How to Vacation Like a German (an American Reality Check)
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 22. 05. 2024
- The longer we live in Germany, the more our travel habits have changed - not only WHERE we travel to, but HOW we vacation... and it's made us realize just how different American tourists are from German ones. What do you think?
Episode 49 | #travel #dreamvacation in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany and Phuket, Thailand | Filmed March 22nd , 2022
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Quick jump to your favorite section:
00:00 A bit of humor...
01:07 Intro
03:25 The Power of the German Passport
05:30 How much German's Spend on International Travel
08:15 American's Stay Home
10:13 German's Travel for HOW LONG?!
15:37 Relax.
19:28 All Play and No Work.
24:40 Bloopers.
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Originally from the Midwest of the USA, we moved to the #blackforest in 2013 and quickly embraced #expatlife. As American expats living in #Germany, things weren't always easy, but we've grown to love our life in Germany. We started this #travelvlogâ to share our experiences with friends and family, and to help those who are interested in moving overseas! Whether you are interested in moving abroad, working abroad, studying abroad, raising a family abroad, or just want to #traveleurope, we're here to give you a first person look at what lies ahead. đđ„đ
We had a little fun with a bit of comedy at the start of this video. đ€Ł What are some funny differences that you've noticed between German and American tourists (or tourists from your own home country)? Let us know below!
you need white sox
You hit the stereotype on the head with the socks and sandals/Birckenstocks .... Americans on the other hand are known to be loud. đ€Ł
@@urlauburlaub2222 Thank you!! â€â€
@@Apecesar hahaha You're right. Next time we will be sure to pack some. đđ
@@multirider8997 I would imagine I fit into that stereotype. Jonathan tells me that I must have swallowed a megaphone when I was born. I am naturally loud. đđđ
It makes me smile when you call 9-14 days an "extended period of time" - in Germany this would be more like 3-6 months đ
Sad but true: I'm German and my British wife makes me reserve deck chairs on vacations for the whole family. So, for one I never get to sleep in on holidays and second, she forces me into German stereotypical behaviour I would never exhibit voluntarily.
Time for a divorce... Brexit. đ
OMG - that's terrible. I have schadenfreude for you.
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Sounds as your wife wanted soemething Back for her Money.
I can confirm what you say. I am convinced that a lack of vacation days plays a huge role. My brother and sister would absolutely love to visit me in Germany. They can't. They have children at college....so money goes there...and they do not have the time off to do it. My children receive free ( tax paid) higher education and I get more vacation days. As an American in Europe, I have taken on this German work ethic.
I love the fact that Jonathan wore socks on his way to the pool in the beginning đ
Like a real Germanđ
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Integration just works! đ
Is that a thing in Germany? Here in America the only people who do that are senior citizens!đ
These videos always make me realize how privileged I am to live in Germany and not the US
just like how these videos make me realize how lucky i am to be born i denmark đ€
please let me move over there đ
There was an error, the socks had to be white đđđđđ
đđđđ I also told him that it was a shame he didn't have a speedo.
@@TypeAshton eh...i'm _perfectly fine_ with just the socks.
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The fact that Germans love to vacation in Canada's wilderness has been a huge perk to us. We live in Yukon Territory and there are weekly flights from Whitehorse to Frankfurt from May to September with Condor. How amazing is it to jump from beautiful wilderness, grizzly bears, caribou etc to European architecture in a few mere hours, with no transfers!
Didnât knew that! Will have a look at this soon :) thx
Yep, those connection is nice when you have to do family buiness back in Germany. Same connection here from Anchorage.
The famous Frankfurt Whitehorse flight doesn't exist any more. I have just booked Air Canada for 2024 which takes much longer.
@@roland6976 yes they are still flying Frankfurt to Whitehorse!
One arrived yesterday, and have been coming once a week since early summer. I live in Whitehorse so definitely know this.
Seychelles for two months is definitely an outlier. I'm German and I love long vacations. But two months on a small island in the Indian Ocean is anything but a standard German vacation.
The secret to enjoying two months of vacation on a small island in the Indian Ocean is to be a dedicated scuba diver.
This is a helpful added context.
To be fair, one spouse was retired and the other said she had saved all of her vacation for this one trip. But they also were able to snag direct flights with Condor which I think helped greatly for them to really make the most of their time and money.
I agree, that 4 weeks or even 2 months are rather unusual. I know colleagues who have saved time and money for a longer vacation (4 weeks) in Asia or Australia, for example (to make it worthwhile). But 3 weeks at a time is quite common, especially during the summer vacations.
Same is true for us dutchies. Most have two or three weeks (when camping) or 1 one week (when flying/appartment because that's more expensive). In my childhood we used to go for 4 entire weeks, but that was exceptional. (Mom didn't work and dad could simply save up all those days for the summer)
Itâs so funny you mentioned you hear more German speakers when travelling than English speakers. My family had the same experience when travelling through the big national parks from California through Arizona, Utah and Colorado. In fact one time on a hike an American family came past us and asked âGerman or French?ââŠwe met more French, German and other Europeans than Americans on those hikes đ
German here. - This applies only to places close to the parking lot. I hiked the JMT, >50% of the hikers were from California, >90% from the US. Only in the last 2 h (out of 3 weeks) on the way down into Yosemite valley the prevalence of European tourists showed up.
@@Henning_Rech Well both are subjective observations, aren't they?! Which is why I find it funny that you try to support your point with what (I guess) are subjective numbers to make it seem a proven fact...
@@CHarlotte-ro4yi Have you ever been more than 5 miles from your car in one of the NPs?
@@Henning_Rech Believe it or not, I have, more than once ;)
It is just because Americans don't like hiking, they prefer driving! ;-)
The secret in staying for a longer period is, that you get known to the people around you, and get a deeper insight in their culture and lifes. It makes holidays much more rewarding, if you get that chance, and the ability to enjoy your impressions instead of rushing from spot to spot.
germans spend half their yearly holidays (3 weeks) on a single location, while americans spend their entire yearly holidays for a roundtrip "the entire europe in 7 days" (2 countries per day, to not even see half of it)
{written while watching, and then they explained that themselves}
ps: as a german i never had a passport although i traveled to many countries and even was in africa (teneriffa/spain :-) but my IDcard was good enough everywhere.
I think there's a lot of truth to this. Looking back on our travels the things I remember the most are the people and the connections we made after really getting to know them and spend time with them. â€ïž
@@TypeAshton at least 24 days of paid vacation helps too. You know you still get money, even if you are gone 3 weeks (15 workdays usually)
Dirk, that's absolutely true! I agree completely
you dont travel that much đ a passport is a must for denmark these days for example.. (as long as we have had a fixed border control on the german border you needed passport to enter dk)
even danes get a ticket if they dont have a passport, and even if you have a danish id is not good anuff.
although if the same cop catch 5 m inside denmark ity fine just with id card IF YOU ARE A DANE
i got a ticket for not having a passport when i came to dk, and im a dane...
and i have also traveled schengen and scandinavia without passport, but that some years ago now..
and all countrys within eu can set up passport control from day to day, unless you have plenty of time to get a new, i would not suggest people traveling without passport anymore..
all it takes is a little terror attackt and you are stuck for example,
we have had our borders closed in dk sense the terror attack 3 years ago, so without a passport you would be stuck for over 3 years in dk đ€Ł
even ukraine refugess cant come in to denmark if the dont have the latest passport with fingerprints in them
I lived in Germany and worked for United Aircraft for 17 years. The first 15 years I only had two weeks of vacation. After that, I had 3 weeks of vacation. We went skiing for one week, and sailing for two weeks.
In 1974 new top management at United took everyone from the International Marketing Corporation, and threw us out the 6th floor window.
