I’m back from Italy! The scenery was breathtaking, the food was delicious and the traffic was … questionable. I didn’t feel like drawing a comic last week, as I was too exhausted from taking an average of 15.500 steps every day (many of them on steep slopes) as the weather was perfect and there were so many beautiful mountains to explore. But now I’m back in Germany, winding down and drawing again, so the regular Thursday uploads resume.
I’ll use the rest of this post to talk a bit about my vacation. This isn’t a travel blog, so I’ll spare you the details about the beautiful waterfalls I saw and the stunning vistas. Anyways, that’s difficult to do without photos and photos don’t do it justice. Instead, I want to share what I’ve learned from the experience in general. Everyone’s talking about work-life-balance and it’s common knowledge that you should take regular vacations but not all vacations are created equal. I went because I felt really stressed out at work and in dire need of one. So I booked what felt like the exact thing I needed. I’m not sure if I got it, though.
The main concept in question is stress. It feels simple: you have too much of it, so you plan to spend some time where you have very little. You book a quiet apartment in a little house on a hill next to a quiet little town. You book a rental car, so you can go wherever you want, whenever you want. All of that in a region of Italy that is known for its good food and stunning scenery. Sounds relaxing, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, it was surprisingly stressful, even more stressful than work at times. How was this possible? Well, because I didn’t consider some aspects and underestimated others.
The first thing I underestimated was driving in Italy, especially through these narrow mountain roads. It could have been a lot of fun if it weren’t for the other drivers who would tailgate you even if you’re already going 40 km/h over the speed limit. The second thing I underestimated was not being able to speak Italian. It was surprisingly rare for people to speak English, so every interaction was a struggle. I’m a massive foodie and when I’m surrounded by all these nice delicacies, part of the fun is learning about them, but that wasn’t remotely possible which was really sad. But even something as simple as ordering a cup of coffee was just stressful. The third and most annoying thing I underestimated was the inaccuracy of information you found online. We were constantly confronted with restaurants and shops that were closed, hiking trails that didn’t match the information on Open Street Map and even restaurants that were shown on Google Maps to be located on a street that just didn’t exist. Like, the whole street didn’t exist and it didn’t look like there was ever a street there either.
Vacations are great, because they take you out of your regular life and allow you to enter a different one. It's almost like playing a role-playing game, except real. The most popular experience to go for is one where you live like a noble, having all your wishes fulfilled by the lowly peasants. Otherwise, all-inclusive resorts and vacation packages weren’t so common around the world. You enter a controlled space where there is nothing to worry about and everything is provided for you. My vacation in Italy wasn’t that. It was chaotic, stressful and uncontrollable. But given the role-playing analogy, doesn’t that make for a more exciting game? I didn’t want the boxed-in regular vacation experience, so I got an adventure.
I’m torn about whether it was a good vacation. On the one hand, I love a good adventure and there’s a good sense of satisfaction to having braved it. On the other hand, I’m not sure if an adventure was really what I needed. It comes back to the stress topic. I had a very turbulent time at work with lots of uncertainty, so was it really advisable to have a vacation that’s even more turbulent and uncertain? What is certain, though, is that it’s not what I was aiming for. So was it a mistake or was it a happy accident?
There is also a positive angle to this: I am happy to be back. It almost feels like a bliss to be able to go back to my regular life where I have so much more control over everything. Where I don’t have to look at maps because I know where everything is. Where I can talk to everyone because they either speak German or English. And where I drive around, knowing that people will at least somewhat stick to the rules. Even when it comes to the food, while it was delicious, it was really one-sided. There were next to no non-Italian restaurants. As someone who really likes to mix things up, I’m really looking forward to some nice Chinese food or a good burger. Maybe the best thing about adventures is that they end.
The sentence “whew, I’m sure glad that vacation is over” sounds like it really wasn’t a good vacation. But maybe that’s a misconception about vacations we all share. Maybe people go on adventures far too little. It’s understandable, because if you’re stressed from work and go on a well deserved outtime, the prospect of lying drunk on a beach for two weeks sounds incredibly tempting. But how fast will it all be over? How little of it will you remember afterwards? And how will it feel to get back to your regular life? People look at their vacations as if they’re supposed to erase what came before them, but maybe the actual job of a vacation is to provide nourishment for what comes after. The contrast that makes you appreciate what you have, but also the memories and the stories that you can think about when your life feels dull and uneventful.
So yeah, I’m leaning towards “happy accident”. I have fond memories of my vacation and I’m looking forward to getting back to work. What else could you wish for?
