Okay...break time is over!
Going on a big vacation is kind of like Christmas. You plan, buy stuff, think about it, and count down the days until you get to go. You go on the trip, and the time flies by, and it is wonderful, and it is everything you hoped for. Then, suddenly, it seems, you are back home in your regular life, doing regular things, and it's over. Of course Christmas is just one day, and vacations are multiple days, but there is always an element of post-vacation let-down.
On that last day in Barcelona, the morning of the travel day, I was ready to come home. I was tired of mixing and matching the clothes I'd brought. I was sort of tired of eating in restaurants, and definitely tired of sleeping on that little hotel bed with the weird pillows. I missed the menfolk and the doggos. I had squeezed as much fun out of my time in Barcelona, and earlier, Paris, that I could, so yes, I was ready to come home. We got back to LA on Saturday night, I was back in SLC on Sunday night, and Monday morning, I was sitting at my work-from-home desk, right back at it, and almost, almost, feeling like the trip was just a groovy dream. Slipping back into real life was maddeningly easy.
Not that there is anything wrong with real life. It's where I belong. I like it here. I have a lot to be grateful for in my real life - one of the biggest feelings of gratitude I have is that I am able to take really great vacations! It is one of the reasons why I work and save. I'm glad to be able to come back and get back to work and my routines. I thrive on my routines. When people say to me, "I bet you didn't want to come back," I shake my head and answer, "No, I was ready to come back." That is the truth, and it's also true that I do miss the vacation routines.
A typical day on this vacation looked like this:
Lizzie and I would get up around 7:30 and get out the door by 8:30. We'd walk around the quiet streets of the Gothic Quarter and find a place to have a bite to eat and a cafe con leche. We'd get back to the hotel a little before 10:00. Mom would be up and moving around, and then the three of us would hit the streets to have our daily activity. Our activities included some sight-seeing and a nice lunch. We'd go back to the hotel, usually between 5 and 6, and Mom would maybe take a nap. Lizzie and I would often go back out or down to the hotel bar for a drink and a chat. To end the day, the three of us would decide what our plan was for the next day, and that was it. I was usually in bed sometime between 11 and 12. There was a nice flow to all of it.
Over the past few weeks since I got back, I have been slowly processing the trip by looking at photos, mostly. I created zines for each day we were in Barcelona, and those have been fun to look through, too. It's kind of strange, but I haven't put the many magnets I bought on the fridge yet. I haven't done an accounting of the euros I spent, or what I put on my credit card. It's a weird thing to say, but it makes the trip seem so final. LOL Of course it IS final, I'm just being, well, silly, I guess.
There was one thing that I thought I would do on the trip that didn't happen. I thought I would fill up a sketchbook. I did a little sketching, but we were busy walking around and when we did sit down for a meal or a drink, I would pull out my daily zine and write a note or make a little sketch. My purse definitely wasn't big enough for my sketchbook, and I think I would have felt self-conscious about it, anyway. The zines are great, a perfect little souvenir, but now I have this sketchbook with just a few pages used, and I really want to use it for this trip, so I've decided to turn it into an after-the-fact travel journal. I've got some big ideas for it; now I just have to settle in and make time to do it.
I won't be starting it tonight, though. Tonight is my first concert volunteering gig at Red Butte Garden. It's the second show of the season, and the artist is Grace Potter. I'm doing clean up, so I have to be there by 8:30. It rained really hard about an hour ago, but it seems like it is clearing up a little. I'll be dressed for rain and a chilly evening.
Until next time, here are a few photos of Mom, Lizzie, and I on our vacation.
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| PARIS! |
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| Platja d'Aro! |
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| BARCELONA! |
1 comment:
I was missing reading your blog. I had a great time on the trip and was glad the three of us were together enjoying our days in Paris and Barcelona. It's nice to be at home too, to sleep in my bed and basically do nothing much. But I miss having cool places to go to and yummy things I love to eat/drink.
There's always the next trip :)
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