My friends at the German aircraft engine company hired me, and for the next 16 years my home office was Muenchen, and I was waving the MTU flag back at Pratt&Whitney Aircraft, being the liaison on a new commercial aircraft engine program.
At that time I was 54 years old.
I started at MTU with five weeks of vacation, and that number kept increasing as long as I worked there.
Bavaria is Catholic, and the Catholic Church as religious holidays on Thursdays in May.
MTU would shut down the plant on Wednesday and reopen the following Monday. If there were two Catholic holidays in May, by adding a few vacation days, you could take the whole month of May off and go on vacation.
Then there were January 2nd, Oster Montag, and several others where it became just a four day work week.
Our parent Company for several years was Daimler-Benz, so all employees could buy a Mercedes at factory prices. Mercedes took care of oil changes and routine inspections free of charge. At the end of the ownership year, you sold your car for the "normal" used car price, - the price difference between what you paid for the car and for what you sold it, was a side "goody".
Oh, at Christmas MTU also paid us a 13th month salary.
MTU colleagues have a winter house in Thailand; go segelfliegen in South Africa; cross the Andes from Argentina to Chile on foot; take a cruise to the Antarctic...., rent an RV and travel all over the American Southwest
German's live differently!
i left Germany a thousand times without a passport, i am born next to the border to Denmark....our fav beach been a shared beach of the locals in the border area...in the 60s
i stayed for 2 months in the USA, not traveling around much, but supporting my family there!
Germans also like to go on short vacations just for a weekend to visit a city somewhere in Europe, but the âmainâ family vacations in summer are usually longer - also because the schools are closed for 6.5 weeks. Staying longer comes with the thought that the long and expensive flights are worth more (in terms of experiences and time to relax) as compared to shorter stays.
Whenever I hear about the american work life and the things attached to it, I feel more like the US is the last country I'd like to live and especially work in ..
It's just completely absurd to me that people actually WANT to live without a reasonable balance between their private interests/lives and their work life. I do like my job - but not 365 days a year and being unavailable and completely out of work is just such an important balancing factor for me emotionally.
About your question regarding travel destinations:
The best place I ever traveled to was Riga in Latvia and I would definitely recommend going there!
The city has just such a warm and friendly atmosphere, it's calm and relaxed while at the same time offers a LOT to do.
That comes from a few factors I believe:
1) a really diverse history that you can still see and feel in all corners of the city, from presences of the old German Hansa, evidence of the former Soviet Union (not just in architecture, also in culture), some of the most beautiful jugendstil-buildings in the world and so on. Their museums also excel at providing an insight into that history, even though they can also be grim at times like for example at the KGB museum or the inevitable holocaust memorials that you'll see all over Europe thanks to the generation of my grand-grandparents ...)
2) The people make a really relaxed impression and drag you into it. No one rushes through their day. Even in busy places like the central market (one of the largest in europe, located in former zeppelin hangars) you still don't feel stressed.
3) While Riga definitely has the looks of an eastern european city, you still feel influences from elsewhere, which gives the city a really unique vibe, that is a weird mix of basically all of Europe. Even mediterranean flair shows from time to time (if you are there in summer, that is). I assume this is because Latvia was often controlled by different powers from all of Europe. While this probably wasn't enjoyable at the times, it gives the city nowadays a cool cosmopolitan feel.
4) A usual beach vacation is stll possible as the municipality of Jurmala nearby has 35km of sand beaches at the Baltic sea :)
Oh man WE LOVED Riga!! We went there to see a Roger Waters concert and then stayed for a few extra days to explore the city and go to Jurmala to the ocean front. Beautiful architecture (did you know it has the most Art Nouveau architecture of any other city?) and the market in the old Zeppelin hangers was so cool. We also recommend this to anyone visiting Europe.
@@TypeAshton I do know that, when I was there for the first time I did a language course in russian for 3 weeks and the school I was in offered a lot of free (or cheap) excursions for its students. An excursion about the Art Nouveau-quarters was a part of that. :)
My mom told me that Tallinn in Estonia is just as cool but I've yet to go there.
@@TypeAshton Around 1900, the most citizens of Riga spoke German so they use(d) the German expression "Jugendstil" instead of "art nouveau" (which applies to fine arts, furniture, porcellan, jewellery as well as architecture - "Bröhan Museum" in Berlin highly recommended!); if you enjoyed Riga you'll like Tallinn as well.
Jonathan, after the first seconds I could tell how well integrated your are in the German society. Well done đ đ€Ł
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greetz from Nederland
i am 53 now and missed out on going on vacation about 10 times in my whole life
and i always stayed in 1 place for a minimum of 1 week but 9 out of 10 times i stayed for 3 weeks at 1 place
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Your story about meeting that family in Croatia reminded me so much of the breakfast scene in "European Vacation", where Chevy Chase looks at a couple at a nearby table, in a deeply romantic smooch and clearly enraptured in the moment, and says "We've probably seen twice as much as they have!" đđ€Š
đđđđ
My American wife and I (German) are actually on vacation right now, it is our second week on Tenerife.
The work culture is definitely true. My boss (German) just told me: "you're on vacation, just take the time of and relax", which was very nice because I was not able to get a lot of work done before the vacation and was afraid that being behind schedule would be more stressful. Her boss on the other hand (Spanish) is still trying to give her new tasks and set up meetings even though she has a tremendous amount of overtime.
This resulted in me being relaxed and motivated to get things done when I get back and her being here with the work laptop and closing in on the burnout.
I also agree to most of the statements in the video btw. I always just make a short list of things to do on my vacation which typically lasts 1-6 weeks and then just decide on a daily basis what I want to do. My wife just started getting to know this lifestyle and she likes it so far :D
I also feel like the German language is sometimes even more useful than the English language because there's just so many German tourists everywhere. Even though I'm in Spain I don't feel like I left Germany because I here the language everywhere. Sometimes I start talking to people in other languages just so that I get the feeling of having left home. As a German tourist I can't blame others for being where I am but I would still like to be able to feel like I'm far away a little more often :D
Jonathan noticed that when he spent a week in Gran Canaria, there was more German than English. That was a wakeup call for him on where he was.
We are glad to hear your American wife is beginning to enjoy the vacation culture!
While I'm sure little Jack also has his bad days, he seems very happy. You've definitely done something right as parents. Congrats
Ahh, the sun lounger battles against the Brits on Fuerteventura. I remember them well. Enjoy your vacation!
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Germans do the rushing-from-place-to-place holidays, too. But those are sightseeing holidays, and they are considered to be quite stressful. We do them to see as much of the visited area as possible, especially if the destination is quite far away. Many Germans see all the big sights of the South-Western US in 3 weeks, travelling thousands of miles during the trip. When I did it, I felt a little sad that I would probably never have the opportunity to go on a hiking trip in Yosemite NP. Itâs just not feasible to spend so much time and money on a flight and then use it to go hikingâŠ
Ah that is a really interesting point. There is SO much to see in the US, planning a single trip to see everything seems almost impossible to do at a leisurely pace.
"Itâs just not feasible to spend so much time and money on a flight and then use it to go hikingâŠ"
It's Yosemite Valley! Of course it is feasible!!! ;)
It is possible, but it has to be a priority. I was incredibly lucky to experience 2x 4 weeks RV vacation in the West of the US and we did hike Half Dome the first time and Yosemite Falls the second time around. We did half/day hikes in basically every single NP and NM but didnât really visit cities at all (except for San Francisco).
I love sightseeing holidays...I just don't have the patience to just lay around at the strand or the pool. If I want just to do nothing, I can just as well stay at home or check in a hotel with a spa nearby. The most I go for having a "relaxing" holiday is a nice trip to denmark, but even then I won't spend all the days just haning around...just a few of them.
