beeginger

I know that canadians work hard and from what i read on here only have abt 2 weeks vacation, but the question is WHERE do they all go?. Its easy to forget that here in england europe is easily within reach and most of us have been to at least France and others greece, turkey, italy etc (i ealise now that we are spoilt for choice) but where do canadians holiday, oops take vacations?

iwanttotalktoyou

We go camping (atleast for us).

tallperson

Dominican Republic is apparently top of the list, followed by Cuba and then Florida. But a lot of them I guess vacation in Canada, camping or cottage.

NessieOggy

I'm Canadian and started my current employment with 3 weeks holidays and now have 4 weeks. I'm fortunate that I get every 2nd Friday off, so works well for extending the vacation time allowed.

Depends where in Canada you're asking.... we live on the west coast and find that many people will take trips to Hawaii, Mexico & the States. Many of us explore BC, but also travel by car thoughout Alberta. Several friends returned home to Saskatchewan this past year by car as well.

Last summer I took 3 weeks off and we explored the Pacific coastline a bit... well worth the journey! Managed to get some time to putz around the house getting things done too.

Oggy

savefuel

Last year was good for us and so we went for a cruise in the Carib, spent 19 days in England and France and then 5 days in Vegas (By the way we work for ourselves, so that helps with the 'holiday entitlement')

ClareBC

as close to home as possible so as to not waste any of our "generous" holiday allowance

Mind you, living on the West Coast we are spoilt for choice

Clare

Thydney

Florida it's full of them Eh?

dingbat

They do bizarre things like drive half a mile down the road for their holidays, because after all it is a designated campsite..set up camp next to the family from hell, with no prospect of legally drinking alcohol to numb the effects of Kyle and Crystal yelling incessantly, eat roasted weiners (ground up cow bums and other parts you'd rather not know about), sleep in insecure tents, live with no hot showers, and no decent loo...or simply they park the RV (hotel room on wheels) and make-believe sleeping in a sodden forest (should that be sodding?) is fun. You can tell I am the outdoors type can't you?

oceanMDX

Dingbat, if you don't enjoy camping you could always try hunting or fishing. There's a moose out there with your name on it. Just make sure you have a really sharp knife before you gut it.

oceanMDX

Now to answer the original question. Canadians in eastern/central Canada tend to take their winter holidays in the south eastern parts of the continent - Cancun, Florida, Dominican Republic, Cuba, etc. Western Canadians tend to stay on the western side of the continent for their winter vacations - Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarto, Costa Rico, Palm Springs, etc.

For their summer vacation, most Canadians stay in Canada and go to the lakes or mountain playgrounds. A lot of Ontarians go to "cottage country" - an area of lakes around Georgian Bay.

ezvanetree

That's exactly where we went every summer. I grew up in Ontario and spent every summer (both parents in education, so they got holidays for the whole summer) on my parents' island on Georgian Bay. Lots of people have their own islands, one of the 30,000 islands, or have a cottage on the main land near the water. My parents and sisters still go every year but I am moving to BC so will have to create my own holiday destinations.

JJonz

Well I'm new on this board. Due to Expat wife.

Boy some of you guys sure have some funny ideas about Canadians.

We vacation all over the world. It all depends on income just like anywhere else I guess. Interests as well obviously.

I haven't just had two weeks holidays in decades. Generally, by your 30s you should be getting 3 or 4 weeks and when you change employers you just negotiate that as part of your package. I had 6 weeks paid with my last employer at age 45. Then I went self-employed so no limit and now I'm retired and life is a permanent holiday.

Since I was around 35, I've taken an average of 3 holidays a year not counting long weekends away or a 10 day break between Xmas and New Years. Most people I know have done much the same. Now we take a 3 month break in the winter to somewhere further south and warmer. I haven't been to Florida since I was a kid and went with my parents.

Florida, Cuba, Dominican Republic? I suppose they may be top of the cheap package tour list. I've never been to Cuba or DR. One of my sons has for a cheap break.

Really I think you are asking a question that requires too much generalization. My guess is the answer varies as I said, by budget (income) and interests. We don't all fit into convenient boxes.

Rich_007

Yay, defy convention !

Peeps in BC seem to spend their time and munny in BC, apart from winter sun breaks to Hawaii, Mexico, Arizona for the wrinklies etc. Fly, or make a road trip for the latter, depending. I know of a few professional movers and shakers who take 2 or 3 flights away per year, one week at a time. Plus, a long weekend in Vegas. The deals actually seem quite cheap even in $CA. Having said that I suppose we're closer to the destination points here in BC.

Personally we wanted to move to BC for many reasons but one was not needing long haul to get anywhere interesting or with stuff to do, we have it all right on our very own doorstep and far as that plan went it has worked out well so far. The list of places to see/do/visit for weekends/weeks is growing. It doesn't include Bountiful or Creston though :scared:

I don't really see anything regarding our vacation plans changing over the years ahead.

Rich.

dingbat

Actually.... I went hunting with a friend who had native hunting and fishing rights in Northern Ontario years ago. It was on odd experience. I used to be part of a gun club, so I can shoot some rifles and the odd hand gun with a reasonable degree of accuracy. That is shoot an inanimate object - targets, cans etc. I think I was shaking so much most of the time at the thought of having to pee in the woods that I probably would have missed a parked jumbo jet.

beeginger

thanks everyone, its a great treat reading of so many holiday destinations and ways of doing it, i expect when we finally arrive we wont be venturing out of canada for a few years but its nice to know whats at hand.