Definitions : Traveling and Vacation 

Vacation: Used to describe relaxation & Sunbathing 

If you fly somewhere and take a shuttle to your hotel, put your bags down and spend a week in the same hotel, pack up 7 days later , return shuttle to the airport and return home. Sitting around loafing around the pool, taking afternoon showers and getting dressed up at night for a few cocktails at the cantina down the road, congratulations you are on vacation.  

Traveling: Traveling is nothing of the such

This  involves tons of hours on public transportation, changing hotels/cities every few days, packing and unpacking all your stuff 4-5 times in 12-14 day period. It's 6 hours on mini bus on a bumpy road sweating your nuts off in humidity with dead ipod (because you forgot to charge it the night before) and no water because the reward is much greater than the pain of getting there . For all that travel is , it isn't a walk in the park of relaxation and ease. It's more about what you want 'to do' as oppossed to 'what you don't want to do' . Feeling stinky and sleep deprieved are just as common as the smile you'll have on your face from being able to pull it all off.