Going on a summer holiday

By Park Moo-jong

"V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N in the summer sun, put away the books, we're out of school. The weather's warm but we'll play it cool … We're on vacation and the world is ours."

Connie Francis (1938~ ) so expressed the joy of teenagers on summer vacation in her 1962 single "Vacation."

And one year later, Cliff Richard (1940~ ) also sang about summer holidays in his 1963 film "Summer Holiday."

"We're all going on a summer holiday, no more working for a week or two. Fun and laughter on a summer holiday, no more worries for me or you for a week or two."

The two pop songs of more than a half-century ago well show the heart flutter of young ones going on a summer vacation. Their parents and other older people must have similar feelings.

The year's summer vacation season has begun in earnest.

But what does a vacation or holiday mean to people living in 2015?

English dictionaries say it is a specific trip or journey that is often spent with friends or family.

A vacation today, when people have to survive ever-intensifying competition at school or work, should be a complete break away.

The goal is to forget "everything" about work and rest comfortably. It is a long-awaited opportunity to hang up one's hat with your mind at ease.

But people today tend to be bashing away at their rest. They devise vacation plans as if they are at work and often are irritated when the plans do not work well.

This is not a real rest but an extension of work. Taking a rest without thinking about things is a real rest.

Many salaried workers have been obsessed with a "duty" to go to some good places with their wives and children. But these days going away en famille is not all it is cracked up to be.

As many of them are up to their necks in work, they could hardly make time for arranging vacation plans.

Indeed, a growing number of workers are planning to do nothing this summer and stay home. A recent survey testifies to the trend: more than half of 1,000 office workers and students questioned think a trip is not an essential part of a summer vacation.

This trend certainly reflects the growing fatigue of employed workers because of overwork. There must be lots of workers who have been too busy to eat at home with their families and so want to see their parents, wives and children more at home during the summer break.

However, what could be better than being away from the office for a week (an average period of summer break for Korean workers), either on a trip or at home?

Nonetheless, agonizing over how to spend this summer vacation is itself a thriller. There must be severe traffic jams on the way to major tourist destinations, plus a flock of other holidaymakers. This could be rather a charming experience that few at home are expected to have.

This year's summer vacation especially is a good chance for people to enjoy domestic trips, apparently thanks to a rare government and business campaign to encourage people to go to summer places in the country to help promote spending in the wake of the tough battle against MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome).

The campaign is very timely when the Republic of Korea has been suffering from an unprecedented crisis in the tourist industry for the past two months due to the "uninvited guest from the Middle East," MERS.

A Chinese idiom says: "One who has tied a knot must untie it." We have to take the initiative and set an example so foreign tourists come here to enjoy their summer holidays without fear from the infectious disease.

With regard to the campaign, I think there is one regrettable thing _ President Park Geun-hye's five-day vacation from Monday to today.

The head of state stayed at Cheong Wa Dae, "composing her thoughts about pending national questions, including the scheduled special amnesty, and the congratulatory address on the 70th anniversary of national liberation (from the 1910-1945 Japanese colonial rule) on Aug. 15."

I think this is not a vacation for anyone. The President worked from the very start of her five-day summer vacation at the presidential residence. The one consolation was there were no official functions.

In the first year of her inauguration, 2013, she had a one night-two-day vacation at Jeo islet, off Goeje-do Island, where she used to spend summer holidays with her father, the late President Park Chung-hee. Last year, she did not because of the Sewol sinking.

The President stayed at work, virtually without going on vacation. Could Cabinet members and government officials go on domestic trips for their vacations with their mind at ease under this circumstance? No.

For reference, U.S. President Barack Obama spent his "Christmas holiday" in Hawaii from Dec. 19 last year to Jan. 4 this year.

Former President George W. Bush took 533 days of vacation during his eight-year term, 67 days on average a year. German Chancellor Angela Merkel enjoys holidays mainly in the Alps during winter. She was injured while skiing and had to rely on crutches for a while in January.

At private companies, CEOs tell employees to go on vacation while they do not. Who will dare vacate their workplaces?

I hope everyone enjoys their summer vacation, forgetting all their worries, and gets the chance to think about how to overcome the vacation blues.

Park Moo-jong is The Korea Times adviser. He served as president-publisher of the paper from 2004 to 2014 after working as a reporter of the daily since 1974. Contact him at moojong@ktimes.co.kr.