GIVE YOURSELF AN UNFAIR ADVANTAGE
GIVE YOURSELF AN UNFAIR ADVANTAGE
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Vacation time: the French way
This article explores the French approach to summer vacations, highlighting the importance of taking time off, savoring good food and wine, and embracing a slower pace of life. Whether you're in France or elsewhere, these tips can help you enjoy your summer to the fullest.
Maayan Szmelcman Yerushalmy
Friday, August 23, 2024
Summer holidays are a nice break for so many people in so many countries. Whether you’re by the beach getting tanned, by the pool drinking a cocktail, or traveling to a new destination—summer is vacation time. It's no secret that French summer is a festival of tastes, sounds, and great energy, but it’s also a time to relax, let go, and enjoy time with family and friends. Summertime in France is surely something to learn from.
But if you are moving abroad, especially to Europe, summer is also the moving period. It can be a stressful and uncertain time, with so much to do that sitting by the pool can remain a sweet dream or just a future plan.
One of the things we love discovering is local culture and ways of living, and local summer traditions are one we've discovered over the years. Once you get the principles down, spending your summer holiday like the French can be done in any country.
After three years living in France, we finally decoded how the French enjoy their summer holiday, and in this article, we’ll share what we've learned so you can start enjoying this time, no matter where you are.
(Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels)
Rule number one: Vacation time is sacred.
What began in the 1930s as a way to give employees some time off work—with 15 days off every year—has evolved over the years to the five weeks off we see today.
It might be a bit cliché, but French people spend their time either waiting for their vacances or actually being on vacances. Vacation time is made to take time off work, and they surely use it to do so.
In the early 1930s, when the idea of taking time off to rest was new, people in France used this time off to help their family and friends who lived in the countryside with agricultural and farm work. But rest assured, this misunderstanding didn’t last long. Over the years, the French government added more paid vacation for employees, and they learned to master it quite well.
Today, "les vacances" are something French people plan ahead for, sometimes planning a vacation while enjoying another. They eagerly await this time off work and won't give it up for anything. This is the time to chill and relax.
Rule number two: Good food and great wine.
This time off is meant to be enjoyed, and what better way to enjoy les vacances than with great food and drinks? From fresh baguettes to tasty seasonal vegetables, and everything in between—including amazing cheese, olives, and sweet desserts—there is no doubt the French know how to eat.
A day of holiday is not successful if it doesn’t include "apéro time." "Apéro" is short for "Apéritif," and it’s the perfect time for a drink and a friendly gathering between friends and family.
During the summer, some favorite drinks are Ricard, Aperol Spritz, and, of course, Rosé. To complement the drinks, it’s very common to have some olives, cornichons, sausage, chips, peanuts, and salty crackers.
This is a gathering time, and you’ll rarely see someone having a lonely apéro. It’s the perfect moment to chat with friends or family, enjoy being together, laugh, and leave the worries and troubles behind for a moment.
The ingredients may vary depending on the region you’re in, but the rule is simple: have a good drink and enjoy it!
(Photo by Askar Abayev on Pexels)
Rule number three: Slow down.
Whether you choose to stay in a countryside area where the most common sounds around you are cows and sheep, or you choose the beach as your getaway, one thing is certain—everything moves at a different rhythm.
It sometimes feels like someone pushed the slow-motion button, and everything just slows down. From the rhythm of your walk to the time it takes to eat lunch, during the French holidays, everything takes longer, and that's the beauty of it.
Leaving the rush of your daily routine behind and slowing down can be hard at the beginning. It can even be frustrating if you don’t understand why everything takes so much time. But once you realize that this is just the way it is, and you adapt yourself to "vacances time," you can start to appreciate it and even enjoy it.
Yes, you can learn to enjoy waiting for a coffee or cooking dinner together with the family for two hours, and then eating it for two hours as well. It's all about your expectations and your ability to adapt.
(Photo by Elina Fairytale on Pexels)
The French mindset: a bonus for your vacation.
No matter where you choose to spend your summer, whether it's in France or elsewhere, you can adopt the French Summer Mindset. Learn to slow down, appreciate the time off, spend this precious time with your loved ones, laugh, smile, sing, and let go.
The summer is ending soon, and we will go back to our crazy rhythm, stressing about deadlines and endless tasks. So for now, leave all of that behind—even for just a couple of days. It will all wait for you, I promise.
This time spent in the time you took off is precious.
Embrace it, appreciate it, and most importantly—enjoy it!
Written by Maayan Szmelcman Yerushalmy
Founder of Smoozitive and creator of SYLA app - the #1 app for those living abroad.
Maayan is an expert in expat mindset training, who blends her own life experience (relocated 7 times, and lives in many more cities) with her substantial yoga, energy healing, and mindfulness skills. She has helped countless see the good in their life, make changes and feel better about themselves throughout the years. Oh and she is a mom of two amazing girls ;)
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