1. Being active, swimming, snorkelling and eating ice cream.
2. Going to Mexico when I was at university. It was my first time being a 'back-packer' - two whole months of freedom!
3. Rain
4. Things to eat - anything different I can lay my hands on.
5. Backpacking around South America for six months.

1. My favourite way of spending free time is to go outside. I like playing football or just going to a forest and walking around.
2. Holidays of 1996 were the most memorable because they were my first camp, scout camp. I was alone, no family, finally freedom. I was young and it was hard, but I liked it.
3. I think bad weather or if I broke my leg. Once my friend jumped into water and hurt his neck, then he spent three months in hospital. Everything is terrible for him now.
4. I like collecting road signs. I have collected three already.
5. I just don't know. I want to go to so many places that it's difficult to say.

1. I mostly enjoy going for walks in Manhattan as my favourite summer destination is New York city. I am lucky because I have the opportunity to go there every single year. Exploring the metropolis on foot and experiencing amazing contrasts in the city's boroughs is all I need to have a perfect time. When the weather is nice, me and my friends go down the shore to Sandy Hook beach. It is a fascinating place where lying on the sand one can admire both the waves and New York skyline.
2. I guess the first time in the States. I was then a frightened High School freshman, leaving home for three long months. It is said that the first impressions are the most memorable, and it is one hundred percent true to me. First time on a plane, then in New York, finally getting acquainted with unfamiliar customs and behaviours were unforgettable.
3. I would be definitely devastated if the weather was bad, or if I had some health problems.
4. Having in mind my teaching practice, I usually purchase plenty of books which I use in my classrooms. I also collect maps, leaflets and gadgets connected with American culture. The cheapest way of getting such materials is going to 'garage sales' where you can buy books or video cassettes for quarters.
5. I have been always dreaming of flying to Hawaii. I think I would just go for lying on the beach and eating pineapples. After all, it is still America so I would probably collect the realia for my lessons and explore the fiftieth state.

1. I am a movie buff and a couch potato as well. My dream holiday is lying on my sofa in my living room all day watching movies. I don't mind occasional exercise - walking to and from the Hollywood video store. But things are not always ideal. My youngest daughter (aged five and three quarters) quite often forces me to do other things.
2. Back in 1997 I took the family out to the Northern mountains in Pakistan. We stayed in a really basic jungle hut with only a troupe of monkeys for company. It rained heavily, with water seeping through the roof. Back in my home town, there were real floods and the whole place was under water. We, ignorant of the situation back home, were still negotiating the mountain roads and monkeys.
3. A day without a movie to watch at night.
4. Something to decorate our home. I have also recently started collecting tea cups from various countries.
5. I am working on it right now. I'd love to go to Paris and live there for a couple of weeks and spend time in the road side cafes. And of course watch movies at night.

1. Visiting historic cities, particularly in Eastern Europe; walking; swimming; catching up on reading the latest prize winning books; going to concerts (classical music).
2. Seaside holidays as a child, and with my own children, just (in both cases) children spending day after day with their parents in a relaxed atmosphere. Later, hiking in the north of England and Wales with friends. The most memorable was walking in and out of the Grand Canyon in Colorado in a day, starting in a snowstorm and descending to about 30 degrees C at the bottom, a total journey of some 25 kms. That was really awe-inspiring; man's insignificance in the face of mighty nature.
3. Weather that was too hot (above 25 degrees C). Noisy, loutish behaviour. Pickpockets.
4. Photographs and postcards. Small decorative items for the house. Local items of clothing for grandchildren.
5. St. Petersburg, Prague and Kraków because I have yet to visit these cities. I should like to absorb the history, architecture, art galleries and museums and just enjoy the atmosphere and observe the people, as well as taking photographs of unusual places and events. A spare pair of feet would be a distinct asset!

