Whether you're using the US term 'vacation' and or the GB term 'holiday', both words function in the same way.
'On vacation' and 'on holiday' are set phrases, like 'at home' or 'at work', and there is no article.
If you use any other preposition, you need an article or other determiner (a,the, my,this etc) - 'for a vacation', 'without a vacation', and so on.