As a German, I really like both types of vacation, the more intellectual type of rushing to all POIs, museums, buildings (e.g. Chicago, Riga, Tallinn, Edinburgh) and as well the more relaxing and destressing (correct expression? in German: entschleunigt) type of staying in one place for several weeks. It depends on my needs. I've toured the US four times for four weeks each with an incredible amount of input (6000 to 8500 km, many states, many attractions). But being on the Danish North Sea coast for three weeks, for example, can really bring peace back into your life. Like I said, it depends on the needs.
In general I do love Italy for vacationing - all over lots of gorgeous architecture and culture, terrific food, wonderful nature and very friendly people -my 3 favourites are Cinque Terre, Sicilia and Amalfitana, not to forget Roma and Venice - and we like to stay in places called Agriturismo, gorgeous! these are (often used to be) farms that offer rooms or apartments for vacation - enjoy Thailand for the rest of your trip and come home safely
Completely agree. With kids i would add beach towns along the Adriatic Sea with their long sand beaches, either rented apartment or condo/tent/camper at a camping place. Great vacation for a kid and if you want in most places you can combine it with same day trips for "cultural experience".
Another perk of staying for a longer time at the same location:
You gonna make some friends along the way, if you're open for it.
There are still a few vacation-friends I stay in contact with on a regular basis. :) With some of them we arrange some 'get together again' vacations every 5 years, every time in a different spot of the world.
I even know some people who found their s.o., even though most of these romances end shortly after you've arrived back home.
I mean, you have an opportunity to have an adventure for a few weeks.. these memories can make bounding pretty easy.
Thank you for this video. We Dutch keep our holiday in much the same way as our neighbors (the Germans). And we also meet Dutch people all over the world.
Safe journey home and on to the next video.
It is so funny how small the world feels sometimes. You can be at one of the more remote locations in the world and still run into someone from your home country or even home town. Really cool.
I think it is the other way around : the Germans adopted the Dutch way of travelling.... There is a German word : 'locker' which Germans use to describe the Dutch attitude which has made them jealous about their neighbours. (according to my German friends)
@@TypeAshton That's so true. When I still worked as a teacher I stumbled across one of my students in front of a hotel in Portugal !
I was about to write the same. Wherever you go, you always meet Germans and Dutch, often Swiss too.
@@chrisvanzadel6944 could be, but it happens similarly in Italy too, especially for families with small children, and especially as holiday on the Mediterranean sea (cheaper and easier for families to organise). I remember my dad renting out a spot for our caravan at the camping near the beach, just a couple of drive hours away, for at least one or two months when we were children. :) I guess itÂŽs more a European tradition, that comes from back in the days? I remember reading many classics, like Agatha Christie or even Jane Austen, in which the vacation are always at least a couple of month somewhere or in a tour around Europe and Africa. Not to mention that many Venetian rich merchants had an habit of going "on vacation" for even 3 or 4 months in their villa outside of Venice even in the 18th century (there is even a comedy written about that by a famous Venetian author, Carlo Goldoni-1707-1793 which titles "I piaceri della villeggiatura" = the pleasure of vacation).
Die inneren Batterien wieder aufladen ! Das soll Urlaub bewirken. Ich kenne noch Aussagen, dass in den ersten zwei Wochen des Urlaubs der ganze Körper vom Arbeitsmodus zunĂ€chst herunter kommen muss (Akklimatisierung, Stress-Hormon-Level, etc...), um dann ab der dritten (!) Woche mit der eigentlichen Erholung zu beginnen, die dann wirklich lange vorhĂ€lt . . . đđ
Ich bin völlig einverstanden. Ich denke, es ist viel Wahres daran, dass man sich einfach etwas Zeit nimmt, um sich wirklich zu entspannen und zu entspannen.
We went to Madeira for our honeymoon. It's a gorgeous island, even in November, and it has to be even more so in May and June, when everything is in full bloom. I don't know if I would go there with a small child, because one of the most beautiful things you can do there is hike along the "levadas" (the ancient water canals), but it's a mountainous region and the ways next to the levadas might be very narrow. I remember walking next to one on a trail about 1m wide, with a wiry fence being the only thing separating us from a 300m drop. But when Jack's old enough not to jump around anymore (or when you're comfortable to find a hotel with daycare for him), definitely go to Madeira.
I am German and I had to laugh so hard when I saw the socks and putting the towel on the chair. I never do that but it is so true :))))
You summed it up pretty well. As a german that loves south east Asia, I have to say that Thailand is such a good place to not only stay in one place the whole time. It is so easy to travel around and see all the different aspects of Thailand. The busy china town in Bangkok, the temples in Chiang Mai and the beaches on the islands.
So best is to just book the flight, a hotel for the first 2 days, and let the rest happen. I do not know how toddler compatible that is, though ;)
On another note: You mention that americans have enough to see in their own country, and you are totally right about that. If you just want to see different attractions and landscapes ( ok ,no 600 year old castles there :p ) you can not see the USA in a life time.
But if you want to see different cultures and people, you have to get out of the country. And that is what I prefer.
All of France shuts down for the whole month of August. The stores / restaurants all close. They hang a sign in the door - "Fermature Annuelle" meaning, see you again on the 1st of September when we come back to work.
I travelled through the states by Van for almost a year and met lots of families their, who always asked how can you afford it or you must be rich ? My answer is back then and I still live by the same motto, 'don't buy into all the new trends as those become your "golden handcuffs/shackles"!
I'ld rather take time off for long periods and travel slowly (by bicycle or motorcycle) on the cheap (camping) than expensive holidays inside a resort. I would recommend the Baltic countries and Scandinavia, especially Norway ! Hello from a Kraut in Oz.
Enjoy your hols.
When I was little I have heard about American travel agencies offering "Europe in 8 days" - I was flabbergasted.
My parents explained that they do not have as many holidays as we have. I was shocked as up to that time for me America was the land where everyone is rich - we had this funny term about the "Uncle from America" who was quite wealthy.
In making this video we really want to re-watch the film "national lampoons European vacation". It feels quite fitting.
I love that movie. I am from Luxemburg an the Griswolds represented for me the stereotypical perfect american family. I love all of their movies đ By the way, come and visit Luxemburg. It is tiny but gorgeous.
My family from Germany usually take a week to go skiing in February, spend two weeks in spring in Italy, two weeks in summer at the baltic sea, a week in autumn at a center park, and we take a few days around Christmas. I love having regular breaks from working. The black forest family will probably have a similar schedule once their child goes to school đ
I as German was one month in Thailand at March this year. As you know we have 30 days paid holidays per year in Germany to recover from work and relax. I was at Koh Chang. Itâs a very beautiful island. In November this year I make unpaid holidays at Koh Samui and Koh Phangan for 1 month again. If you become sick in your holidays you get the days you was sick as extra holidays what you can use when you want. In November this year I use my more work hours as extra holidays and the rest of the month I make unpaid holidays. Life experience and a good time is good for your mental health and you come down and live in the day. No stress, this is good for your longtime health. This is more important for a healthy work life balance.
It's so sweet to see you so happy!
Up to my 40ties we usually travelled once a year for 3 weeks to one place (of course with some one day trips in the vicinity). We later changed it to 2 times for 2 weeks (13-16 days), add to this some short trips for about 2-4 days. So usually a âsummer vacationâ regularly was about 2-3 weeks when I was still working. (I needed up to one week to forget about work, one week to enjoy the vacation, one week pondering what I have to expect at work when getting back, lol. đđ).
That sounds so lovely!!
I just remember when my kids were younger, we rented a vacation home, and old oil-mill, in tuscany, nearby Firence, for three weeks as a base for daytrips. It was great and relaxing.
