Then I spend 12 years in college and grad school, and never took a vacation or holiday of any sort. I studied, and did nothing else.
Since quitting grad school, I've traveled quite a bit more. Most obviously, I live in Japan now, and have for the past three and a half years. Aside from that, I've spent two weeks in the UK (Orkney, Inverness, and Cambridge), three weeks in China (Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Shaoxing, Putuo Shan), and a month in Thailand (Chiang Mai, studying).
All of my trips have been solitary. My friends have always been off doing other things, and I am always single. I also don't meet people when I'm traveling, for a variety of reasons. However, I find that when I'm by myself, I have dead-on intuition for finding interesting things to do, but that if I'm with people, I'm too worried about leading them down a blind alley to exercise my talents appropriate. When I'm traveling, I don't really like to plan much of anything - I'll go there, and figure out what I want to do there, and often times I just end up walking in an expanding circle for hours at a time, seeing random stuff. This is fun. The resort thing seems pointless, both because they are quiet and boring, and because they tend to be in sunny places that don't agree with me so much. I don't tan, and have weak eyes.
The UK trip was a lot of fun. I was energetic, and did a ton of random sightseeing. I don't really care if I don't know so much about the area, I just like going to new places and seeing stuff. The first week was Scotland. My main goal was to get up to the Orkneys and see Skara Brae, for silly personal reasons, so I did that, then spent some time in Inverness and saw some stuff. I had nearly a week of sunny weather in Scotland, which people have told me is a sure sign of divine favor. The second week was in Cambridge, where I stayed with a friend doing his doctorate in philosophy, and saw the cathedral at Ely. This was a good trip.
The China trip was hard. I did solid sightseeing in all the appropriate parts of the places I visited, but found that I was really suffering from a lack of energy. I read a lot in coffee shops. Being in China by myself, not speaking Chinese at all, was really hard, and it just drained me. That, and spending most of every day walking. I'd been planning a more ambitious trip, but found I just didn't have the energy to arrange anything. About halfway in, I got sick, fought the illness off, and then suffered a resurgence shortly before I was supposed to return, and spent my last day in Shanghai in the hospital. Blarg. That trip nearly burned me on travel, not because I didn't enjoy some things, but just because it was so hard.
More later. Gotta go to work.
I have to say, I'm not too big on relaxing while on holiday. I think that probably has to do with the fact that my normal schedule and routine is so simple, and demands so little from me. When I get around to going on holiday, I'm itching to do things. And to eat. Actually, one of the things I love about traveling in Japan is that most every little town and village has a local delicacy of some sort, and they're usually worth trying. Unless it's natto or crickets or bee larvae or something.
And, in general, I have a basic inability to be really comfortable and relax if I'm not doing something important or productive. I know this is an unproductive neurosis, and I do try every so often to work on it.
So, usually my holiday MO is to start out with a flurry of activity, including lots of walking randomly, and then gradually wear myself out. Then I'll take it easy for a little while, and then go somewhere else and wear myself out again. Repeat until trip time is exhausted, then go home to rest up.
As to traveling with others, I really can't say, as I've just never had the opportunity. I'll likely get around to trying it sometime, but who knows.
and saw the cathedral at Ely.
Sung there. Life should consist in at least fifty percent pure waste of time, and the rest doing what you please.
