I never said that phrase, but I understood it very easily. If you had to translate it, it should be "IT smells like vacations". It's an impersonal phrase, so you wouldn't use "you". Also, about "smelling" things in a figurative sense, there's this one: "Huele a gato encerrado" (smells like a locked up cat). It means the same as "smells fishy". You can also say "Aquí hay gato encerrado" (there's some locked up cat here), without the smelling part. So anyway, you can say "smell" in Spanish sometimes meaning that you can sense something because it's approaching, or you notice there's something wrong. I think it's similar in English (!).

Yes, this expression is used everyday Spanish, at least in Colombia. Other examples: - Huele a fin de semana (weekend is coming) - Huele a diciembre (December holidays are coming) - Huele a pago (payday is coming)

Es una expresión nativa figurada, que sí, puedes usar perfectamente y sin reparos.

Hi, Andy: What B meant by "huele a vacaciones" is that the holiday season is so close that you can, in a figurative sense, smell it. "You smell like a vacation" is not an accurate translation of this phrase and, to be honest, I can't think of any.