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If the US had the culture of taking off August, it would be far easier to take off 3 weeks since everyone in your company would be doing it. Logistically howeve

If the US had the culture of taking off August, it would be far easier to take off 3 weeks since everyone in your company would be doing it. Logistically however I don't really understand how taking August off works in Europe. Where does everyone go? Doesn't it get super crowded?

yardie 15y ago
Most of the French head south to the riviera, or north to brittany, basically any place with a beach nearby. The roads are packed so you'll usually see a traffic report with them interviewing people taking a picnic on the side of the road, complete with wine and cheese of course. Also, its part of the draw. When there is a known crowd coming most of the hotels and restaurants pull out all the stops: foods, drinks, live entertainment. A lot of these seaside towns can be quite sleepy during the winter so its sort of a big deal. And, quite a few of my colleagues have family that moved south for the warmer weather, some just head out to visit family.
- Goladus 15y ago
  That sounds like a large-scale version of what happens every summer weekend in New England as Boston and its suburbs head to the cape.
  - yardie 15y ago
    Yes, but instead of a summer weekend its the entire month of august and parts of July. From my experience, Paris gets completely evacuated except for the tourists and tourism related jobs.
fosk 15y ago
Every year in Italy there are 16M people moving to the coasts on August (for 2-3 weeks), and then moving back to cities at the end of the month. This happens mostly on August, but the same happens for Christmas (for 1-2 weeks), Easter (for 3-4 days, sometimes 1 week) and Carnival (for 3-4 days - before Easter, usually in February). The number of days depends on "bridge days", if Easter falls on Wed, then usually people can relax from Mon to Thu ("bridge" because links the end of the previous week to the end of the fest). These are the average numbers, for sure there's someone with less/more vacation.
deleted 15y ago
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yxhuvud 15y ago
Most people stay at home or in their summer residence for most of the time.

yardie 15y ago

Most of the French head south to the riviera, or north to brittany, basically any place with a beach nearby. The roads are packed so you'll usually see a traffic report with them interviewing people taking a picnic on the side of the road, complete with wine and cheese of course. Also, its part of the draw. When there is a known crowd coming most of the hotels and restaurants pull out all the stops: foods, drinks, live entertainment. A lot of these seaside towns can be quite sleepy during the winter so its sort of a big deal. And, quite a few of my colleagues have family that moved south for the warmer weather, some just head out to visit family.

Goladus 15y ago
That sounds like a large-scale version of what happens every summer weekend in New England as Boston and its suburbs head to the cape.
- yardie 15y ago
  Yes, but instead of a summer weekend its the entire month of august and parts of July. From my experience, Paris gets completely evacuated except for the tourists and tourism related jobs.

fosk 15y ago

Every year in Italy there are 16M people moving to the coasts on August (for 2-3 weeks), and then moving back to cities at the end of the month. This happens mostly on August, but the same happens for Christmas (for 1-2 weeks), Easter (for 3-4 days, sometimes 1 week) and Carnival (for 3-4 days - before Easter, usually in February). The number of days depends on "bridge days", if Easter falls on Wed, then usually people can relax from Mon to Thu ("bridge" because links the end of the previous week to the end of the fest). These are the average numbers, for sure there's someone with less/more vacation.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

yxhuvud 15y ago

Most people stay at home or in their summer residence for most of the time.