Reading on Vacation

Thursday, June 26, 2014


I brought Love and Other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan along with me on my six-day vacation last week, hoping to read it during my downtime. It ended up staying in my suitcase for the whole trip.

Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting to finish the entire book. But I thought I'd pick it up at least once or twice during waiting periods. (All my days ended up being stuffed with things to do!)

I realized this as I was unpacking and it left me thinking—do you make time to read even while you're on vacation? I love reading but I feel like if I'm somewhere new, I owe it to myself to explore as much of the area as I can and do things I can't do back at home. I wouldn't go as far as to say I wouldn't bother picking up a book, but I felt like I was too tired not only to read, but to keep my eyeballs open! (It was a struggle to even take a shower ...)

Do you bring books with you on vacation? I guess it also depends on who you go with (family, friends, etc.) I don't have much experience going with either friends or family, so I'm curious!

6 comments

  1. For me, reading on vacation all depends on where I'm going! This year, I'll be lucky enough to go on two vacations (I KNOW, windfall!). One is to the beach, where my family and I tend to do very little. We always go to the same place, so there aren't many things we haven't done at some point and we know what we like to do, so we do those things and otherwise relax. So at the beach I get tons of reading done. I'm also going to Disney World, though. I know I won't read a page, other than on the plane to and from. At Disney, I'm moving every hour I'm awake. I do think when I go places with friends, though, I'm less inclined to read, since we're doing more. :) Great post Amaris! (And I hope you love Love and Other Foreign Words! I thought it was so cute!)

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  2. I do bring books with me on vacation, but I never read as much as I'm hoping to! But I can't help it, I need to know I have a book to occupy me in case I have free time! :) And it's nice to pick out a book specifically to read during vacation I think. Sometimes the book reminds me of my vacation and it's a nice memory connection.

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  3. Interesting discussion! The books I bring usually depend where and how long my vacation will be! For long vacations (two weeks or more) where we're mostly staying in one place, I usually bring around ten books and I get lots of reading done. Also, if we're constantly riding in a car/bus/plane, I get to read a book or two during the travel. Like you pointed out though, I'm usually not able to read as much as well when exploring a new place! :)

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  4. TEN BOOKS?! Oh my goodness that is crazy. I don't normally go on vacations, so it's a little different for me. If I read on transportation, I think I can only do it on a plane. Traveling in a car and reading gives me a huge headache! Glad you can still make time for reading during the down times :)

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  5. I agree! Even though I don't think I'll have time to read, I still bring a book just in case :p I love the idea of having a personal memory connected with a book. I haven't had one of those yet (except for the time a random person came up to me while I was reading Ruby Red ... it was quite the experience I don't really want to remember, haha ...)

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  6. DISNEY WORLD! I want so badly to go there and visit The Wizarding World. I hope you have DOUBLE the fun since I can't go there any time soon! :p I ended up returning Love and Other Foreign Words to the library because it was due, but I WILL return to it someday!

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