In Germany in lot of jobs we have MTA - mandatory time away, that is two weeks minimum
Your content is just awesome. Thanks for the little summer you are bringing to us:) enjoy Phuket, itâs beautiful down there
Thank you so much. We are thrilled that you enjoy our videos. We had a really great family vacation in Phuket but still feel like we could have spent another 2 weeks lol. I think we might have to go back again in the future. There is really SO much to do and see there, and the people are incredibly nice.
@@TypeAshton oh yes i can imagine. Itâs wonderful down there. If you ever get back to Thailand i can also recommend Kho Samui. Iâve been there for 2 Weeks and it is also a really wonderful island, similar to Phuket.
As a student in Croatia, I often vacation closer to the "American" style with spending only several days in each place, but that is mostly due to financial constraints. Most of the places that I'm interested in (like Austria and Germany) have higher costs of living so I only end up having about a week at a time. Therefore I spend an average of about 3 days per location visiting 2 or so places. Hopefully, when I finish my studies and get employed, I'll be able to afford longer vacations.
Also, coming to Germany by public transport from Croatia also takes almost the entire day. A train from Zagreb to Frankfurt takes 11-12 hours.
Nice video with beautiful impressions from your travel destination, i really enjoyed it đ
It also reminded me of how lucky i am to work in Germany đ
It's good to reflect on things we're taking for granted and appreciate them more often
Love the outtakes đ€Łđ€Ł so funny to see
You guys truly are one of the best channels on this kinda topic bc itâs not just your singular experience but you incorporate statistics to really make corroborated points! Keep it up =)
Thanks so much!!
My favorite vacation was a trip to Australia. We stay for four weeks and drove from Sydney up to Cairns. When we came back we stay an additional week home to relax from jet lag. By the way, I still had a week of vacation left this year.
My favorit vacation-place is Australia. My oldest brother is living down under. I visited him serveral times and I can say its a tremendous country in a wonderful nature with cool and welcoming people.
We would LOVE to go visit there. We were actually talking while on vacation about someday going to both Australia and New Zealand. However, I think a lot of the activities we would want to do there are quite active. I think we might have to wait until Jack is a bit older. But there is SO much to do in Australia. I think it would be wonderful!
I get a combination of 180 hrs of vacation and sick time per year with a 90 day carry over per year. Which amounts to about 4 to 6 weeks vacation for 1 year and 90 days. I also get 2 weeks of paid plant shut down. The biggest problem is that vacationing is expensive, especially if you fly. We, my wife and I, take short trips usually to Kentucky every 3 to 4 years or to someplace like Wisconsin. Usually every fall I we go to see my brother in Pennsylvania and then view the forest lands and leaves. We also just chill at home as we live 8 miles from a lake and two or three state parks. Unlike most Americans we will book a hotel for about 3 nights and then drive to various attractions, walking trails, resteraunts, custom glass making facilities or similar within that area before moving on to our next 3 night hotel stay. We like to sleep in, swim in the hotel pool, and sometimes shop at outlets and specialty shops. I guess it is an in between European style and American vacation. We have had two great vacations within the last ten years. One within state and one in neighboring Kentucky. We have dreamed of going to St Augustine for some historical site seeing and maybe a trip to the Space Coast ( Cape Canaveral) or to Oklahoma to visit some of our acquaintances and friends from when we lived there for 3 years. That may involve one expense that eclipse s flying; renting a car. I don't work for an American company and that is the main reason that I am allowed so much vacation time. I work for an international and foreign shipping company of cars, auto parts, auto recall parts kits, and vehicle repair parts.
I appreciate that you are elaborating on this topic in a very balanced way. I am really pleased as a German that you find so many positive things that shouldnât be taken as given. How could I ever leave Germany forever? đ Anyway, I believe that also people from other countries in the EU like Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Scandinavian Countries are traveling a lot internationally too and in a similar way like Germans. And there are other GermansâŠđ who spend their vacation at Ballermann in a special way
Favourite place for vacation?The alps and especially the Dolomites.Such a great place to see and explore, each valley had its own unique views and atmosphere.
Oh man that dolomites are on our bucket list of places to visit. It looks so amazing!
Hallo Ihr Drei,
sehr schöner Beitrag, tolle Sichtweisen die wir in euren Videos erfahren.Mir werden sehr oft die Augen geöffnet was wir fĂŒr Vorteile genieĂen ohne darĂŒber " ich mir je einen einen Kopf" gemacht habe.Eure Videos sind Top *** macht weiter so,ein Fan aus Waldkirch
Our German author Johann Wolgang Goethe is nowadays known for having said: "Reisen bildet." (traveling educates/forms/molds/shapes). We care a lot for his advice. đ
During his life in the 18th! century, Goethe travelled around 40000km to France, Switzerland, twice to Italy (which changed his life, as he said), many more than a dozen times to Bohemia and of course within Germany. It seems to be in our DNA to travel, maybe because Europe is so small and culturally diverse?
Saw German respect for time off when my son came back home to Canada for 3 weeks to visit us over Christmas. He lives and works in Munich but got sick for a period of time while here and got those sick days reinstated as unused holidays upon his return. In Canada I get a good amount of paid sick days, and holidays but they don't overlap.
When I first started working in Germany I spent a lot of my vacation days back in the states visiting family over Christmas time and in the summer. Even now we still spend a lot of those days to stay connected with family and we feel very lucky we have the time off to do this.
My feeling (I am German, having lived and worked in the US for one year, back in the last centuryđ) is: At least for highly skilled jobs which require an academic education, you on average will have a better salary in the US while you have better benefits (payed vacation or payed sick days) in Europe or especially in Germany... Difficult to compare, really...
Sweden is a very popular and family friendly place to visit. And very relaxing. The Swedes are also very interested towards Americans because a lot of them have ancestors who emigrated. I think you would like it.
Going to some of the Nordic countries is definitely on our to do list very, very soon. â€ïžâ€ïžâ€ïž
then i can suggest a american road trip that lasts more then 2 weeks đ€«
most people that do that comes back with a experience for a lifetime that you wont find anywhere else..
you need to drive ourself if you want to see scandinavia.
and the camping experience in sweeden and norway is also a must, that comes for free.
I enjoy your videos tremendously - thank you! You asked about vacay recommendations - although I studied Spanish and used to vacay there a lot my go-to-country every since I have been together with my husband is Italy! I love the nature, the towns, the nice people (even in over-crowded tourist towns such as Venice or Rome) and - above all - the FOOD! You just can't go wrong with Pizza, Pasta and Italian wine! As for specific places: of course the usual suspects such as Amalfi coast and Tuscany and - this was a surprise for me as well- Lake Garda! And this would be very convenient for you as it is just a "Katzensprung" from Freiburg! We enjoy the eastern landscape there - we also took our bikes because although the direct lake side is croweded with tourists during the high season, as soon as you go two, three streets up you'll be almost alone in the vineyards and olive gardens. Maybe ColĂ would be a great place for you - smalls village, great public thermal spa garden, about 7 miles from the lake. Another lovely place would be CefalĂș on Sicily - great old town directly connected to the beach. Some Hotels and Resorts around but not overbearing. This is about 40miles east of Palermo....
The Seychelles have such amazing beaches, but 2 months seems quite long for such a relatively small area. It may have lots of islands, but bit sure how many are inhabited and visit-able. I went to the three main islands and loved Praslin, but even more La Digue. And Budapest is my absolutely fave city. Seeing your pictures of Budapest makes me go *siiiiiiiigh*. Haven;t been there since before Covid, but defo back on the list for this year again
The amount of research you put in your videos is stunning. From other travel channels I got used to get served with the typical stereotypes on Germany. But; I am 62 Years old, and I am still learning something new about my country. Well done. And thanks for the time you invest to entertain and educate us! đđ
Thank you so much! We are thrilled you enjoy our content and we look forward to making more.
As allways very interesting vlog. I think you are the first youtuper who talked about this topic. You look so happy on your holidays. Its lovely to see that.
thank you so, so much. We're so glad you enjoyed it! â€ïž We had a wonderful family vacation.
