40 / 52
40
AIQS
News
74
HOLIDAYS vs TRAVELLING
Holidays come in different shapes
and sizes, as the idiomgoes. For some
people holidays means relaxing,
stopping the hectic regular activity,
sleeping longer and more rewarding
hours and if possible not doing
absolutely anything. This is probably
due to the stressful pace of life we
handle during about 11 months of the
year, if not more. This perfectly fits
the etymology of the word “holiday”
which means “religious festival” or
“day of exemption from labour”.
For other people the word “holiday”
is a synonym for “travelling”. They
want holidays for travelling, there’s
no holiday without travelling.
Conversely to the previous “holi-
day”, the word “travel” comes from
the word “travail” due to the fact
that when our ancestors wanted
to travel they really had to suffer
extreme difficulties to reach their
destinations. So then going travelling
meant great effort and difficulties.
If you like digging down a bit more
on this terminology I can tell you
that curiously the word “viaje” in
Spanish comes from the Catalan
term “viatge” and not the other
way round. “Viatge” comes from
“viaticum” from the word “via”
more familiar to all of us.
So, if travelling was “travail” this
means it was not a fun thing to do.
But that’s not difficult to understand,
looking back we can recall the old
travellers: warriors who travelled for
fighting while risking their lives or
pilgrims who travelled to pay a debt
or to contract it with God in exchange
of a wish. Then, we have the
explorers, Marco Polo 14th century,
or Columbus searching for new lands.
A bit later, the first health travellers,
the first SPA visitors -Salute Per
Aqua- around 17th century, visiting
thermal spring waters to help their
health conditions improve.
Later on, the Grand Tour when
aristocrats started sending their
bachelor children to other countries
to gain the world experience which
their studies had not given them; and
maybe finally people like Thomas
Cook in 19th century who started
to see travelling as a business and
started the tourism industry, the
most important one nowadays in our
Catalan country.
And this way, travelling became a
leisure activity, a fun and relaxing or