“So what did you do today, Raphael? The Roman Colosseum? Vatican City? Ostia Antica…?” my friend Tara asked me.
“Actually, today I did nothing. Well, I did many things. It’s just that not any of them were travel related. I actually just left the house once to get some food.” I replied.
You see, when you travel you sometimes feel as if everyday has to be special. You feel as if you’re wasting time by not traveling. You feel that you should live every single day as the last one thanks to that silly YOLO hashtag. But for me? For me, it’s perfectly fine to have a non-travel day.
In fact, I absolutely love them. Here’s why.
Non-travel days allows you to calm down and re-organize yourself
Every once in a while, short-term travelers go back home and proceed to unpack and re-organize themselves from their latest adventure. Long-term travelers? We don’t have a home base and often we live out of a suitcase.
Therefore, a non-travel day is a blessing from the heavens since we can organize our upcoming itinerary and read an interesting book while we do the one and only dread that every single traveler dreads: laundry.
Sure, some hostels and hotels can offer to do your laundry for a small fee but most of the time, you are better off doing it yourself (especially since you’ll avoid loosing socks that way!) and so you’ll need at least half a day in order to go to the local laundromat.
Just remember to separate white from colors or that crisp white shirt of yours will end up turning pink!
Locals don’t travel every single day. Learn from them and enjoy the moment.
One of the main benefits of a non-travel day is that instead of sightseeing and enjoying the culture of museums and religious sites, you can actually go and observe the culture of the locals who go on with their daily lives.
From the baker to the office worker, each local you meet in your travels has their own story to tell. Just sit back, relax and watch how life unfold before your eyes. My favorite part? Going to the supermarket and watching the interactions between mothers and their children.
You’ll be surprised to know that trying to buy as many candies as possible is an universal constant in every single country.
Just slow down and enjoy the little things in life
In the end, a non-travel day will normally end with me cooking the food I bought at the supermarket, folding my freshly washed clothes and enjoying the sunset with a good glass of wine. It’s non-special days like those the ones that allow you to appreciate more the special travel days where the craziest adventures happen.
There’s nothing wrong with taking it slow every once in a while in order to avoid travel over-burn and in fact, I actually love taking a small break from a life of travel in order to catch up with my friends abroad and to keep on building my many online businesses. Or just to have some me-time and do a crossword with a good cup of coffee, for example.
So yes, next time that you find yourself in the need of slowing down and to stop traveling…just do it. Trust me, there’s nothing as liberating as a non-travel day. I love them, don’t you?
But until the gates are open I just wanna feel this moment!
And of course, there’s always those travel days that actually turn into something else, such as the time that I went with my friend Tara to the nearby town of Marino in the Castelli Romani hills in order to attend the Chocolate Festival and explore the city museums.
The result? We ended up buying a 5 liter bottle of wine for only 12 euros and got involved into a series of hijinx including taking a photo with the annoying Peppa the Pig. Seriously, don’t you just hate her? Stay tuned for the complete story this week!
Have you ever had a non-travel day during your travels? Share your best ones with me in the comment section and remember to always keep on enjoying the moment!