1. If the question refers to a specific period of time that's allocated as a 'holiday', I suppose my 'holidays' are now quite difficult to define because I've tried to organise my life so that 'work' and 'play' or 'holidays' can merge into one. For instance I'm now in a foreign country enjoying all the benefits of experiencing a new culture. I'm meeting new people with exciting ideas and different points of views. Every day I see new scopes for new thoughts and diverse flights of the imagination. Poland has its own culture such as climate, buildings and food and most are still, in spite of a corporate invasion, a part of its cultural identity; all of which I try to experience as much as time and will allows, especially the most reasonably priced beer!!!If a 'traditional' English 'tourist' (whoever that may be) was asked the same question I'm sure that the subjects I've just outlined would come somewhere in their reply (if a little different in form). Holidays are about experiences that present a sort of freedom away from the so-called 'grind' of the everyday. At the moment I kind of feel as if I am on holiday. And one for which I get paid. Excellent! If, on the other hand the question refers to the time periods when I'm not working, well, I try to fill my time with activities I enjoy. Activities that work commitments don't allow me to do such as going to the cinema, walking, thinking and writing (although work usually involves most of these!). These for me are holidays in the sense that my mind is allowed to concentrate on other things. Having said that a lot of my time is now spent rehearsing theatre which I relish more than travelling or spending specifically allocated periods away from work. It offers a time to relax in a more focussed way and spend exciting, dynamic moments with intelligent and exciting people. It's draining and energetic but, like traditional holidays, it takes me away to other places and different times. As to whether these 'holidays' have changed, well, I went through 'stages' that were defined by my circumstances. As a teenager I used to 'lust' after what most teenagers 'lust' for: freedom from enforced environments such as classrooms and exams and freedom from the chains of the parental bond and of course acceptance from the opposite sex. For me like, I suspect, most teenagers that meant getting away and unleashing my energy on things such as sun, sand, sea and…whatever my dreams held at the time! As I started to find that freedom I guess my focus for freedom lost some of its impetus and I got interested in the world as I saw it in programmes and films and these incited my curiosity. Now, I can't think of anything less interesting than the holiday dreams I longed for back then. In fact I feel repulsed as I watch the incessant adverts and programmes trying to tempt 'consumers' with promises of heaven on earth away from deep-rooted unhappy lifestyle which they put up with day in, day out. It's one of today's major 'drug' problems that are never mentioned: the yearly 'high' that we're supposed to long for and carefully save up for each and every year. Apart from looking towards the next escape, holidays can often conceal a dark side. For example some destinations are committing horrendous abuses of human rights that the holiday programmes somehow fail to consider appropriate when they're selling a 'location'. Turkey, for instance, has an advert that is currently tempting holiday-makers that shows a beautiful Turkish woman dancing and swirling holding a never-ending smile against a backdrop of cinematic colour-soaked sand and clear blue skies with an orchestra playing a faintly culturally orientated soundtrack. What this 'Spielbergian' vision doesn't show, as Noam Chomsky says in his book Rogue Sates (Pluto Press, 2000), is the Kurdish "ethnic cleansing" on a massive scale. Two million left homeless and "Mystery killings…' amounting to '…3,200 in 1993 and 1994 along with torture, destruction of thousands of villages, bombing with napalm, and an unknown number of casualties, generally estimated in the tens of thousands; no-one…(he concludes)…was counting.' Hardly surprising as they were being committed by military death squads under the auspicious control of the government and financed by the moral Americans. To give a sense of proportion, when Saddam Hussain invaded Kuwait he is estimated to have killed around 2,000 people. Consider the media coverage of that event and subsequent moral outrage and that of Turkey's. This was and is a 'silent genocide'. And silence doesn't deal with these crimes. Sanctions against those responsible CAN be persuasive to stop such abuses if aimed towards those implementing the abuses, which was, after all, 'supposed' to be the idea for those enforced against for example Iraq and, previously, Vietnam etc. Stopping tourism and subsidising the victims can help persuade perpetrators to stop (as the situation in Burma is starting to show), yet nothing is told about places such as Latin America and Turkey. Holidays and the tourist industries' constant ignoring of these horrible crimes just to sell holidays have therefor, in my opinion, become complicit in the crimes these countries perpetrate. As such, the industries should be forced to balance their idealistic visions with the reality. People have the right to know about such activities and therefor make an informed choice to choose whether their holiday destination is more important than that of the torture and misery they commit. Whether this choice would favour the need of for a particular holiday destination or for that of human rights should, I hope not need my opinion. So holidays can hold far more importance than simply 'relaxation' and 'a chance to unwind from the daily grind'; they can literally be a matter of life and death.
   
