It’s coming soon…The Vacation Vortex. That’s when you and your entire family
get sucked into a dizzying whirlpool of getaway plans and family visits. Or getaway from the family visits,
depending on your status. Every
year there’s a local ritual, whereon you ask everyone you know what they are
doing this summer, then nod dutifully while they recite their complicated
plans (“…five days in Sardinia and then the kids are going to spend a week with
grandma in Normandy while I paint my cousin’s house in the Ardeche…”), and then
promptly forget everything they just told you.
But it really doesn’t matter because the only thing you need
to know is that in July and August you won’t see anyone. You may bump into the occasional lone
wolf loping through the ghost town that was once your bustling neighborhood,
but basically, you are on your own.
Not that anyone actually takes two months of vacation, but since they
are staggered throughout July and August, and since kids and parents often fly
off in different directions at different times, and stores close for at least
three weeks, it feels like everyone but you is doing precisely that.
When you live abroad, the Vortex tends to whirl at an even
higher speed, because you have to fly all over the world to even find the family
that will slowly drive you crazy over the course of your stay. Not that you don’t want to see your
family, but if you are from a faraway place like California and it’s a
once-a-year reunion, it tends to get rather intense. It’s one thing to visit with your parents for an evening or
a weekend, and it’s another to spend two weeks with them 24-7.
But I can’t complain.
While my carbon footprint this summer will be off the charts, my
frequent flyer millage will climb ever higher until I can take yet more flights
to more faraway places. When I get
back I will have reconnected with my Southern California roots and remember why
it was that I left in the first place.
I will cherish my French suburb with renewed enthusiasm and savor the
taste of espresso at the coffee stand at the covered market. My apartment will seem so quiet
and welcoming. I will be at peace. But then it will be time for the rentrée….
4 comments:
All too true! Something I did every year while living in France. I am retweeting this, retweeted another post earlier this week, but don't know if you are on Twitter so that I can properly attribute it? I am at @andi_fisher if you want to let me know what your handle is, I'd love to share!
Thank you Andi! Seeing as how I've barely grasped facebook, I have not yet tried Twitter, but I truly appreciate your retweet. Makes me wonder if I should twitterize...
How DO we say "ghost town" en français? Will have to look that one up... but it's so true, Paris is already starting to grow calmer and more deserted, and by mid-July the first batch of vacationers will have departed (the remainder to leave by August 1st). It's going to get harder to find an open boulangerie and if you want to retrieve your dry cleaning, better make it quick or you can forget about it until September! I just came back from a visit with The Folks in New Jersey and they wondered why I didn't spend more than 10 days with them this time. Like you, I love seeing my family but the sheer intensity of those visits "home" is just exhausting.
Paris is beautiful at any time of the year. There will be a lot of places that you’ll have to check out and explore when you are there. I hope I don’t do something stupid as get sick when am on vacation. Thanks for sharing this! I really love it.
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