Are you a doer or a relaxer on holiday?

[Matt N]

Hi guys. As many of you know, I recently went to Spain to visit PortAventura for the first time with my mum and dad. We had a brilliant time, but one interesting aspect of the holiday is that my mum and dad told me they were using aspects of it as a litmus test to determine if they could ever do a “sun” holiday, wherein you do very little other than sit by a pool, eat and drink. They later determined that they probably couldn’t, as my dad said he was getting quite bored sat by the pool at our hotel for 20 minutes or so while my mum was swimming around in there! That got me thinking; there are seemingly two types of people when it comes to holidays, relaxers and doers. Relaxers are the sorts who don’t mind just lounging around eating and drinking, and whose ideal holiday would be an all-inclusive in Spain, Turkey, Greece or similar. Whereas doers are people who want to spend their holiday going out doing lots of different things and seeing sights and such. With this in mind, I’d be intrigued to know; are you a doer or a relaxer on holiday? Does lounging around not doing much suit you down to the ground, or do you like to go out and do things?

Personally, I’ve come to the realisation that I’m more of a doer on holiday. At home, I have no objection to sitting around not doing much for extended periods, as I’m in amongst my home comforts… but when I’m on holiday and away from my home comforts, I become far more inclined to want to go out and do things. Doing nothing is far less comfortable for me when I’m on holiday, and I seem to get much more easily bored than I do at home for some reason, so I do like to be out doing things. I guess that’s a small part of why theme park trips appeal to me as a type of holiday; they are naturally more of a doer’s holiday, and you are often out doing something on them. I like relaxation in small doses; for instance, sitting in the Hotel Gold River courtyard with a few drinks in the evenings at PortAventura was lovely! But I don’t think I could hack a full holiday of only sitting around relaxing, which makes me believe I’m more of a doer. To be honest, I think I’ve been raised by a family of doers as well; my mum, for instance, often climbs the walls and wants to do something if we’re stuck doing nothing for too long on holiday.

But I’d be interested to know; are you more of a doer or more of a relaxer on holiday?

 

[emoo]

I've come to appreciate moments of peace, at the beach or pool. But the aim is mostly achieve as much as possible. Make the most of the time, destination and new surroundings.

 

[Graeme]

Doing is relaxing!

Seaside resorts, heritage, amusement parks, boat trips... all worthwhile. But in recent years there's nothing I enjoy more than a long walk. I put on a rucksack full of drinks and snacks, and follow a map. There's something incredibly relaxing about concentrating on the walk and your surroundings. All the exercise, fresh air and vitamin D from the sun is very good for you.

Then I'll go back to my caravan, eat a pizza or something and drink some ales that I can't get where I live in some of those 500ml plastic cups. Ideally, there'll be an England match on too. Perfection!

 

[Will]

I doubt I'm uncommon here in needing a holiday to recover when I get back from my holidays.

I'd have liked to have built a couple of downtime days into my US trip this year, particularly when I realised how pleasant the area around CP is - but generally, I get confused by people taking holidays where they don't leave the hotel complex and - bar swimming - don't do anything they couldn't do at home.

 

[Flash Shift]

It depends. Abroad I will try to cram a lot in but also have a few sections of downtime if possible, especially since it's expensive and there's only limited amounts of time. I like to walk around and see where places go for the sake of it, especially on solo trips, where trips with others might have more attractions in. In the UK, holidays I take with friends or family tend to be a bit slower.

As I get older I understand why people take holidays where they do **** all because modern society is exhausting and overstimulating, but only taking those sorts of holidays baffles me.

 

[JoshC.]

I expect that a website filled with theme park enthusiasts, who actively choose to go on holiday to theme parks - naturally a "do" activity - will be filled with people who associate themselves broadly into the "doer" category.

 

[Nitefly]

I’m definitely a ‘doer’.

But I’m mindful that the extent I’m a ‘doer’ may be reflective of an overstimulated mind; half a by-product of modern realities, half a ‘mentally fat’, undisciplined glutton of stimulation.

“Feeeeeed meeee” *eat eat scroll scroll worry worry solve solve*

Dragging an ‘overstimulated mind’ to a ‘relaxing place’ and expecting satiation is akin to binge drinking one evening and planning to wake up early in order enjoy a tranquil walk. Enjoy your ‘hangover’

 

[Ollie]

Theme park holidays are definitely a dooer for obvious reasons.

But even on non-theme park holidays, I like to try to explore the area a little. It seems a little alien to me to go to a foreign country and only see inside the 4 walls of an all-inclusive hotel.

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

If we're talking the all-inclusive holiday thing, I'm usually a doer. If I spend a week at a resort, I usually want to be doing an excursion or activity for two or three of those days and I like to participate in the games that the entertainment staff put on. I am also absolutely not much of a beach lounger. If I lounge, it's by the pool, but I usually like to at least be walking around if I'm not out doing an excursion. Those types of holidays don't hugely appeal to me anyway, which is funny because I work for a company that revolves strictly around all-inclusive vacation packages, haha.

 

[Will]

Dragging an ‘overstimulated mind’ to a ‘relaxing place’ and expecting satiation is akin to binge drinking one evening and planning to wake up early in order enjoy a tranquil walk. Enjoy your ‘hangover’

Haha, some of the people I hang around with have a saying: It doesn't matter how far you travel; unfortunately, you take yourself with you

 

[Gavin]

I'm definitely more of a doer. I like the idea of a lazy pool/beach day, but very rarely end up doing that, especially if I'm traveling alone, and tend to get quite bored quite quickly.

However, these days I do prefer to get back to hotels at a reasonably early time and chill out for a bit, waking up earlyish to get s**t done the next day. In the past, I'd check out the nightlife, but I rarely bother now since I tend to give myself less time in each place, so can't really afford - timewise - to risk losing a morning to a hangover.

 

[Howie]

Generally a doer but sometimes, just sometimes, it's nice to just kick back, sit on a beach or by a pool and do f*** all for a few days. Not for too long, couldn't do it for, say, 2 weeks straight, I'd have to break it up with a few excursions or some sightseeing/exploring and stuff, but yeah, I do enjoy a bit of all-inclusive lounging about every once in a while.