Happy Kuoni Holidays!

Christmas has just left us for another year, and the one thing I didn't get in my stocking this year that I would have loved (although I most certainly did not expect to get one) was one of the Kuoni holidays. There's something that would make a lovely gift any time of the year; a holiday to an exotic location, someplace faraway and exciting, new and fresh and beautiful (and hopefully with a temperate climate; I hate feeling the muggy heat of a humid climate, and I don't especially care to be cold either). But with one of the Kuoni holidays you can choose your own location or locations, set your own unique travel plans, and that is something that I've always thought would be really cool; a vacation that is totally and one hundred percent me. After all, who could plan your Kuoni holidays for you better than you could?

I would plan my Kuoni holidays to someplace tropical, but not too warm or humid (see above). Ideally I'd like to visit multiple locations, but stay at each of them 2-4 weeks. That would be one serious holiday! But that's my idea of a real holiday; one that stretches for longer than a few days or a week. I'd like to spend most of my time on my Kuoni holidays on the beach, or at least outside somewhere, and in a fairly private location. Nothing screams poorly planned holiday more than an overpopulated beach, in my opinion.

I don't like the idea of Kuoni holidays that are spent just touristing (yes, it's a word I just made up for a reality we've all seen or experienced). But on the other hand, the holidays spent entirely in a hotel or in the hotel pool are as much of a waste of a lovely opportunity. You could stay in a hotel in your own city, or at least your own country, for crying out loud. Why spend all of this time and money getting out of the country if you're going to live just exactly as if you were still there? Why visit a non-Western culture if you are going to stick purely to the most Westerly aspects of their culture? No, make your holidays the best holidays by experiencing the differences. Take your Kuoni holidays and turn them into adventures of a lifetime. Do things you wouldn't do, like spend a whole day reading on a beach, or riding a bicycle around the entire island, or trying to learn basic sentences in their language (assuming you are in a non-English speaking country). Turn it into an event to remember for the whole family.

Or, the other good fallback for me, turn it into a spiritual event. I don't mean something religious, just a total break for your mind and your body. Don't worry about touring anything, don't worry about getting reading done, but also don't stay cooped up in a hotel or some other sterile environment. Get out in nature and let go, let your mind take a vacation from the constant stuff it has to be doing. Either way, it'll be a vacation to remember.