I’m suffering from a vacation hangover this week.
You know how when you get back from a vacation you need a day to recover? And then the day AFTER the day you get back from a vacation you’re finally in the ‘zone’ but you have so much to get through/done that you get overwhelmed and THEN you start planning your next vacation just to get away from your post-vacation stress?
…I’m hoping you can relate, otherwise it must just be me and that’d be quite discouraging.
The Husband and I just got back from a great trip to the east coast.
My cousin got married in Boston and my entire family was out there to celebrate! My cousins couldn’t come to my (Jamaican) wedding, so it was the first wedding I’ve gone to on that side of the family where the entire family was there and drinking and dancing.
It was quite the night, let me tell you!
Of course I used this travel opportunity to visit some places I had never been before (since the Husband and I had already spent time in Boston in the last few years).
We also went to Portsmouth during our weekend. No filter. No image processing. Isn’t this a gorgeous sunset?!
I’ll just share some quick highlights from the trip (before I get to the point of this post):
- Eating fresh seafood at every meal.
- Having a hotel room with TWO bathrooms. Yep, two. It was extraordinary.
- Seeing an improv show (Improv Asylum).
- Spending time with my family and celebrating love.
- Visiting my dear friends in Portsmouth, NH.
- Driving to Maine to see Cape Elizabeth/Kennebunkport/Portland.
- Walking through cemeteries in both Boston and Salem, MA. I even saw the gravestone of a pilgrim who came over on the Mayflower! (Oh, have I mentioned I’m slightly obsessed with cemeteries?!)
- Spending time with my main man (because that’s always a good thing!)
Just posing in front of a cemetery – it’s my thing (if you haven’t noticed).
Needless to say, this was a whirlwind vacation. And so was our trip a few weeks ago to Tennessee. When I vacation I like to do and see as much as possible, usually in a super short amount of time. On Monday alone we woke up near Portsmouth, drove into the town and wandered around a bit to shop and eat breakfast, drove to Cape Elizabeth to eat the most delicious lobster roll, drove to Portland to walk around, and then drove down to Kennebunkport to eat ice cream and see the Bush vacation home, then drove to Salem, MA to see where witches were tried and hung and THEN we made it back to Boston to go to sleep and wake up for a 6am flight. Whew. (I’m exhausted just typing and re-reading that paragraph.)
Drool. CT style lobster roll. To.die.for. (But honestly, how could I go wrong with something I can dip in butter?!)
Anyway, this made me think of what kind of vacation I most enjoy. I seem to mostly do jam-packed vacations that leave me more drained than energized. But, I have a ton of freakin’ fun and I enjoy a bijillion different experiences during my super-packed itineraries. However, there is something to be said about the vacations (like Jamaica!) that I go on and do nothing but read and relax all day. That’s the sort of peace I found and enjoyed in Africa that made me wonder why I went anywhere else during my time off from work. (Not that I work right now… but I still love my vacation days!)
Eating outdoors with a great friend and enjoying cocktails and an amazing view? Yes, yes, yes.
Time to read and look at nature and journal and pray? Sign me up!
On the other hand, the opportunity to drive around and see different cities and experience new things every few hours? Yes please!
So I’m wondering, what types of vacations do you most enjoy? What is your vacation strategy? Do you feel as exhausted as I do after a whirlwind long weekend, or do you relax better than I do?
Cheers to traveling!
