Holidays- what are they? What do they mean to you?

What are holidays- really? This depends right? Where you live, culture, where you work, if you work, have kids and so on…

The Nordics are generous when it comes to holidays. I mean that in terms of number of weeks but also how holidays are perceived and treated. It seems as if people here actually switch off and take holidays. During summer time, many places really slow down, some even close for a few weeks. Like hairdressers. I’ve worked in different countries and held many different positions in different companies. The range of weeks have been very varied. Some companies also offer a buy & a sell scheme of days. An interesting concept is what’s called “Bank holidays” they have these in the U.K. They were introduced in 1871 by the Banks. Originally these were four days. These fall on Mondays. This is quite different from the Nordics were public holiday can fall any day of the week. I don’t know what I prefer? According to the:

World Atlas

Cambodia has the most number of public holidays with 28 days. The Nordic countries are also up in the top with 11-15 public holidays each. The U.K. has 8 days and the USA seems to have the same in 2018 at least! No matter the number of days, it is important with rest and the ability to switch off. I think a lot of people work hard and set expectations high- on themselves. Sometimes it’s important to just switch of though and get rest and recover. That is something that I truly recommend!