Everyone has a different idea of what the perfect holiday should look like: some of us would love to relax only in five-star resorts where there is nothing but beaches, palms, and all-inclusive buffets, and others would rather find themselves on backpack trips, on which you are adventurously left to challenge your survival instincts. So, travelers either seek peace or unpeace.
Nowadays, there is a growing motivational tendency that suggests that if you want to grow and improve your inner self, you should push beyond your boundaries. Many people go for challenging trips to an untamed exotic country in order to see how much they can endure, which in the end comes with a finishing touch in the form of an Instagram post of „how a journey can change a man” with a picture in a Buddhist temple doing yoga (been there, done that, though).
And while there is nothing particularly wrong with the exploration of yourself via exploration of the world, there is no reason to think your happiness will depend on denying yourself comfort.
Why? Because it is just not worth it. One time, I met a guy who was much younger than me and had just come back from a solo two-month trip to Asia, where he was sleeping in jungles with venomous snakes. I immediately started to recall times when I was sleeping in hotels with poor soundproofing, and I could not sleep at night.
Surely our pleasure level diverges – and that is okay. But there is no need to force yourself to do something that you deep down do not want to do, only because someone liked it and told you it is the only way to be a traveller and not a tourist. You do not have to sleep on camping sites if you enjoy a private and warm shower after a long day of sightseeing. You do not have to sleep in hostels if unknown people and their habits irritate you. Do not go budget-friendly if you know it will ruin your holidays.
Sometimes, the fact that you will try out food that is not particularly fit for your bacterial flora is enough to get you out of your comfort zone - you do not need to change the standard of your hotel bed to make Anthony Bourdain proud.
Rita Wiśniewska, third-year European Law student