You’re going on the trip of your lifetime. You’ve been planning for months in advance. You’re covering dozens of cities and ticking off your bucket list items one by one. All the days are packed to the brim with sight-seeing, walking tours and eating adventures. You’re ready to throw your backpack over your shoulder and go, go, go for three, six or twelve months straight! There’s a desirable list of long term travel destinations. But have you factored travel rest days into the equation?
Perhaps for budget purposes or time restrictions, you haven’t planned non-travel days into your trip that are purposefully for resting. No one wants to waste their precious annual leave. Or maybe you’ve thought that you’ll get some “rest” on that overnight train from A to B. We agree with these points and have been in that position ourselves. But for longer travel adventures, it would be wise to include rest days every 7-10 days and we believe that the following points highlight why.
5 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD TAKE TRAVEL REST DAYS
1. Recharge
Pressing pause on your holiday will give you the opportunity to recharge your body’s batteries as well as your technology’s batteries (laptop, camera, phone etc). Ideally, your rest days take place in locations where power sockets are in abundant supply.
TIP: Make sure you have the correct power adaptor for the countries you’re visiting!
2. Reassess
Rest days provide ample time to reassess your financial situation (perhaps you encountered some unexpected costs), adjust your travel schedule if need be and again, to assess your body for any injuries and other wear and tear. If things have become a tad stressful on the road, take that time out to inhale deeply and then change your itinerary accordingly.
3. Replenish & Reload
Rest days allow you to reload your bags with any necessities and essentials, do your washing and replenish your body with minerals and nutrients. It’s amazing how good a home-cooked meal tastes after feasting on take away for 10 days straight! Go and check out one of the local markets and pick up some fresh fruit and vegetables to whip up a tasty meal in your hostel or Airbnb (Click on this Airbnb link to start searching for amazing stays!). Stock up on your favourite snacks or grab those extra toiletries you forgot at your last destination. Freshly washed hair feels and smells amazing!
4. Reflection
Take some time to write in a travel diary. Note down things like what you saw, what you ate, who you met, where you’ve visited and how it all made you feel. One day you might start a travel blog and having notes come in handy (case in point – we are trying very hard to be better at writing notes whilst on the road!). Also don’t forget to scrawl a message on the back of a postcard that you promised to send to your grandmother or mother or BFF.
5. Rest
Most importantly, rest days should be for resting! It’s not ideal, but you may need to catch up on some much needed sleep, give your legs a rest from walking and your back from lugging your backpack around everywhere. Depending on where you are, you might treat yourself to a body massage or convince your other half to knead out the knots in your shoulders!
Sit by the pool, pop in your headphones and dig out your Kindle. Let yourself sleep in and enjoy a lazy breakfast. Take the time to just be present, wherever you may be.
Do you factor in rest days while travelling?
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