Travel vs Vacation

Most people think travel and vacation are two of the same activities. People may use their "vacation" time to travel. But you are not vacationing when you are traveling. So I always argue (usually the only one) they are very different. Here are the dictionary definitions:

Vacation: Leisure time away from work devoted to rest or pleasure
Travel: The act of going from one place to another

Vacation to me means I am staying in one spot like a beach and doing as little as possible. Travel on the other hand is very exciting with constant motion which can be tiring and even stressful. My mind and body are constant simulated by history, stories, culture, ruins, hikes, churches, temples and conversations. One of my favourite things is taking a mini vacation in the middle of my travels. I highly recommend doing that when planning your travels. In South East Asia, I made sure to fit in some R&R under the Phuket sun; in East Africa, it was a few days on the beaches of Zanzibar.

To me, travel is a lot more than just about going from one place to another. Travel is about learning and gaining perspectives. Growing up, my parents told me this old Chinese fable about a frog in the well (井底之蛙).

There was once a frog who lived in a well. It was happy and grateful with the spacious well he called home. One day an old turtle who lived by the sea passed by the well and chatted up with the frog who lived in the well. The turtle told the stories of the ocean's vastness and wonders. But the frog couldn't believe such a place could exist. How could there possibly anything be better than the well?

The rain had came down hard this year and raised the water level of the well. The frog took the opportunity to finally leap out of the well. Moved by curiosity, the first thing the frog did was to visit the sea. It was awestruck by endless openness of it all. When it returned to the well, it was still a happy frog & grateful for its home, but a bit uneasy now it knew how much larger reality was than its tiny precious well.