Travel Guilt about taking the day 'off'

When you are on vacation you tend to burn the candle at both ends more so than when you are at home living the 9-5. Early mornings sightseeing & late nights partying mixed with good food/cocktails can take a toll & lead to you hitting a wall. 

 

Since I left London last week I have taken two overnight buses, been out until sunrise, drank more than usual, danced & walked my ass from one end of the city to the other multiple times.

 

I have definitely had so much fun, today though I woke up with a million & one plans for my last half day in Berlin accompanied by a huge headache, nausea & my hip injury flaring up. My brain immediately screamed at me ‘you can’t possibly take a day to go easy, you need to stick to your plan & go see all the things’. 

 

Generally I am stubborn AF, I was this close to pulling on my warmest marshmallow outfit & getting out the door but I decided to listen to my intuition & my body & go back to sleep for a couple of extra hours. Berlin will be here next time I come back, my holiday isn’t over & I obviously needed to just take it slow for today, which is perfectly okay. 

 

I did feel a lot of guilt making that decision though… 

 

Part of the guilt was related to other people. What will I tell friends/fam when they ask what adventures I went on today (found a really cute vegan cafe in the centre of town & downed multiple dark chocolate macarons). 

 

Part of it was FOMO. If I don’t see the skyline from the top of Viktoria park in Berlin I might be missing the best views of my life. 

 

But actually, fuck that noise. The reality is it’s 2• outside, raining & windy, my hip wouldn’t have made it up the hill at Viktoria park even if I attempted it & I possibly would be jeopardising the hike I want to do early next week by trying to power through instead of chomping down painkillers & resting for a second. 

 

If you are travelling around & you wake up one day with the incredible urge to take a day ‘off’ & read a book or see a movie you absolutely can, you don’t need permission & you don’t owe an explanation of your day off to anybody else. There is always tomorrow.  

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#awanderingredhead 

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Click here for the view that flared my injury, it was worth it lol