Vacation Fatigue

I've decided I suffer from the most first world of problems that I made up and diagnosed myself: vacation fatigue. We love to travel, and we do so liberally. We are rarely home (maybe 1-2 weekends at month at most), and that's the pace we like. Even after our son was born we have rarely deviated from this blistering travel schedule. There are so many places to see and really so little time. 

In the last six months we've spent long weekends in northern Michigan in Traverse City and Boyne City, we've vacationed with my family in Canaan Valley, West Virginia, we've been to Portland, Oregon, Norfolk, Virginia, Las Vegas, and a cruise to the Bahamas. I also went to West Virginia three additional times including a week-long stay in September and an extended stay for Thanksgiving. This amounts to a total of 48 days away from home in a six month period or being gone just over 1/4 of the time. We also had a few getaway weekends in Detroit, and this does not count my husband's additional travel for work. We're gone a lot. 

Following three consecutive trips to Las Vegas, West Virginia and then the Bahamas last weekend, I find myself exhausted. You know the saying "I need a vacation from my vacation"? I desperately need a vacation from my vacations. I need some quality time at home. 

Last Friday my husband and I left for a cruise to the Bahamas with a large group of 17 others. It was part of the continuation of a good friend's 50th birthday year of celebration. We knew about half of the crew, and we took off from Miami in a rain storm for the long weekend. The weekend also preceded my husband's and my 8th wedding anniversary, so we were looking forward to some relaxing time together.

The crew. #bobis50

And relax we did, although maybe even a bit more than we intended. We spent Friday evening drinking. A lot (you'll notice a theme). The rain made the boat rocky, and I needed the alcohol to balance myself...at least that's my story. I revised my own drinking rule, that I only drink rum south of Cuba, to instead be south of Miami. That meant bottomless pina coladas and mojitos for me!

First night dinner with the hubs

On Saturday morning I was sluggish but still pushed myself to run on the ship's jogging track with my husband. The day was cloudy and windy, and the cruise did not make a planned stop at its private island as a result of the weather. We did sit on the sunny deck in the morning, but by mid-afternoon driving rain had taken up residence on the ship's decks, and we took refuge by the bar. I took a long nap on Saturday afternoon and completely unwound. My phone did not connect to the internet, and it was glorious. I was 100 percent disconnected.

Obligatory cruise sun selfie.

Saturday evening my husband ended up being sick and left dinner to go to the room. When I checked on him after dinner I decided the most wonderful thing ever would be to take off my dress and makeup and crawl into bed. I was not disappointed.

After a very restful Saturday evening I was up early at the gym on Sunday. My husband was still under the weather, so I ate breakfast and then read on the upper deck of the ship. I am a terrible relaxer, and I had nowhere to be and nothing to do. Later in the morning I disembarked to explore the Bahamian capitol of Nassau. It was not dissimilar from every other cruise port I've been to. I did a quick lap, found the capitol building (nerd alert!) and headed back to the ship where I took another long nap.

Parliament building in Nassau

Beautiful views leaving Nassau

By the time we went to dinner at the ship's delicious French restaurant on our final evening of the cruise, I realized we'd spent a lot of money for me to sleep a lot. Apparently this is what it takes for me to relax. The French restaurant was amazing (I'm a sucker for buttery escargot and duck), and we once again headed to bed relatively early.

The hubs snuck this pic of me and said "This is what you look like actually relaxed."

When we got home after the long weekend I was totally exhausted. It doesn't make sense, does it? I spent the weekend getting tons of sleep and having absolutely nothing on my agenda, yet I returned home exhausted. The weather change was shocking (it was in the teens in Michigan), and there were 100,000 things that needed to be taken care of once we got home. 

As of right this minute I don't have a single trip on my calendar, and it feels both amazing and terrifying. I love traveling, but we need a slight break. I'm sure in a few weeks I'll be itching to leave again (especially if these frigid temps don't let up). But for now I'm content to baby myself to treat my very serious case of vacation fatigue.