Travel Blog

16 May

Vacation Day Efficiency: A Whistler Mathematics Lesson

TAG: How-To

Posted by: Feet Banks

Whistler Summer

There are two types of math in Whistler: Simple math—like figuring out the tip on your dinner bill, and complex math—determining your rate of acceleration over caloric output of an average Bike Park lap, but this mathematics lesson (conceived and brought to you from a guy with a Fine Arts degree) is different. This is Lifestyle Math—a formula designed to literally change your life…or at least your summer.

The Mathematics I recall from high school always worked like this: You have a problem, you do the work, you find a solution. Except in this case, the work is the problem.

Let me explain: Summer is my favourite season in Whistler—it’s warm, beautiful and the patios are always full of friends new and old. Plus, the sun doesn’t go down till almost ten o’clock so there is lots of daylight to take in all the rad hiking, biking, swimming, concerts,festivals and general Whistler awesomeness.

Whistler Biking

Like so many of us, I have a job. It’s a good job but it’s full-time, weekends off, and there’s no way to fit all the Whistler fun I want to do this summer into a measly two days off per week. Mathematics to the rescue.

There are 18 weekends from May 15 to Sept 13, 2014 and four of them are long weekends (Victoria Day, Canada Day, BC Day, Labour Day). Most people like to piggyback their holidays onto an existing-long weekend for an extended escape. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Ten days in the mountains will definitely blow your mind and rejuvenate your soul. But time always flies by so quicky on those big week vacations, and some of the relaxation can be ruined by anxiety by the impeding return to work, so why not just turn every weekend into a long weekend all summer long?

Whistler life's a beach

And the math backs it up. Say you have 3 weeks of vacation time accrued. For a typical 9-5’er that’s 15 working days off. So if there are 18 weekends in a Whistler summer and 4 of them are already long weekends you can use your 15 days to turn every single weekend into a long weekend all summer long (and still have one day left to recover after Halloween).

The problem with extended summer holidays is that right around the time the real relaxation sets in you also begin to have stress and anxiety about the impeding return to work. The mathematical philosophy at play here is that the enjoyment sum of 18 shortened work weeks combined with 18 consecutive long weekends will be greater than the compound happiness of one or two big-chunk vacations. It’s like the old saying “death from a thousand paper cuts,” only the exact opposite and way more fun. (Of course, in this day and age more and more professionals are finding another loophole called “working remotely”. Laptop on the dock anyone?)

Whistler math

The truth is there’s no way you can do Whistler justice in a two-day weekend anyhow so I suggest taking Fridays off if you are more into the lively Whistler Village vibe and Mondays off if you’d rather enjoy peace and solitude of hiking or exploring the mountains. Either way, you have more fun, fight less weekend traffic, and everyone else in the office will consider you a mathematical genius as they watch you enjoy the best summer ever.

Now that you have 18 long weekends to look forward too, hit up Whistler.com for some sweet summer deals.

Editor’s note: The Whistler Insider acknowledges that the mathematical formula illustrated could very well not make any sense. We had to just wing it on this one because we only know one real mathematical genius, and he was on vacation.

Article source: http://www.whistler.com/blog/post/2014/05/14/whistler-summer-math.aspx