Are Germans Permanently On Holiday Or What?
I met a German work colleague of mine in the tea kitchen the other day and we began a discussion about where to go on holiday in October
. I don't think I was able to give her a great deal of advise and, thinking about it, I don't know why she needed to ask me. Being German she should be an expert on the topic of holidays; Germans appear to be bred with a natural affinity for Holidays, popping up at just about every holiday destination my family have ever been to. This thought made me somewhat inquisitive and I decided to explore this symbiosis of Germans and their holiday a bit closer.Here is what I found...
According to the statistics, the German nation is record holder for numbers travelling abroad and it seems they have worked towards that position steadily over the last 6 decades.
In 2008 for example, the German population spent about 61 billion Euros on travelling. The average German goes on holiday one or two times a year, usually to a beach location - Spain and Turkey being the most popular destinations.
This led me to the question - how on earth do they do it, the Germans, and all this travelling?
The first factor contributing to the question of how is the number of holidays the Germans receive - 30 days a year!!! No-one, apart from Sweden, with 33 days, gets more annual leave in Europe (the average UK employee gets just 24.6 days per year).
The second part of 'how' would appear to be money; going on holiday isn't cheap. Again, maybe not a big surprise to hear that Germany is among the top European countries with the highest average income. Among the Top 3 to be precise.
Ok, so much for the 'stats', what about those famous stereotypes of German holiday makers: The pale German, wearing a colourful shirt, white socks in brown sandals and a fashionable sunburn on his calves? What about their obsession to get up with the crack of dawn to reserve a sun bed by the pool, using the old towel 'trick'?
This brings me back to my German colleague from the tea kitchen, I decide to ask her innocently (and as friendly as I can) how she perceives her fellow-countrymen on holiday?
Her reply was probably as helpful as my holiday advise to her earlier. She grins and then tells me she likes to believe the stereotypes are all true but can only speculate. The holiday next week is her first one in about 5 years, after all she lives in the UK now where holidays don't come around as often as in Germany.
I will ask her again once she comes back from holiday and shall let you know. I hope she picked a hotel that advertised 'plenty of sun beds around the pool' or else employs her innate German sun bed acquisition skills.
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