A Peculiar Matter of Vacationing.

The one thing we all look forward to the most, the thing we dream about during all the other days of the year, the one we count down to with excitement: VACATION

Yes, that wonderful word: vacation!

But how should we truly make the most of this wonderful word?

Each of us may have a different answer to this question: traveling, exploring new places, reading books, doing nothing at all, eating, drinking, having fun, etc. etc.…

While we continue to dream about what to do on vacation, we also need to remember — and remind others — what should not be done!

As @Tuğçe Isıyel beautifully expresses in her article “Being a Tourist While the Village Burns: On the Etiquette of Being a Guest Somewhere”:

“If someone is on vacation, then anything might be permissible for them. They don’t feel the need to think about their surroundings, other people, or the place they’re visiting, because they’re on vacation and therefore have a sense of immunity. At that moment, they become utterly self-centered. They can talk loudly on the beach or in a restaurant, watch videos on a tablet or smartphone at full volume, or make noise. They feel no need to throw away the corn cob they’ve eaten on the beach. They can comfortably toss their cigarette butt on the ground. The possibility that those little butts, or the wine or beer bottles they leave behind, could start a fire doesn’t bother them. They can’t be bothered to pick up the wet wipes or napkins fluttering in the wind.”

As a brand that creates vacation homes in different parts of Turkey and offers people the opportunity to stay in them, we believe that the perception of tourism and vacationing in these regions has unfortunately become largely synonymous with poor consumption. We cannot ignore the material and moral harm this bad consumption inflicts on nature and the environment.

From time to time, both on our social media accounts and in the notes we send to our guests, we make small reminders in our own way because we are against waste in every sense. If the chosen holiday destination fails to meet a person’s expectations, that too is a kind of waste. If a vacation simply means going to the same places influencers visit, wearing different outfit sets to take that photo, then we also see that as a form of waste. The money spent to take that photo, the fuel burned, and even worse, the material and moral pollution this thoughtlessness spreads around…

Perhaps the greatest and most delightful freedom humanity holds is to travel, to be on vacation. May we never lose awareness of this joy.