Do you start to feel lazy?

[WillTravel]

I haven't had the opportunity to take a long trip - yet!

However, I notice that after about 7 or 10 days, I start to feel almost like I'm idle. I'm running around like mad, and I'm getting up early, so it's not as if I'm sunning myself on the beach (not that I oppose that!) and drinking margaritas. But I just feel like I should be doing something more productive - I guess you could say I feel a little guilty. I think the feeling would probably be assuaged if I were studying in whatever country I am.

Has anyone else experienced this? Does it happen more on long trips? Do you start looking for under-the-counter work to get rid of this nagging feeling ?

[Kim]

Actually, I find this more with shorter trips than with long ones. It's almost like with the long ones you get into a certain routine or pattern, so you don't get like this.

For our 7 month trip, we were in a new place about every 3 days so never felt like that!

Kim

[WillTravel]

The thing is, I didn't feel lazy during the relatively stationary portion of our trip, but I did start to feel this way in the second half when we were moving every 2 days. But I think it was more the feeling of not being productive, rather than staying in one place or not.

I have to say it did not really bother me much, since I knew I was going back to work soon, and I sure hated for the trip to be over. I just wondered if it was likely to affect me more if I did manage to schedule a long trip.

I wonder if it would be worthwhile to add some sort of volunteer activity to a trip, just to feel like I'm doing something other than being indulgent.

[Kim]

Yeah, I can see how you would feel not productive, we felt like that now and then. We often would go to great lengths for things (as in we have to find certain kind of souvenier) in order to have a goal!

Volunteering is a great idea! I'm sure you could find tons of places ahead of time that would appreciate it.

Kim