   

2. Apart from my present 'holiday' in Poland, when I was 18 myself and two male friends went around Europe for a month of inter-railing. Looking back at who I was and whom I went with it was amazing we ever came back alive. For instance we were lent a tent by a friend to lower any extra expense on accommodation. It was only when we were tucked up in Paris for the second night and the rain came down that the holes became obvious. Cigarette burns were everywhere and everything got soaked through. No-one had thought to check the tent before hand! Later we went to Venice for a few days but as we sat outside the train station looking out to the grand romance of the city we suddenly looked at our tent and then to all that cement, bricks and water. No one had considered where we were going to put up the tent. These were typical examples of the thoughtful way in which we approached the trip. That trip really was one of those rites of passage trips that nurtured self-survival and initiative in teenage minds filled with hormones and lust for freedom. We weren't just going on holiday we were escaping those life choices that lay ahead and seemed so frightening. For one of my friends it was also a chance to escape and deal with his feelings for a girl he was in love with but who wouldn't reciprocate. It happened over ten years ago but we are still close and get involved with each other's problems and challenges. Poland is far from home but when I return they are the first I contact to catch up and listen to the moaning/celebrations in their lives. Sharing a 'two man' tent between 3 hormonal teenagers with all the sights (not to mention the smells!) can nurture something between people hotels and luxury can't. A year later I went to Tenerife with one of those friends. This was a more 'traditional' holiday for lads our age. It was memorable for all its decadence, but also for how it was the last time I pandered to such holidays. All that dance-till-you-drop, drink-as-much-as-you-can, sleep-with-as many-people-as-possible was the first and last. It was like a type of madness that swept me away on a tide of destructive indulgence. It came and went but it was that tent and the discomfort and exploration of Europe that stays with me.
   
   

3. Probably actually having one. I mean sectioning a period off when I'm free to unleash for a small period that's given to me; that would be too demoralising and, I think, would comment on my choice of time spent between such holidays. All this carving up of time into tidy packages helps drive businesses that need those packages but it doesn't necessarily make those who are persuaded happy. If they were happy 'holidays' wouldn't exist as such. People complain that their work is so tiring, that they 'need' that fix of 2 weeks relaxation. This may sound harsh, but I would say: 'do something about your work situation rather than pander to fixations on small periods of illusory hope.' Overall, although it can be difficult especially in certain countries, I think holidays are part of a broader political problem that affects how jobs function in relation to structures. If you're not happy, do something to change those structures and alleviate your problems.
   
   

