Travel vs Holiday

to know the difference is to change your expectations

I think one of the biggest reasons people come home disappointed from a trip is because they never worked out what the intention of their trip was in the first place. Because a holiday and travelling are not the same thing… and I’m going to tell you bout it!

For me a holiday is about rest. The priority is switching off, slowing down and coming home feeling refreshed. You might be in a new country, but you’re not trying to see absolutely everything.

Travelling is different. Travelling is movement. Its collecting the car, driving an hour to see a beach, then heading somewhere else after lunch because someone told you there was another one you couldn’t miss.

Holiday = stop.

Travel = go.

I think people often see what I post online and assume I’m on one long holiday but I’m really not. I’m travelling with little moments of a holiday sprinkled in. If anything I’m on a working holiday. My trips are a mix of work, travel and holiday because I create travel guides, give travel advice and run retreats. Thats why my trips tend to look a little different as they’re longer and they combine all three.

I’m constantly moving around and I always hire a car everywhere I go. I’m up at 6am every morning no matter where I am (thanks to having a Border Collie back home) so I’m at the bakery first, I’m getting the front umbrella at the beach and I’m usually seeing two to three different places in one day.

For some people, that’s not necessarily relaxing. For a hyperactive ADHD’er, its perfection. I move and go, then stop and lie in the sun for a bit, then go again.

I absolutely have days where I do nothing, stay in one spot, get a sun bed for the whole day and properly switch off. But most of my trips are built around exploring and not resting.

I also think this changes the advice I’d give people. If someone told me they had one week in Greece and they wanted to relax, I wouldn’t necessarily send them chasing every beach I’ve ever recommended across the Peloponnese. If you spend your entire week driving an hour here and an hour there trying to recreate someone else’s trip, you might end up needing another holiday when you get home.

I’d probably send you somewhere like Hydra or Sifnos instead. Fewer cars, a slower pace, beautiful walks, long lunches and plenty of time to actually relax.

A friend of mine went to Crete last year after I’d been and stayed in some of the same areas. When we caught up afterwards she said “It was incredible, but I feel like we had completely different trips.”

She only had two weeks and she was travelling with family and kids. I had six weeks by myself with complete flexibility. Neither trip was better, but they were just different.

That conversation made me realise that the reason I’d seen so much more wasn’t because Crete was magically different for me than for her. It was because I was moving/travelling so my collection of experiences was more vast.

Of course every now and then the universe (or whatever you believe in) ignores your plans altogether. You can book yourself a travel adventure and somehow end up on a holiday instead. I wrote about this concept last year in Getting Served What You Need, Not What You Want.

I think there are questions to ask yourself before you book anything. Do I need a holiday? Do I want to travel? Do I want to rest? Do I want to move every day?

Or do I want a bit of both? Which is entirely possible. Its not an exclusive decision where they can’t exist together. Maybe you want a bit of go, then a bit of stop.

None of those answers are wrong. But knowing which one you’re actually chasing makes it much easier to enjoy it once you’re there, because your expectations are aligned with why you went somewhere in the first place.

I think there is sometimes a looming pressure to see and fit everything in when we spend so much time and money going overseas. But my answer to that anxiety is: those beaches and tavernas will still be there over the coming years so unless I plan on dying soon, which I don’t, I can see that during my next trip.

Because there’s nothing worse than expecting a holiday while you’ve accidentally booked yourself an expedition. Or expecting an adventure when what you’ve really planned is seven days by the beach.

They’re both brilliant. They’re just not the same thing.

The trick is knowing which one you need before you book it!!

With love, chaos & rigatoni from Crete

PM xx

(irrelevant picture below of my Greek salad + Coke last night that was delicious)