Speed Vacations: People Want to Hurry Up and Relax
Well I never realized just how much I am a part of the crazy busy culture until my friend Linda talked m e into a three-day two-night vacation up the Central Coast of California - Arroyo Grande/Pismo Beach, specifically. We stayed two nights - all we could squeeze out of our collection of committments. Driving five hours each way for only two nights isn't my favorite kind of getaway.
But I did relax and had experiences that refreshed me - such as taking a 40-foot beach dune in a miliary Hummer - something I never knew I wanted to do.
Travel researcher Peter Yesowich in a conference speech in Hilton Head commented on today's travelers. "The rise of e-mail has added an hour to the average workday, increasing travelers' desire to get away for "speed vacations" that allow them to "hurry up and relax." "Time is the commodity of greatest value."
If you do find yourself with only two nights allocated for a getaway, a bed and breakfast such as the seven-acre Casitas of Arroyo Grande with lots of pampering in a gorgeous setting. Though in the middle of summer, we relished the woodburning kiva fireplaces, a perfect remedy for the California summer of discontent (June gloom lasting through August along the coast). Stunning gardens everywhere framed views of the valley and fed our souls.
If you do get stuck in this kind of culture of hurrying up to relax, choose a bed and breakfast and make sure it's in a nature-rich setting and you will stretch your time because sometimes two days at a beautiful inn will give the benefits of a five night stay. Better yet, hold out for MORE seven-day vacations.