Again, very well researched information as we experienced all the time. I love your family as a whole. And I enjoy to see how responsible you are protecting your son from sunburn. I love to see this care and love. You are really a great family.
Awe thank you so much. We're so glad you enjoyed the video. We certainly had a wonderful time on vacation.
Great video!! I have to say st croix Virgin Islands had some of the most beautiful beach spots to vacation on! It wasnât super busy and it was kid friendly
We've talked about trying to swing down to the Caribbean some year after Christmas, since we will already be on that side of the globe visiting family. The beaches in the Virgin Islands looks beautiful.
Gday BFB, look at your beautiful holiday glow, it suits you. You must take these pleasures to re energise your mind/soul and nourish your relationship. Looks like you picked the perfect location for this holiday. Bless little Jack, so many adventures await him. Thank you đđ
Thank you so, so much for watching and always having such kind words of support. â€ïž You're one of the people we always look forward to seeing your reaction to our videos.
As a former teacher I had 2 - 3months of vacations every year, but it was only during summer recess that I left my job completely behind. You're always thinking about how to improve your lessons, but the summer vacations were great.
I totally agree with your view on the German way of vacationing. I made a compromise with myself, buying a small caravan and a Hase Kettwiesel (and actually a new car). Both staying and travelling is effortless.
For a future trip, try Lofoten, Norway.
We hope to get to Norway soon! It looks beautiful.
I love to go to one destination and just relax. Weâre always working and hustling and vacation is a super good way to calm down. But for me itâs important to that the place Iâm visiting has options for me to explore things :)
agreed! We try to plan different excursions or activities while we are there too. It's a bit tough to do full-day activities with a little one who needs to nap, but we make it work with a couple of fun activities while we were away.
Even on your holidays you guys dig into a comprehensive research and literally sweat your ass off to present yet another stunning video, comparing US and german lifestyle... and once again so well done.
I've been to Thailand several times, but always avoided the most touristic areas (in terms of accommodation). And when I first came to this beautiful country in the mid 90s I had the chance to stay 6 weeks so I used this time to visit as well Myanmar, Cambodia and Hongkong. This was the trip of my lifetime (so far). In general I prefer shorter trips, not more than 2 weeks and my favorite destination is France... here l'm able to merge with the country, not feeling (and acting) like a tourist, but living more the life of the frenchs for a certain amount of time.
And yes, a good friend of mine who was VP Communication for a german company received during his vacation in Greece every morning a 5 meter fax from his assistant to be kept Ă jour... well, it was in the times of high cell phone prices (internationally) and underperforming email and internet facilities... đđ
6 weeks!? What a dream, that must have been such a great experience.
We typically prefer to explore the country rather than the busy areas as well. However with our little one, we have had to change our preferred travel style a bit.
I had totally forgotten how loud these Cicadas really are :)
Very inspiring video. Before c-time I have been travelling the US-Westcoast nearly every year for doing a kind of road movie. Every time we spend 4 weeks, driving approx. 7.000km. I have seen all the Pacific coast from San Diego to Seattle in the US and British Columbia in Canada. We only booked the flights, a rental car, first and last accomodation. We were priviledged of having enough time to develop our travelroute spontaneously and traveling before the main season and heat of the summer (I can highly recommend the AAA-Tourbooks which are free for ADAC-members).
On our first trips we changed nearly every night our motel because we wanted to see everything possible (e.g. all the other National Parcs around Grand Canyon). This attitude was very energy-sapping and with the time we learned to develop a more natural flow with driving days and staying for a couple of days in one place. Another lesson was, that the ideal time period was around 28 days because you have to process all these traveling impressions in your mind. After 28 days there was the feeling of being a kind of fully soaked sponge with no more capacity for additional liquid/water. Another experience was, that coming from Europe it took a couple of days to get used to the higher intensity of daylight (e.g.in the deserts), the width of the countryside and distances (e.g. at Death Valley or the Grand Canyon you can look more than 25km ahead), the open sky. We always felt as being a welcomed traveller. It is a pity that a lot of US citizens are only able to see their country after retirement. And yes, there are people living on one side of a mountain range that have never been on the other side or the coast line. I have been so overwhelmed by all these experiences that I wanted to emigrate to the US. It failed because I couldn`t get a Green Card. Meanwhile I`m happy that it didn`t work out because I realized that the quality of life, work-life-balance, social security, ... especially when you`re getting older are much better in Europe - and there are lesser no-go-areas because of security reasons. Sometimes it is necessary to go somewhere else in order to realize what kind of values you really have in your life und to appreciate it more in the future.
We dream some day of being able to take a long road trip like you mention up the Pacific Northwest. I've spend time in Portland and just adored it. Maybe when Jack is older we can do a big "American road trip" and visit some of these places. â€ïžâ€ïž
That intro and in between music makes me feel like it's a Harry Mack video. Was kind of confused at first đ
Btw most times we do 2 trips for 2 weeks every year. One trip is in Germany and the other one in another country.
I can highly recommend Bali with its beautiful flora and fauna and astonishing panoramas. I also loved the people and their friendly and open minds.
**chuckles** When I saw the pictures of Johnathon and Jack in the pool, I was instantly reminded of my first "big vacation". I was probably a year, a year and a half older than Jack and we went to (then) Yugoslavia (now) Croatia.
And to this day some decades later this vacation is strongly (in a positive/ curious/ inquisitive way) connected with sea urchins and learning the fact that lizards (Eidechsen) can throw off their tail.
So, I hope/ wish that Jack also made some memories that will stay with him for the years to come.
We hope that he builds some great memories with us. My parents prioritized a yearly vacation, even if it was just a short drive away. I always remember those vacations and the effort my parents made to give us more exposure and time together. â€ïž
As a matter of fact, at least for the 24 days of "Mindesturlaub", an employee does not have to be reachable by any means and in addition, if an employee on vacation (even actively) is ignoring calls, emails, etc. from his employer that cannot cause a termination of the work contract. Even (in most cases) if the work contract contains specific stipulations about that. Those, if valid at all, are only valid for the additional days of vacation beyond the 24 days you get as "Mindesturlaub". Of course there are some specific exceptions to that rule, like for example if you are an important employee and, for example, only you know the password for something and that password is needed from you during the vacation (assuming there is a valid reason that the password is required immediately), then your employer might want you to be reachable.
I'd like to add one more aspect concerning German vacation culture and vacationing habits:
Public holidays.
There are a number of national holidays, many but not all of them Christian in origin , that make for long or almost long weekends.
Many will strategically use single vacation days around national holidays. And if a holiday falls one day into the workweek, like on a Thursday for example, the regular Friday is often made a bridge day. Schools and some offices will not bother opening and you get an extra day off.
And the type of 4-5 day maximal sightseeing vacation you describe typical for Americans, takes place then. Mostly for destinations within a half day's travel by plane.
This happens in addition to the "big" family holiday of the year.
These short trips will focus on a specific region or on a city, domestic or abroad.
The popularity of campers has also increased this practice.
Though most Germans will agree, the most common vacation destination is "Balkonien". :D
In my company you can usually take one vacation for up to 4 weeks in a row. Also you'll have to take all of your vacation days during the actual year (sometimes till march next year) but cannot stack up / collect them for several years, which is different to how it's done in the US.
