life, the universe, and everything- part 2

OK, so we left off with New Age Woman staring at grains of sand on the beach. Now, doing nothing is not part of my travel style. If I need time to rest my feet, you can be sure I´m either eating, talking, doing Sudoku, reading, or even watching TV. I like to be occupied. I even bought a Spanish vocabulary exercise book because I think that kind of thing is fun. So yes, the amusements I bring with me are a to-do list, but I don´t HAVE to do anything. If something better comes up, the Sudoku goes away and I pursue that better thing.

But in between one profound experience and another, would I really be having a more pure travel experience if I didn´t bring something to pass the time? No. I would just be bored. People are always saying you have to live in the moment, but if the moment is watching the minutes tick by until your train comes, I´d rather have a more amusing moment.

Now I have an apartment in Valencia, a job, and people I see regularly ("friends" is a bit strong at this point since I just met them all, and none of them are Americans so you don´t have that instant bonding.) I like having all that stuff and it´s definitely more relaxing to be there than here, out on the road. To me, vacation isn´t going away to someplace and living in luxury- if you´re going someplace, you´re going to make the best possible use of your time by seeing and doing as much as possible. Vacation is a Sunday morning when you don´t have to get out of your pajamas for any reason and you can sit around surfing the net and eating cereal.

Tomorrow, I promise a conclusion!