The song proved to be one of the Go-Go's highest charting singles, reaching No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1982. The song was released on 7" vinyl format, with the surf rock song "Beatnik Beach" as the single's B-side. "Vacation" carries the distinction of being released as the first known cassette single or "cassingle" as trademarked by I.R.S. Records.

The video starts by showing the song's title on a photo in a travel brochure. It depicts the band first waiting on a pile of luggage at an airport after Belinda Carlisle arrives via a taxi. Gradually it changes to show them performing, then ends with a section in which they appear to be water-skiing in formation, as per the album cover. All the band members smile and mug for the camera in individual closeups. The photo then freezes and zooms out to be shown in another travel brochure on the floor, which an unseen janitor sweeps up, with other trash (most likely from the airport portion of the video).

It was shot in one very long day on a $50,000 budget, large for the time, and the band was coming off a debut album that had reached no. 1. "We still saw videos as an annoying waste of time," recalls Jane Wiedlin. "After seven or eight hours we sent out someone to sneak in booze." Kathy Valentine says they drank "lots of champagne. Lots." Wiedlin says the effects are evident during the closeups of the women at the end: "... if you look at our eyes, we're all so drunk. We didn't even try to make it look like we were really waterskiing."

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Wikipedia