The Beauty of a Do-Nothing Vacation

I'm back on another vacation. In fact, I'm about two-thirds of the way through another jaunt in the US Virgin Islands (as beautiful as always) and I've done so little in my time here, it made me wonder if I do this whole "vacationing" thing wrong. I take two types of trips--exploratory ones and relaxing ones. Usually the former, but increasingly the latter. And this trip is very much the latter.

But on the exploratory ones...these are the trips I take to far-off lands and just see, do, and experience another culture. In 2011 I went to the Balkans and had an amazing adventure in Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, and Turkey. Two friends and I were constantly on the move, spending just a day or two in any one spot, and enjoying the variety of the terrain and the unique aspects of each of the cities we visited. Those vacations are the fun ones that require a relaxing vacation upon returning to home.
 

I am very much in the other type...the relaxing vacation. I've been on St Thomas since last Wednesday, and each day has been spent sleeping in, lying around, doing almost nothing. Could I do this at my house? Well, yes. except the weather here is much better than in Virginia, plus my parents are here so it's nice to see them in their place. I'm awful at staycations; I get antsy and find reasons I have to work or look up work things. Six days into this Virgin Islands vacation, however, I've read the news a few times, but I haven't thought about work or even felt a need to do so. And that's why I'm loving this vacation.
 

I know friends and others will be disappointed that I came to the Virgin Islands and didn't go to the beach or lay out in the sun. But I realized that that wasn't the reason I came here. I came here to clear my mind, to step away from the hubbub of the DC suburbs and just do nothing. And for that, this nothing was the most successful nothing I could've asked for. Successful nothing with breathtaking views :)

 For this post's happy video, I like Bruce Springsteen (the New Jerseyan in me coming out), and I love this acoustic version he does of No Surrender. Pure, raw emotion.