For the last couple of weeks I’ve been in complete “Zombie mood” at work. That’s the feeling I have when I’m robotically doing tasks without any assistance from my brain whatsoever. I guess you could say I do most things like this but on this occasion, I’d been clock watching more than ever. Counting down the weeks, days and even hours until my next time off work. Everyone in the office always wants to know what exotic foreign land you’re flying out to so it came as a surprise when I told them I was staying put in London. “Why don’t you go away for a bit”, “A couple days break won’t hurt”… were the usual responses. Is it so weird that staying put during the holidays is actually a thing? Don’t need to get my passport stamped every time I’m off work you know. As I mentioned in a previous post, “doing nothing” is a legit motive for me and sometimes travelling can cause more stress than anything!
The best example I can give to explain this is my time in Marrakech a year ago. Man, I don’t think I’ve ever returned from a holiday feeling so overwhelmed. I was out there for a week and literally crammed in every single activity I could think of. Morning, afternoon, morning, afternoon… everyday was a rinse and repeat but sadly, my batteries never got recharged. And it didn’t help being in a place where the official language is haggling. The amount of guys dragging me into their market stalls wanting me to buy stuff that would have absolutely no use to me was at an all-time high. It’s like they smell foreign blood and won’t leave you alone unless you depart with cash. I swear if one more person gave me the “wonderful uses of Argon Oil” speech, I was gonna lose it! It’s a crime to come back from a holiday needing another holiday but that was exactly my state of mind. Everyone and their wife has the same story about Marrakech too, must be something in the water…
The amount of guys dragging me into their market stalls wanting me to buy stuff that would have absolutely no use to me was at an all-time high. It’s like they smell foreign blood and won’t leave you alone unless you depart with cash.
In fact, recently I’ve likened to the idea of a ‘staycation’. For those of you who think I’ve made a typo, that’s basically having a vacation in the town you’re based in rather than heading abroad. Sometimes, especially living in the capital, you don’t realise all the cool things you have just chilling on your doorstep. I guess when you see certain attractions so many times you kinda take them for granted. I walk by a number of excursions on my general commute and what’s sad is I probably haven’t experienced half of them. I have friends from other countries asking me if I’ve been here and there in my own city lol, am I missing something? I’m not saying you gotta have your tourist hat on but if your ratio of visits to chicken shops and city landmarks is negatively skewed in the fast-food direction then that’s definitely worth taking a look at. You’re not the Chicken Connoisseur bro.
Listen, with this whole Brexit malarkey, the value of the pound is more f*cked up than a guy who dates a Kardashian; we don’t even have an incentive to go abroad these days. Mainland Europe probably aren’t too keen on our “come to our country and not bother speak our language” approach to things neither. Millions of tourists come to the U.K. every year – blocking me on my journey to work in the process – so I’m sure there’s a bunch of things to do around here once we decide to explore. And if all else fails and you can’t be asked to go anywhere, just waking up during the holidays without the sound of an alarm should be enough to put a smile on your face. Apple did wonders with their alarms too, they have this uncanny way of making you feel like you’re in the trenches at war.
Joe
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