Struck by the European Vacation Mania
Struck by the European Vacation Mania
Nowhere you can go is more peaceful—more free of interruptions—than your own soul
"People seek retreats for themselves - in the country, by the sea, in the hills - and you yourself are particularly prone to this yearning. But all this is quite unphilosophic, when it is open to you, at any time you want, to retreat into yourself."
— Marcus Aurelius
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This post is my way of saying thank you to all the new subscribers while also sharing a bit about myself. Stating the obvious, because this is the internet and misunderstandings happen all the time, this post is intended to be tongue-in-cheek funny. I hope you enjoy it.
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European Vacation Mania
It has been a while since the last issue. I won't beat about the bush. I fell victim to what Peter Thiel called "Europe’s famous vacation mania." I saw this quote making the rounds on Twitter and I immediately thought of myself.
I am a proponent of the American go-getter attitude and I strive to live up to it every single moment, but sometimes I slip. My European roots trip me up.
In the face of a bleak future - with multiple wars raging on and the chances of more conflicts creeping up relentlessly, with the hottest summer on record due to climate change, with European economies stagnating, and with AI threatening to take my job - I just went ahead and spent the better part of the past two months vacationing like a maniac. I became a poster child for the stereotype.
The indefinite pessimist can’t know whether the inevitable decline will be fast or slow, catastrophic or gradual. All he can do is wait for it to happen, so he might as well eat, drink, and be merry in the meantime: hence Europe’s famous vacation mania.
— Peter Thiel in Zero to One
I spent a week in gorgeous Corfu, where I mostly ate, drank, enjoyed the sunsets, and was merry, just as described - to the dot.
Shortly after I visited friends and family in the Boston area, as I had recently become an uncle, which is a big event in European folklore. Needless to say, I spent my time cavorting with old friends, exploring new restaurants and hidden gems.
The tomahawk at Mooo's deserves a special mention. Unfortunately, my stomach got the best of me and I have no photo to show - just good memories.
I would also like to feature this relief of early Europeans on vacation, which, I have been informed, was a part of a Roman sarcophagus. Clearly, the proprietor of the establishment had a severe case of the European vacation mania and wanted to commemorate it and celebrate it even in the afterlife.
However, at some point guilt gradually washed over me. The guilt of being too European in America. I went to feed the koi fish on my Asian friends' advice, in hopes of gaining wealth and prosperity in the second most European way - by wishful thinking.
Unfortunately, this didn't do it and the mood was ruined, so I returned home.
Charged with all the positive experiences from my petit vacation, I went back to work, delivering value to shareholders as usual. After going at it for what felt like a considerable period of time, but was in fact the better part of a week, my planned annual leave came around quite unexpectedly. I was off to the beaches again to spend some quality time with my family, and most certainly to eat, drink, and be merry again.
I came back last week. Even European vacation manias have to end eventually. The gravity of reality is gradually permeating my overfed, overdrunk, and overly merry indefinitely pessimistic body. The bluest post-holiday blues that only Europeans can relate to.
But on a positive note, now I can go back to doing all the other things I love doing, such as writing these posts, answering your emails, meeting with the coolest group of investors and analysts, learning about AI and how not to lose my job to it, pursuing all the big and small projects that I am working on...until the next vacation mania hits.
Feel free to share your views on the European vacation mania and your preferred way to disconnect from the dour reality. I am always excited to hear various takes on the topic. I myself was a firm believer in the zero-to-one-week-max vacation not that long ago. My views are evolving, obviously. So, if you do write, please mention the time, age I mean, and place you are writing from.
Those of you barbecuing or traveling tomorrow, how do you feel about this? Those not celebrating the workers' holiday, why not?
The Europeans, did you succumb to the European vacation mania this summer?