Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
For most Americans, I imagine that the European idea of spending more time on vacation
and with their family, instead of putting in hours of overtime, is appealing.
I have an American friend who runs a very small movement called Take Back Your
Time (
www.timeday.org
). Its mission: to teach Americans that we have the shortest vaca-
tions in the rich world, and it's getting worse. His movement's national holiday is October
24th. That's because, by its estimates, if we accepted only the typical European workload,
yet worked as long and hard as people do in the US, October 24th would be the last day
of the year we'd have to go to work.
However, with the pressures of globalization, Europe is having to rethink some of its
“live more, work less” ideals. For example, the Spanish government is funding incentives
to keep workers from going home for a midday siesta, which most agree hurts productiv-
ity. And I have a theory that in Ireland (where sales of Guinness are down), the number
of pubs has shrunk at the same rate that the number of cafés increased, as that society
has ramped up its productivity. Drinkers of heavy stout have shifted to lighter lagers, and
drinkers of lager have shifted to coffee. Replacing beer with caffeine is a symptom of our
faster-paced, more competitive world.
Perhaps the most remarkable feat of a united Europe has been the unification of its eco-
nomy. Trade barriers between nations are a thing of the past, and the euro currency has
replaced 18 (and counting) separate national currencies. Imagine: The same coins are used
in Lisbon, Tallinn, Dublin, and Thessaloniki, creating the vast free-trade Eurozone. While
originally tied more or less one-to-one with the US dollar, the euro skyrocketed soon after
its debut in 2002, and has hovered well above the dollar ever since. But economic integ-
ration has come with its challenges, and in the early 2010s, Europeans realized that what
goes up together, must come down together. They've learned the hard way that different
countries can have vastly different philosophies about fiscal prudence.
When a nation joins the European Union, it's either a “net contributor” or a “net re-
ceiver.” (It's not unlike the US, where the traditionally “blue” states—the centers of com-
merce and industry—pay taxes to subsidize farmers, military bases, and the poor people
in typically “red” states.) While there's lots of wrangling in Brussels about just who gives
and gets what, Europeans know their economic union is only as strong as its weakest link.
Therefore, wealthy countries give more than they get—willingly, if not always enthusiast-
ically. That money bolsters the poorer countries. And eventually, in theory, they develop
to the point where, rather than weak links, they become net contributors as well.
But it hasn't quite worked out that way. Think about the vast diversity the Eurozone
attempts to corral. Germans are as famous for their work ethic as Italians are for
la dolce
