European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 21, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse June 2007 stars and stripes Page 29 lets end vacation deprivation by Ken Odonnell stripes travel Reader if your idea of the great american vacation is a visit to your own Back Yard while seeing the sights from be Hind your Lawn you May have a problem vacation Dep i the results of the 2007 International vacation deprivation Survey have been released by my fellow we have finished at the Bottom of the list when it conies to both earning and enjoying our vacation we Are simply on the wrong Side of the cultural to quote the sur the has Long held the distinction of being the country with the worst vacation ing Espedia compared our num Bers with those of several Europe an countries where vacationing is a High National priority and a closely guarded Basic not the French were the Survey earning an impressive 36 annual Days while the americans garnered just French workers outshine the who earned 30 Vaca essay turn and the with Only 26 Days based on annual the French obviously know How to leave their jobs behind without experiencing much Why cant we but therein lies the prob Lem Many americans Are afraid to take a a pleasure whereas the average Europe an would experience no guilt whatsoever after having done this is a very real cultural differ ence Between europeans and the whispering voices of our great Benjamin Thomas Edison and Henry re mind us constantly to work to be More Industry we feel pres sure to build log Cabins the Way Abe Lincoln we plan to spend the Winter at Valley forge and the summer building the Panama with All that is expected of when is there time to hike in the mountains or simply to sit and do nothing the germans took top honors in another important which can be described As the smallest percentage of Survey respondents who failed to use the vacation Days they had already we feel too guilty about taking the vacation time we Only 17 percent of Ger mans reported that they had not used All of their vacation in spite of their Well deserved National reputation for or maybe because of germans take employment benefits very German manage ment accepts that earned Vaca Tion time will be Conse there is a National consensus that Leisure time will Lead to increased productivity after the employee returns to with All that vacation time to plan the German travel Indus try is booming throughout the the High demand for tour packages drives the Price of travel As a German to Fea Tures several shopping channels that sell nothing but vacation packages at impressive prices for weeks in sunny spots around the Mediterranean or the its a Nice thing to with lots of pretty girls and Happy kids having a blast in the Sun and if shopping by phone is not your consider that every Large discount and department store in Germany has a travel Agency under its imagine going out for a of socks and coming Home with a trip to a greek what a great impulse buy if you search the vacation brochures of German package travel you will find very few opportunities for the weekend getaways that Ameri cans love so that Type of Holiday barely exists in Germa germans generally Book for at least 7 Days they feel no shame in taking two or three weeks off in a lets face an american who returned from a three week vacation would be considered More than a Little bit people would did you quit your Job or win the lotto or something we posted the most Workaholic Survey number of All in the failure to use vacation Days a shocking 35 percent of americans reported losing or giving Back unused time we easily beat our near est Survey great where 24 percent of those surveyed had Given Back Days they might have trans formed into a Nice Holiday based upon department of labor the estimated value of our lost or unused Vaca Tion time is a staggering annual total of we would never allow our employer to keep part of our paycheck Why do we allow them to walk away with another important Benefit vacation time has monetary maybe we will never Challenge France and Germany but our first step toward improving our vacationing habits could be to make an Effort to at least use All of our earned vacation with some rehabilitation this could be the year when we actually go some where beyond the when painting and pulling weeds Are not on the travel youve worked hard All year Long its time to Ken Odonnell is a Dod civilian work ing in the Philadelphia area who recently spent four years in email him at . Grand prize gound trip airfare for Jental car use for seven Days and set of Luggage other prizes include gift cards cameras Sony playstation portables for a Chance to win i o four armed forces recreation v centers Ora grind Hale Koa hotel sponsored by Irenr if 0r to to