When it comes to vacations, I'm a rather lazy guy. I usually plan to have at least one vacation for a time of 2-3 weeks in a row for each year. And for that time, I like to stay on one or max. two different locations in the country or state I'm visiting. In preparation of the vacation, I usually put 2-3 items of "must see" on my bucket list, which means interesting locations, museum visits, going to an amusement park or alike, which usually means a day trip in that area. The other days I don't really plan on beforehand. I rather let me get surprised from what other interesting things the location has to offer when arriving so I might visit or do something really spontaneous just depending on the mood I'm into after waking up in the morning at that day or one the evening the day before. Depending on what might have catched my interest while driving by, the actual weather situation etc. At least for a day or two, it might even be that I'm just lazy spending my time at a pool or beach, jump into the water from time to time to refresh and relax reading a book. I often also like to either ask other locals on the street or the hotel staff to get a tip about what they would recommend to see or attend to find out the secret and interesting things you might not find on official trip advisors, like a really good restaurant which offers local food etc. instead of just visiting the touristic, overcrowded or overprized hotspots. My ultimate goal is to relax and get distracted by the things the location has to offer, not thinking about work or other things which would keep me busy or put myself under any kind of stress.
During a vacation I also don't have my work laptop or work phone with me. For a possible situation of a real emergency, my stand-in and my boss do have my private cellphone number, and I offer them to call me if something really important needs to be resolved during the time where they need my expertise or knowledge. But this only happend once within the last 10 years, so everything else could be resolved after being back from my vacations.
To be honest, in the past I didn't think about in regards of different approaches in comparison of US and Germany although knowing of less vacation days in the US. Following the YT channel "Our story to tell" I became aware of it while they made a trip to Greece, filming many locations and doing a really pretty video about. Knowing also their other many videos of them within the same year I was wondering how many vacation days they might have and thus I asked. Turned out, they were constantly filming and their trip to Greek was just for an extended weekend, fully packed and planned to capture as much as possible. While the resulting video was stunning in regards of what they were able to see and explore, for me personally it would just be too much to rush from one location to another instead of just take your time to relax and calm down to refresh.
Nice jump!
As a german family we combine 2 types of vacation. The stationary "main vacation" with 3 weeks in the late summer at the beach and the "exploring vacation" for a week or 10 days in late spring where we do road trips or going to see other places than usual.
Our best vacations so far were iceland where we did some road tips and had a solar eclipse.
I think that sounds like a really nice balance. We also totally enjoyed our time in Iceland where we got to see the northern lights. A stunning country.
I went to New Zealand for 4 weeks and it felt super rushed, because we couldn't stay in one place for 3-4 nights if we wanted to see the whole country. Then we met some American guys who tried to do it in 3 days (half a day in one place, flying to another for the rest of the day) đ I usually want to "feel" a place and get to know some locals, explore the area by feet and so on. So 2-3 nights at one place is usually the bare minimum (1 day to arrive, 1-2 days to explore, 1 day to go). Most Germans however just book 2 weeks in one place using a travel agency, where they get flight, hotel and food in one bundle. If anything goes wrong, the agency is liable for it and you get your money and some extra compensation back.
Hi and good morning. we can do long trips with exploring or short trips with a lot of input. as everyone can do. it is both times a perfect form of holidays. with a child it is just another thing to do. and this is international. I just loved to spend a week at the near Bodensee with our son on a farm for years in the spring. we start to explore the region, and the good thing is that there is so much to see. like you did it in your holiday now ( with a very nice destination). thank you for your insight look. I love to watch your Videos and maybe I meet you in Freiburg. đ Heike
It's similar to America. People will not use their days or leave an email auto-response up stating they will reply as soon as possible. All to make their bosses 'happy'. In Germany, my boss would be very unhappy if I did this.
It's really interesting to hear about the American way of vacationing. When my husband and I met in university we made it our no 1 commitment to travel as much as possible before joining the "real" world of working and starting a family. And oh boy did we reach that goal đ€Ł We've been together for 10 years now and we have taken a total of 31 trips (including some with our son). And there are no regrets on spending all our money on travel. Soooo many amazing memories to look back on. đ
That's so great! We are the same way. We prefer memories over 'things' which end up in the trash.
Hi guys, hope you enjoyed your trip! Our favorite trip were 3,5 weeks road trippin through Norway in a small Ford Fiasta and a tent. Last trip just ended two days ago and we made (again) a road trip in our camper van throught Bavaria, Austria and Northern Italy (SĂŒdtirol?) with our dog and it was amazing. We toured 13 days. I apologized my English because IÂŽm not a native speaker but I hope I did it quite well. Stay safe and have fun. Kind regards, Michael
Your english is great! We also have dreams of road tripping through Norway and possibly some other Scandinavian countries. The landscape in that area looks stunning.
Surprisingly for myself, probably the best holidays I has was in Mexico. Also great destinations are South Africa and Israel (OK, not in the moment). Always interesting is visiting the US. And within Europe Greece, Italy, UK and Hungary. Finally then also Turkey. But there are not only countries, also cities alone. Rome, Athens, Naples, London, Amsterdam, Prague, Budapaest, Vienna, and of course, Pompeii. Within Germany Heidelberg, Cologne, Leipzig, Rostock, Koblenz, the Oderbruch region (in the east of Berlin right to the border of Poland) and the RĂŒgen isle.
Rome and the Vatican is something you should imo see at least once, but my best vacation so far has been Japan (Tokio and Kyoto).
But both destinations are more for sightseeing/culture vacations and not for relaxation.
Vienna also falls into that category.
Very good video, I'm happy to see you on vacation, seeing you having a good time as a family and really enjoying the place that you are visiting is just wonderful. It's necessary to do this for yourself.
A life like that can't just consist of work, working your way up into old age so that the bosses or the management of some corporation can live a nice long life, simply can't be the meaning of life. It's almost like serfdom. But that's probably the price that a society is designed so much for consumption and waste, that one has to work for the enjoyment of the other until they eventually die. In return, the flag hangs everywhere and the fairy tale of freedom is told.
My vacation is really depending on the things that will happens all over the year.
Highly recommended are the islands of Madeira/Portugal, the Canaries and in Germany RĂŒgen/Usedom on the Baltic sea and the East Frisian islands like Wangerooge, Spiekeroog, Borkum etc. with the coast on the North sea.
Let's not forget that us rich people from western industrialized countries discussing their vacation times is "Jammern auf hohem Niveau" (whining on a high level). Globally speaking we all live in paradise.
Thank you so much for watching. We have yet to visit the northern part of Germany on the Baltic sea, but we do hope to get up there sometime this year. Jonathan has been to Gran Canaria for cycling and only had nice things to say about it.
Our whole family goes on winter vacation to the same place in Austria every year since the late seventies. Therefore we know the place and we don't have to explore as much. That is so much more relaxing because it really feels like home. The weather is the only thing that changes.
That's super interesting! We are actually looking at renting a Chalet in Austria for a long weekend this summer.
I don't know how common it is - but my family traveled mostly in Germany - combined with a visit to family on the Baltic coast. We also visited Italy, Sweden and Ireland but that's it.
On those trips we stayed at a vacation home for mostly 2 weeks. We made day trips from there or stayed in a big city like Dublin or Stockholm at the beginning or end.
To be in a nature totally free, to decide what and when you want to eat and it's much calmer and cheaper.
We did all this with our car - and used a ferry to cross the sea.
Some of the wealthy families I know do even two vacations - one in the summer (2-3 weeks) and one week in winter to ski.
Or do long weekends (combined with a holiday) to do short trips.
But you can do a cheap version of traveling around with interail by train as a student with no money. Or do a bicycle tour with sleeping in tents.
Either you've got to have money or time.
Actually you are kind of suppose to take your holidays in for at least 14 days in a row. Your days off are for you to recharge.
But this goes hand in hand with the fact of the given holiday of 20-30 work days per year. So it is pretty normal to take 10 vacation days you do have to have 14 days off. This works for almost two to three times a year.
Also it is pretty common the fact "the further you go, as longer you stay, cheaper it gets".
