Holidays: In a tent or at a hotel?

My favourite part of the year is summer vacation because I needn`t go to my work because I`m a teacher and the children aren`t at school. My family and I already start to plan our holidays in January or February because my husband has to inform his employer when he wants holiday. We like going to a foreign country. We like lying on the beach but also we like visiting new places and cities in the country where we spend our holidays.

We often plan what we will do. The knowledge that we will do only what we feel like doing is enough to make us happy. If we want we can just fold our hands behind our heads and put our legs on the table. It is actually up to each one of us as to how we spend our free time. For many people (for me too) holidays mean the most beautiful time of the year. This is the right time to fulfil our dreams and ideas.

After 1989 the Slovak Republic`s borders were opened to the world. Nowadays anyone can choose any place in the world which he would like to see. If we have enough money our wishes mostly come true.
Travelling to other countries has become a very fashionable affair. The reason for the frequent travelling abroad is to gain new knowledge, become familiar with other people`s cultures and habits and see the historical places of interests.

We can arrange our trip abroad ourselves, or it could be arranged for us by a travel agency. There we choose the country we want to visit. We also choose the length of the trip and the means of transportation we want to use. A travel agency also arranges for our accommodation. We can stay in a hotel, a boarding-house, a tent or a cottage. We can choose from many different offers.
To cross a frontier we need a valid passport. In case of accident, it is good to have an international health card.
If we want to take a dog or a cat, we have to take the animal health certificate with us.

I like spending my holidays abroad. I prefer sea and a hotel. When I was a child we used to spend our holidays in a tent. My parents, two sisters and I were in Bulgaria, Italy, Greece and Yugoslavia. We travelled mostly by our car. We travelled alone or sometimes with another family. During the journey we slept in the car and our parents in sleepbags near the car.
My father always prepared the journey in details. He knew where we would stay. He looked up the place where we would stay during our holidays. It was a camping place where we built our tent. Sometimes we stayed in a family who rented rooms. It was mostly in Bulgaria.

I can remember that our first tent was big and green . The tent was very spacious.
In a camping we looked up a place for our car and the tent. It shoul be a place under the trees because in a hot country you need a shadow.
A big disadvantage of a tent is that you don`t have the water there. You need to wash in the common wash-room which is in every camping. You need also to go to the common toilet what isn`t very comfortable, mainly night.
The next disadvantage is that you don`t have electricity there. You don`t have a light in the tent. In the camping there are lights so if you want to have light in the tent you must built the tent near the camping lights.

If you want to spend your holidays in a tent you don`t need the tent necessarily. It exists campings that have their own tents which have their fixed place.
If you want to stay in a tent you need to take many things with yourself that you don`t need for example in a hotel. Very important is a good sleepbag and foam pad because the ground can be very hard.
You need some things for preparing your food. You need hotplate, one or two pots, spoons, knives and forks, plates and things for washing the dishes. Naturally, if you don`t want to cook yourself you don`t need these things. You can eat in many restaurants which are near the camping or direct in the camping. But many people who want to spend their holidays in a tent, cook themselves.

I have spent a lot of holidays in a tent and it was very nice holidays. For example we travelled (precestovali) Greece. We saw a lot of beautiful places and cities. We were on some places which you can`t see with any travel agency.
The same is valid for my holiday in Morocco. We travelled there by our own car and then by a ship. During the journey we slept in the car. ( It is a microbus.) We travelled the whole Morocco. It was very nice. We built the tent every evening on another place. We cooked by the tent. We had to buy the drinking water. In this water we washed and we also washed the dishes. It was an atypical vacation.

Now, I prefer holidays at a hotel. I want to relax on my holidays. I like laying on a beach, reading books or magazines, doing crosswords. I prefer staying at the same place the whole vacation. I go on holidays only in summer. I have never been on holidays in winter. In summer I have free from my work so I can travel.
I choose the destination and the hotel from catalogs which I have from some travel agencies. The distance between the hotel and sea is for me very important.
The travel agency usually takes care of all our needs. It will take care of our accommodation, transportation and if you want also health insurance, accident and baggage insurance.

I prefer a hotel with breakfast but the last summer we had dinner too. In a hotel you have almost everything. Naturally, it depends on the category of the hotel. You can choose simply, cheap hotel or very luxurious but expensive hotel. The service in a hotel depends also on the category of the hotel.

I would like to spend my holidays in a very luxurious hotel or on a big transoceanic ship. I don`t know why but it is my dream. I hope it will sometimes come true.