Take a Vacation. It’s Presidential.
Travel Blog • Ben Keene • 08.16.07 | 10:19 AM ET
Photo by Love him or hate him, our commander-in-chief, George W. Bush, can teach Americans at least one lesson: how to vacation. With only a few weeks of summer remaining, President Bush, like many other world leaders, is trading the stress of executive office for some rest and relaxation. And he’s leaving the majority of U.S. citizens in his Texas dust. Actually, if a survey conducted by a global human resources firm is accurate, even the average Finn, Israeli or Lithuanian would have a hard time keeping up with his seven-year vacation-time total. Because whatever President Bush may lack in creativity—he’s taken 65 trips to Crawford, Texas since entering office—he more than makes up for in number. According to the Houston Chronicle, G.W.B. is well on his way to claiming the White House record for time off, rapidly closing in on the 436 days Reagan racked up during two terms.
The vacation plans of other heads of state ran the gamut from long and leisurely to none at all. French President Nicolas Sarkozy chose New England over France and did some unwinding lakeside, “Siberia’s Marlboro Man,” better known as Vladimir Putin, took Monaco’s Prince Albert II fishing, and new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was enjoying a holiday in Scotland until the recent outbreak of foot and mouth disease. On the other end of the vacation spectrum, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, perhaps with an eye to slouching public opinion, decided against a summer break this year.