My personal way of doing is per year: have 1 14 days trip off outside eruope, 1 smaller one within Europe. The rest for home crafts having good time etc :D
I think that sounds like a really nice balance. And your perspective sounds a lot like ours - often the plane ticket is the priciest item. And if you are already there, you might as well stay longer and make the most of it.
You did a wonderful job of explaining why many Americans have so little time to get to know even a little of another country. If you only have 10 days of vacation a year and the sick days are deducted from that, then it is simply impossible to come to Europe from the USA in a meaningful way. The result is then: Europe in three days. Europe and the USA have roughly the same area and one should consider how it would be the other way around: USA in three days. It's a stupid idea. But that also explains why so many Americans never get to know anything other than their American culture in the course of their lives and that of course narrows the perspective on the world and its diversity. I not only watch your channel regularly but also that of many other Americans who now live here in Germany and I learn a lot from it about America and what restrictions not only this vacation policy but also the medical system places on most Americans. Thank you for your channel. Have a happy time in Germany and I would be very happy to meet you sometime in northern Germany and show you one or the other interesting thing in Schleswig-Hostein.
I used to always take 3 weeks off for a trip to (usually) Japan. And then 1-2 weeks over Christmas.
Currently I'm using my days 1-2 days at a time, for going to events in the middle of the week (if possible during the pandemic) or visiting a friend overseas for an extended weekend.
I also always try to use bridge days to connect national holidays and weekends to get a longer period of vacation.
Currently as a newbie in my job I only have 25 vacation days, which sucks, but I'll get one more each year until I reach 30 days.
During university times (master/ phd thesis) I was always available to my supervisor, but now with a job I completely disconnect. I work 8h a day and at 5pm I turn off both my work pc and smartphone and I'm not available until the next day. Same goes for weekends and vacation. But it is also not expected of me or anyone.
Iâm glad to see youâre enjoying your holiday (although Thailand would definitely NOT be on my list of holiday destinations! I detest temperatures in excess of 25°; I would rather have -10° than + 30°).
I would say you are spot on with your analysis of why Americans travel so little internationally. I donât know if my parents would have ever come to Europe if I hadnât moved here. Anyway, we had the opportunity to cross the Red River into the wilderness of Oklahoma by driving about 20 minutes (please donât tell Donnie and Aubrey I said that! đ€Ș
A trip I have been considering for a long time and may actually do this winter - a cruise from Hamburg to the northern tip of Norway and back on very small ships. I think they are actually postal ships that have discovered the financial rewards of taking passengers. I would love to see the aurora borealis! With my luck, solar activity would be at its lowest level in the last 2000 years and there would be NO aurora borealis! Or there would be constant cloud cover. I traveled to southern Germany in 1999 to see the total solar eclipse. 40 seconds (!) before totality, a cloud covered the sun, moving on after totality had passed.
That adventure would be so amazing! When we were in Iceland this time 3 years ago we were lucky enough to see the aurora borealis however it was different than we were expecting. Vivid and visible but very slow moving. I wish you luck!
Also, bad luck on the cloud cover for the solar eclipse! Life goes that way sometimes, but it makes for a good story. :)
In Australia we get 20 days off paid leave per year but somewhat bizarrely we get long service leave after 10 years. That is accumulated at 1 week per year so after 10 years you have an extra 10 weeks of holiday. The origin of this was it would let you go back to the UK on the boat for a couple of weeks holiday in the UK then get back on the boat and come home again.
When I worked in France we would get 6 weeks of holiday plus extra weeks due to the fact that we had a 35 hour week but we worked a nominal 40 hour week this allowed us a couple of RTT days (recupuration de temps de traville) per month. The USA is mad in not having 4 weeks of paid vacation a year the economy would boom because of the service industry support for holiday makers. Seems like you are well on the way to becoming European. Of course when I worked in France every weekend it felt like I was on an extended holiday. I am sure that you feel like that when you go to the local Saturday market. In the end when we came to Australia 17 years ago ( I am a Scot originally) it felt that actually culturally Australia was a lot closer to our home in the UK than we had in France. My wife loved France but the people in Australia are so friendly, for me it felt like living in Scotland. If you go shopping here or walk around people are so happy to start talking it is great, just like Scotland but with the great weather. I am an Australian now. If you are looking for a place to go I would suggest Scotland in May or come to Australia in October or November. I hope you do not spend a lot of time on your channel videos enjoy your family these are days you do not get back later.
Very interesting. Does the long service leave begin at 10 years at the same company, or 10 years of working out of school?
The USA has a lot to learn with taking time away from work, but it does not look like much will change anytime soon.
We do plan on visiting Scotland sometime soon in the future, it looks absolutely stunning plus it will be nice speaking our native tongue confidently. Australia and New Zealand are on our list for a 3+ week trip someday in the future, but probably when our child is a little bit older.
@@TypeAshton It must be with the same company unless you work for the federal or state government. I own property in Baden, so I find your videos very interesting.
We love southern tyrolia, this old winery that has apartments for at least a week, the north sea and Italy for at least few days and we always used to do day or weekend trips close by from where we were, I think MĂŒnster is the go to in a way (my parents met there and a lot of others in the family) or towns with roman historical museums when we were little and Holland. We lived close to Holland and MĂŒnster and my parents loved history, so we usually ended up in a museum or play growing up and had fun.
Augsburg, Leer, MĂŒnster, Bochum, RĂŒgen, Spiekeroog and Papenburg are special to me for shorter trips because it's recurring and you find something new getting lost still.
Bochum is special because it's got this slightly less classical cultural aspect with industrial urban culture including the coal mining museum and it's my dad's godparent's home we've had this special connection to that it's home away from home, also our family football club.
Leer has a tea museum and this slowed down frisian culture, time standing still in a good way, Papenburg is similar to that as far as the casual slowed down culture is concerned, brick buildings and ships in the town canal. Spiekeroog is a car free frisian island.
RĂŒgen is an island with pirate history and a play about Störtebecker and you can find amber there. Augsburg has this culturally historical aspect, one of the oldest urban residential developments for a good cause and the buildings and foundation still exist and the Puppenkiste which is fun for kids and adults.
Wow, thanks so much for all of these great suggestions! We will certainly look into these for our upcoming trips.
My Ffvourite vacation actually included Freiburg. I went from my then hometown of Augsburg up the Donau till i reached Freiburg, and from there i headed to MĂŒlhausen/Mulhouse right across the french border. From there you can travel along the old Rhein-Rhone Canal to the river Rhone, and from there to Marseille. Even if you only do the Rhein-Rhone Canal, it is awesome. There are biking and hiking only paths right next to the canal for the whole distance. The whole trip took me like 11 days on my bike, and let me tell you this was awesome. You might wanna wait, till your little boy is a bit older to do so, but it was quite the experience for me. I ll never forget that travel route. But there are plenty other destinations, if yopu are interested, you should look for euro velo routes (they span the whole of europe, from spain to hungary, from norway to italy. Plus, there are often times camping sites next to the euro velo routes, which provide at least a little of the necessities. Like having a shower, fresh water supply without always buying new bottles, and so on. Thats an awesome type of travel especially if you are bikeheads like myself. Edit: Typos.
It seems you had a great vacation time! I for myself prefer several little (maybe 1 week) travels. A week on a cruise ship or a week in south tyrol for example. But I love also wellness days in a Therme with sauna, when I have only a weekend of free time. I can recommend you a holiday in the AllgÀu, for example. Especially a holiday there on a little farm. I was in Sonthofen near Oberstdorf and we had an apartment and I can highly recommend it for you with a little kid.
We plan on visiting the AllgÀu in June for a biking trip. We can't wait to finally see it!
@@TypeAshton I can recommend you this little farm with a few fantastic apartments, where I was a few years ago. If you like to get the adress from me, just call me. It is really nice and family friendly!