4. When I used to take 'holidays', I suppose I brought back what I thought I should. You know, those small items that show evidence you've actually been and of course those perennial presents for the family to tuck away with the previous year's etc. Looking back the most valuable things I brought back were my Memories. These are the things that help us consider our place in the world, how we learn and what we are. Sometimes these are personal and intimate, as was the case for me in Tenerife. On a rare break from all the indulgence I was sitting on the roof of the apartment looking out over the island as dusk was falling. I had a bottle of wine, a packet of cigarettes and was alone to watch everyone busily preparing for the night's 'entertainment'. In the distance I could hear the microphone being tested in preparation for the nightly kareoke 'event' and the shop's shutters slamming down barricading their goods against the inevitable tribal gangs of young males rampaging, vomiting and screaming after the next female on heat. I don't smoke now but back then it was a moment that epitomised my sense of freedom at that particular age. I could sit and smoke and drink and look out across an island to the setting sun and it was just me, myself, alone. I remember how nice it was to be away from all that but I didn't quite know why it felt so good. After all I was supposed to be down there doing what all the other 'lads' were doing. Looking back I guess it was one of those 'life signs' that needed to be recognised and acted upon, but it took a bit longer to give up the longing for those 'highs' of excess. Of course these memories needn't be a place and time; sometimes they can be smells, moments that feel 'right', moments when the feeling of being human is magnified beyond times of worry and sadness, and life, our soul (for want of a better word) is stirred into life. Of course, these are not (and shouldn't be) confined to 'holidays' but should be an aim for everyday living. It is, after all, one of the glories about being human. Unfortunately I think most people look towards these periods as a time to get that 'hit' of being alive. In England at least this 'hit' was at its most recognisable height during the 1980's when the '18-30's' holidays promised sun, sand, sea, sex and sangria. These were (and still are) holidays that aim to heighten the 'hit' to an extreme. I think young people had lost any sense of them-selves and so were searching for bigger and bigger 'hits'. Today, the club culture of 'big' nights out and mindless highs of music and losing oneself to music is another symptom. Although I'm talking in the past this has grown and become more institutionalised over the subsequent decade.
   
   

5. I think this is an interesting question as it highlights a lot of the things I've been talking about. A 'Dream Holiday'. What is that? I think it's a symptom of disquiet and unhappiness in a life. It presents a question that feeds the incessant search for happiness in a 'dream', not as some kind of reality but an illusional never-never land that takes place when we're asleep away from reality. I realise at the end of the day it's only a phrase but this use of language presents a yearning that presumes I have a dream holiday, that somehow we all have such a holiday. Notice how the question asks what I would 'do' and 'where' it would be. A 'Dream' holiday has to be somewhere else, doing something else. Now I don't have the kind of dreams the question refers to. I used to, but they were just that: dreams, an unreal psychological need. I 'Dreamed' of going to Drama school. It fed my every day and every night's sleep for three years. In my dreams I could see only that moment of acceptance and success. Nothing else mattered and as far as I was concerned it was the ultimate dream because it was going to happen and I was the one who was going to do it. That dream happened. I went to drama school. Unsurprisingly it wasn't the dream I had been savouring for three years. Far from it. In fact I left after a year and had to face up to 'failure' and, what appeared to be, a wasted three years. Dreams like that are dangerous and seeking them out can become obsessive to the point of degrading. In fact I would suggest it highlights a deeper problem, to do with psychological problems, as I now realise my adventure into drama school was. Holidays, those moments of peace and adventure shouldn't necessarily be dreams or about doing something somewhere else, they can be each day and constant; a kind of state of mind that's free from yearning the 'other', the 'better', the 'warmer', the more 'beautiful', the more 'scenic', the 'sandier' etc. etc. This isn't easy. Businesses and self-interest try their best to make sure you think this way. In fact their very existence depends on it. In their every advert, on every holiday programme, in every trash novel and 'celebrity' magazine and in every poster there's another land, a promised land better than ours, a world free from ourselves and all our disenchantment and unhappiness. Yet, these feelings are, of course, within us. The 'holiday' promises to take us away to another place and be someone else but we are still the same inside. Then we have to return to the 'cold light of day' and face ourselves again and, of course, all the same problems. These are real and so need to be dealt with accordingly, not in breaks away from ourselves and into the hands of false promises. Not doing so is failing to confront what needs to be confronted. Holidays are like bandages. They give the illusion that they can make us better when in fact they offer a fix, a neatly packaged once yearly 'antidote' to what's wrong with our everyday. As such, I would suggest they are, ironically, dangerous to our health and well being and just one of the paradoxes of living as a 'Free Westerner' today.

TASK