AMSTERDAM — Men barely raise a finger when organising a holiday and particularly refuse to help out on the day before departure. Instead, women are left to do all the running around, new research indicates.

Bungalow park company Center Parcs said on Wednesday that based on a survey of Dutch and Belgian families, 20 percent of women are annoyed by all the preparations that must occur before the family can actually get away.

On the day before the family departs, almost 50 percent of men continue working as per normal, compared with less than one third of women. The rest are busy packing and buying groceries, newspaper Algemeen Dagblad reported. 

Holiday stress is not only caused by disappointing accommodation and poor service, but also traffic jams en route. Avoiding traffic jams is a common tip, but the stress quickly dissipates once families have arrived at their destinations.

Dutch nationals take about four hours to relax, while Belgians are a little bit quicker. Of note is that Dutch nationals rarely seek contact with other holiday makers at the resort or bungalow park.

[Copyright Expatica News 2004]

Subject: Dutch news