Bonjour à tous,
Septembre : c’est la rentrée! Peut-être regrettez-vous déjà les vacances… à propos, les vacances idéales, c’est quoi pour vous? plutôt tranquilles ou mouvementées? à la maison ou à l’autre bout du monde? des destinations de vacances qui vous ont fait rêver?

Our word association on vacation was pretty much the same. For some reason though, the French mentioned “sun” many times and I do not think we mentioned it once.

Hello everyone!
I noticed that the Americans were mostly talking about summer and beach, whereas the French mentioned mountains and ice. Do you guys sometimes spend your vacation where it is cold?
Adrianelem, answering your question, I think mostly people don’t go abroad. We (‘many people’) like to travel in the US, from state to state. So we don’t go to Europe that often because it is on the other side of the globe.

Hello,

French students and American student associate many of the same terms with the word: vacation. However, I did notice that French students used words more associated with nature.
For the most part, do people stay home or travel for vacation? If so, do people travel around in France or travel to a nearby country? Regards

Bonjour,
En lisant les commentaires, on a l’impression que tout le monde peut partir en vacances.
Il me semble qu’il soit très difficile de généraliser.
Même si les français ont des vacances relativement longues grâce aux acquis sociaux, beaucoup de français n’ont pas forcément les moyens soit de s’en payer, soit de partir loin . Les statistiques montrent bien que ceux qui voyagent à l’étranger sont finalement peu nombreux.

Yes, I definitely agree with Valerie that most Americans travel within the USA for vacation, but I get the impression that many Americans have dream vacations that are more exotic– Bora Bora, Greece, Australia, even France! I have heard many of my peers say that they want to travel the world before settling down. However, we are limited by time and money; it is quite expensive to travel to the other side of the world. Corinne, it is interesting to me that French students feel the same way, simply because you live so close to areas where Americans would consider prime vacation destinations- I know that Paris might be too close to be exciting, but what about Spain or Switzerland? Where are some popular French vacations? Is it uncommon to leave the country during vacation?

La taille de la France relative à celle des Etats-Unis est ridicule. Comme Corinne, je suis pas sur que beaucoup de Français partent en vacances à l’étranger, ou même voyagent à l’intérieur du pays. Même si Athènes est à 2h d’avion je ne suis pas persuadé que le Français lambda puisse aller aussi loin. Mais les compagnies low cost qui se sont développées en Europe ces dernières années permettent aussi à pas mal de monde à l’intérieur de l’Europe d’être plus mobile qu’avant.

I agree that most of the time Americans travel within the US. Though, we are fortunate in the sense that the US offers a wide range of vacation destinations. Whether you want the beach or snowy slopes there is a place for you. However, for me growing up my family was usually limited by money or time to go on a more exotic vacation. That is why, to me, a vacation is just something were you don’t have to worry about much and just do whatever you want. Whether this be exploring a new culture, region, or just sleeping in. Though the former tend to be more interesting in my opinion, though costly at times. Also, a good point is that it is easy for Americans to go between all the different states. Is it similarly easy to go between countries in Europe?

Travel within the US can be pretty expensive. A round trip flight from Boston to California can be around $600 to $800, and then you have to pay for a hotel. As an American, I always had the impression that Europeans traveled around Europe all the time. I always thought it was pretty cheap with the trains and the flights. I do dream about traveling throughout Europe and the UK. I’ve been to France, but I would like to go back. Lots of people do have the opportunity to travel throughout the world, but it really depends on how much money they have. I have a lot of friends that have been to Europe, and I have some friends that have never left the US.

Hello!

I also noticed that many of the American students associated alot of the words with vacation, whereas the French students associated the word moreso with holidays and nature. Also, both groups seem to have a generally positive attitude towards the word. I also noticed the abundance of “soleil”. Is it hard to spend alot of time in the sun in France when you are not on vacation?

HuguesLC on Sun, what do you exactly mean when you say you are not sure French people go abroad or travel in the country for vacation? Are you saying that people do not go anywhere for holidays? I always had the impression that people travel a lot in Europe since everything is so close to each other and airplane or train tickets are very cheap.

Voyager n’est pas donné à tout le monde, les billets de train et d’avion -bien que le low cost soit plutôt à bas prix ( environ 40€ pour un Lyon-Madrid)- restent encore très cher. Et le plus cher reste le logement pendant les vacances. Je donne un exemple, pour louer un logement dans un camping dans le sud-ouest de la France (entre Bordeaux et Biarritz), la semaine coûte environ 1 200€. Ce que je trouve très cher. Qu’en pensez-vous ? Est-ce que les vacances au sein même des Etats Unis est si cher ? Est-ce que le camping est quelque chose de développé chez vous ?

Il est amusant de constater qu’aux Etats-Unis, les étudiants rêvent de voyager en Europe alors que nous les étudiants européens rêvons souvent d’aller en Amérique. Je pense que beaucoup de Français sont influencés par les séries américaines dans lesquelles les grandes villes sont mises en valeur et la façon de vivre à l’américaine idéalisée. NYC, Los Angeles, Miami, Las Vegas, … autant de destinations qui donnent des étoiles dans les yeux! Je pense aussi que les Français, même ceux qui aiment voyager, ne sont que très peu intéressés par les pays d’Europe de l’est et préféreront largement aller au Royaume-Uni, en Italie, en Espagne, en somme, les pays voisins de la France. Le Français ne semble pas très aventureux en général et même si le manque de moyens y est souvent pour quelque chose je ne pense pas que le problème s’arrête à cela. Par rapport à d’autres populations, je trouve les Français assez casaniers; que l’on ait de l’argent ou non, en France, on préfère rester dans son pays et rendre visite à de la famille dans une autre région par exemple pour les petits budgets ou louer une villa dans le sud de la France l’été pour les plus fortunés. Passer ses vacances à l’étranger parait assez exotique voire incroyable pour certains…

In response to Adrianelem, my family is very much like what you described. We tend not to go anywhere that we can’t get to by our car, and this places tended to have family. I can only think of a handful of occasions where we went on more “exotic” trips. Though, I do have a few friends how enough going on my exotic trips, for example I have a friend who goes camping in the mountains of Wyoming every year with his family and some of their friends. This same friend likes to take trips to Hawaii. However, most of the people I know don’t fall into this category.

I am not American, but I love to travel to countries with cultures that are very different from mine. By exploring different cultures we can learn a lot about our culture and potentially even appreciate things we take for granted. Currently I’m doing my business degree here so it is very important for me to learn how business are being conducted in foreign markets and how the culture comes into play.

Hello Romane! Some popular vacation spots in the United States can be quite expensive. That being said, you can also find some relatively cheap places to have a nice vacation as well. Flying would be the most expensive, but in some parts of the United States we travel by train as well, which is not too expensive. Usually when I travel with my family we go by plane, but when I go with my friends we either road trip or go by train.

Bonjour BeepBop! Comme les Etats-Unis est un pays immense, combien d’heure de train ou de voiture te faut-il pour aller en vacances?

One thing I am wondering is if it is not that sunny in France most of the time because a lot of French students but “sun” down? I know that in England it rains a lot but I do not believe it rains a lot in France, does it?
Also, a lot of Americans leave the country for vacation and they think as Europe and France to be specific, as nice vacation spots. Do the French have wishes of coming to America for vacation?