We usually take two to three vacations per year (7-21 days). It really depends on the destination and time of year. But we are in a lucky position to be teachers. So we have a fixed "Ferien"-schedule to work with đ
As a teachers' brat I can relate to that, five weeks summer holiday in France and in spring and autumn one week in Germany.
To answer the question of favourite travel destination: for me within Europe itâs definitely Kopenhagen! It is a beautiful city, the people there are incredibly friendly and itâs an amazing bicycle city. A lot of streets even have two bicycle lanes in each direction. I went on two bicycle tours with my father starting from Stralsund taking the ferry to Trelleborg (Sweden) and then riding the bike to Kopenhagen, where weâd then spend 3-4 nights and then ride back to the ferry and go home.
You cut us off too soon. I was excited to see Ashton jump into the water.đ
As a German with way too much time on my hands I actually like both kinds of vacation. Sometimes I travel through some countries just for sightseeing. That's interesting and exciting but not at all relaxing. In ideal case there are some days at the end of the trip to stay and relax in one place for "Urlaub vom Urlaub". You can find a lot of "Pauschalreisen" that are made like this (for instance Aldi, Lidl, Tchibo, Berge&Meer etc.). The next vacation should be a more relaxing one. Like an all inclusive stay at a nice hotel with a couple of excursions in the Caribbean, Thailand or East Africa. I prefer to do that in wintertime so I can shorten the cold period. That's two birds with one stone. The most exciting trips I've done so far was China-Tibet-Nepal (partwise literally painful, not to recommend with a kid), photo safaris in Kenia and South Africa (watch your kid - lions really like them đ) and of course round trips through some U.S.- and Canada parts (you would know). Have a terrific vacation.
Well, if americans have only 2 or 3 weeks vacation I can understand why they want to do the most they can of this time. Travel from city to city every day could be my option too.
I am glad I work in Germany and have 8 weeks vacation/year and can stay longer in the spots I want deaply to know.
Great video. Thank you guys. I enjoy watching you.
Love your videos Thailand is beautiful. I am in the luxury position of getting 9,5 weeks holiday per years and I am not even a teacher. I normally split my holiday in 3X3 weeks. Duing holidy and outside office hours I am totally offline workwise. It is not expected in The Netherlands you are active with work.
Every Monday I am looking forward to you new video. Keep up the good and interesting work.
You are so lucky! Thanks so much for watching. :)
Hello Ashton, hello Jonathan, I seems that your enjoyed your vacation. I have 30 days of vacation. I split it mostley in one 3-week-vation and two or three of one week.With planning the vacation including some official german holidays there are some days left. There are studies that you need at least one week off that your body and mind can start to relax and re-charge.
I did also some short vacations and had afterwards to feeling that I have to recover form such a vacation.đ
As a possitve travel destination I woulfd like to suggest Dresden and the sÀchische Schweiz. The landscape there is realy spectecular.
That sounds wonderful! We would love to vacation for that long, but we also have to reserve at least 2 weeks of the year to go back to the US. Visiting family is wonderful but it is different than a "vacation". đ
Yeah, it's quite a stretch by car or train, you should try the North of Germany, both the North Sea coast and the Baltic Sea coast.
Yes! But look up the Watt (the mud flats) before. xD
They are not everywhere and cool in their own way. Plus the tours are fun especially for children. But you would not be the first to have expected more water at their vacation location :D
Many families with small children opt for domestic vacations and getaways.
Also mainland Northern Germany is great for Biking Tour holidays. There are tours featuring lots of castles and services that will bring your luggage to you next stop while you bike there.
A favorite, especially among families with childern of many ages, are farm holidays on a so called "Ferienhof".
The MĂŒnsterland is well known for both.
Great intro!
Thanks!
Leute, es ist immer wieder erfrischend euch zuzusehen. Ich finde es sehr spannend, wie eure Sicht auf "Europa" bzw "Germany" ist. Ich bin kein Deutscher, aber ich muss immer wieder schmunzeln, denn bei uns ist es schon wieder anders. ;-)
ok here comes the ultimate german vacation hack: make sure you live in a state where 6.January is a holiday (drei Könige/ephitany) have 30 days of vacation days a year, wait till 2024 when christmas is in the middle of the week. Take your vacation from 02.dec. to 24.jan 2025 and you have 58 days for your travel to Australia, used 19days in 2024 and 16days in 2025 which means you have still two weeks+ of vacation days left for each year.
Also check out the concept of 'BrĂŒckentag' (bridgeday) for those puplic holidays that fall on a Thursday and you take a day to 'bridge' into the weekend
This really is a great tip. Unfortunately for us, we usually travel back to the US over Christmas. Last year (and this year) have been particularly bad for trying to also use paid holidays to extend the vacation.
Especially as a family... kids don't like to hop around various spots. We made this experience with a camper van... why did we rent the camper van? To drive around for sight seeing - kids not amused.
After that experience, we rented a cottage (south of France) - and came back for nine consecutive years, each for three weeks... meeting same French and German families over time... until it became boring for the grown up daugthers (und us as parents).
Great point! We will be learning this one in a few years for sure.
That is the best part of Europe, every 300 miles or so u see a different culture, a different language, u dont see that anywhere else in the world and i love it.
We love it so, so much too.
Hello,
a couple of years ago Iâve switched from City trips and Bike travels to a VW Van witch Iâve converted to a small Campervan. That has changed my travelling - Even as a german. Where in the past each vacation was up to three weeks at max, Iâve learned that Roadtrips are much more time consuming. After Trips over four weeks through Norway (a really stunning Place to be), this year Iâve been to England and Wales over 5,5 weeks and I still hadnât enough time to see Scotland as well.
Next Level will be a Trip from December to March 2024 and use my overtime account to reduce my day shift from nearly 9-10 Hours to maybe 3 or 4 Hours per day - Starlink hopefully will do the magic đ . Should be enough to go all the way to Gibraltar from near Hamburg and see a lot of France, Spain and Portugal. Should I mention that Iâve still 32 vacation days left, when Iâll be back in March? đ They have to be used until December 2024.
On every Single trip I meet so much people and learn about other countries, Culture and Nature.. I canât live without that and waiting until retirement is a gamble which often donât pays off. Do you really do such things if youâre 67-70 years old and have - never - experienced things Like that before?
(Sorry if there any weird words within. My iPad never stops correcting the words Iâve written (still thinks I want to write in german đ)
As a teacher you have 14 weeks off a year. Some time I use to relax, but when I make transocean journeys (USA, China, Australia) I have a schedule, what to do, BUT I want to get for my brain time to accomodate. Resaxing is not the first aim. When I went in 1996 to the West of USA I used a plan, which was scheduled for 21 days and extended it o 35 days, to have a closer look to LA, to climb Humphreys Peak, go down to Gran Canyon with a tent on August for 3 days, climbed the Mount Whitney (4418 m high) within 2 days, went up to San Francisco, saw Western Town Body, Mamoth Lakes, big trees, to visit a friend in Tucson...My aim was, to stay for a minimum of 3 days at one place, to have different places (sleeping in a tent at 2400 m / 3400m on ground with stones, at the Hotel Biltmore in LA where the first Oscar was awarded, on Queen Mary in Long Beach, in a motel, where trucks had to use excessively their brakes, in Las Vegas...) When I plan holidays in Europe, I stay much longer at a place (1 or 2 weeks). I was 6 weeks in Australia, but after that I was exhausted and became ill, even the vacation was very interesting and nice..... I like a kind of effectiveness, when I make long trips. I will never fly across a ocean for less than 2 (better 4) weeks. Teacher at a vocational school is the best job in Germany, you can get.......
As a Swede you get 25 vacation days, out of this you can choose to save 5 days to use in the future. So if you for instance save 5 days for 5 years in a row, year 6 you can have a 10 week paid vacation! đđ