasn’t the post-holiday inbox. That was my first hint that holidays in retirement may be different.

The holiday in July was a "traditional" holiday for me.

For the last 40+ years, I have always taken the first two weeks of July off to attend an international sporting event that is held close to where I live. So, for my holiday in July, I was still at home; I didn’t go away. Hence, it didn’t feel like a holiday, as there was no packing and travel. However, over the years, I’ve always had the post-holiday blues after my two weeks in July, and this year, it didn’t happen. No blues. No inbox!

I now have a two-week vacation coming up in October. And for the holiday, I’m planning to go travelling. In the past, when I would have such a holiday, I would spend the weeks leading up to it carefully planning my trip, reading up about where I was going, booking accommodation and transport. However, now that I’m retired, I’m not experiencing the pre-holiday excitement. I suspect it is because I can easily cancel my trip, as I no longer need to book the time off work. It feels odd not to be excited about an upcoming holiday.

Bank (public) holidays in retirement

We had a bank (public) holiday this past week in the UK.

This was the fourth such holiday I’ve had since I’ve retired.

When I worked, bank holidays were a big deal — it was free time off. I looked forward to my bank holidays and would be excited at the prospect of what was usually a long weekend. Now that I’m retired, I’ve discovered that bank holidays don’t mean as much. I don’t get the pre-bank holiday excitement or the post-bank holiday blues. I don’t obsess about bank holiday weather (it’s a Brit thing). I actually forgot the last bank holiday was a bank holiday until I was reminded. It’s funny how these things change and fade into insignificance once you retire.

Have you experienced the same? Please let me know in the comments below.

The answer

You can book a holiday in retirement. There is nothing to stop you, but it feels different to me. The value of the holiday has changed as I have more control over the holiday.

In the past, I would have to request time off work and then stick to it. Now, if I decide not to go away in October, I don’t have to. I can move the holiday to a different date. Plus, I can take as many holidays as I can afford and not be limited to the time I can take off work.

One real bonus of being retired is I can take my holidays when I want.

When I started working as an academic, we were not allowed to take holidays during term time. That changed during my career, but I still didn’t take holidays during term time because I was too busy with students. (An exception to that was a week in February when I used to go skiing.) Now, I no longer have those restrictions. It seems odd. I can go away when I want.

And so yes, you can take a holiday when you are retired as it is a holiday if you are going away or changing your routine.

How are you finding holidays (vacations) in your retirement?

This week in the Retirement Hustle

This week in The Retirement Side Hustle, I look at Scripting and the use of Mind Maps.

In the video, I explain mind mapping and why I think it is an incredibly useful tool for planning videos.

The Retirement Side Hustle Newsletter is subscription-based. However, each video comes with a free minute or so that allows you to confirm the content, and if you take out a free subscription, you get full access to one edition.

Travel — Nostalgia Corner

The last of my tour around the Siem Reap area of Cambodia, and not a temple in site:

• Cambodia — Day 4: Mechrey Floating Village, Siem Reap, Cambodia — part 1 of 3 - Visiting a Cambodian floating village— Getting to the village was fun.

• Cambodia — Day 4: Mechrey Floating Village, Siem Reap, Cambodia — part 2 of 3 - Visiting a Cambodian floating village— The floating houses. These were the second set of floating houses on this trip (Vietnam — Fishing Village, Ha Long Bay, Vietnam)

• Cambodia — Day 4: Mechrey Floating Village, Siem Reap, Cambodia — part 3 of 3 - Visiting a Cambodian floating village— The people of the village.

• Cambodia — Day 4: Roadside Snack Cambodian Style — Insect snack time — grasshoppers, crickets, and silkworms. Which were my favourites?

My visit to the War Museum in Siem Reap, Cambodia, made a lasting impression on me and is something I often think about:

• Cambodia — Day 4: War Museum, Siem Reap, Cambodia — part 1 of 2

• Cambodia — Day 4: War Museum, Siem Reap, Cambodia — part 2 of 2

Next week, some more stories from Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Next week

Next week, in issue 171 (24), I reflect on the end of summer and how odd it is (a feeling I have had all summer) that I am not preparing for the coming academic year.

Thanks

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Until next time,

Nick

PS: If you want to contribute something to the newsletter — a story, advice, or anything else — please get in touch.