How Travelers Can Survive Christmas Away From Home. Making Christmas Better: Tips for Travelers
Source: Vagabondish.com – The Travel Magazine for Today’s Vagabond.. Posted by Amanda Kendle on December 16, 2008.
This excerpt was reprinted with kind permission from Vagabondish.com – The Travel Magazine for Today’s Vagabond.
Create your own special events to celebrate Christmas
In my second year in Japan I was wiser. I still had to work, but I made sure I had something to look forward to. In fact, it was the special treat after work of ordering home-delivered pizza, which is terrifyingly expensive in Japan. I was so proud of ringing up the pizza shop and ordering in my (slow) Japanese, and then when the delivery guy came he was wearing a Santa hat – it was perfect.
Arrange a time to call home when all the family will be there
Make sure you know what time and where the Christmas events back home are, and plan ahead with a parent or sibling to ring at an arranged time. Even if this turns out to be the middle of the night for you, it’s worth it to chat to everyone, although you’ll probably recite the same story ten times as each relative hands you onto the next one and asks you what you’re up to.
Save any Christmas cards or gifts that people send you to open on Christmas Day
Knowing that there wouldn’t be much celebrating going on around me, I didn’t open any cards during December and had them waiting in a stack to open when it was really Christmas, and that cheered me up no end.
Plan a special vacation – a really Christmassy one!
One year while I was living in Germany, I totally splurged on my dream Christmas in Finland. Well, I did it the budget way really, but ended up learning how to drive a reindeer sleigh on Christmas Day and having a chat with “the real Santa” in Lapland, too! For an Aussie girl like me, the idea of having a really white Christmas (instead of one with temperatures over the century) was a childhood dream come true – and that year, I didn’t give a second thought (or even a first one) to the family celebrations back home.
Arrange a gift exchange with the people around you
Even if you’re in a backpackers’ hostel on some isolated Thai beach, get a group of people organized to give “Secret Santa” gifts to each other – set a small maximum dollar value, draw names out of a hat and spread some Christmas spirit together.
Remember all the hassle of Christmas that you get to avoid
If you were really back in your home town you would have to buy tons of presents for people (remember the crowds at the shops?), argue with the family over the location and timing of Christmas events, and possibly even hang out with relatives who you don’t really care that much about. A Christmas abroad is just for you, and you should enjoy the freedom of being able to spend it how you want – well, more or less.
23.12.08 | |
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