Five Days to Go

Don't you love weekends? There's no alarm to wake up to, no place in particular you have to be, and you are totally free to pack as much fun into 48 hours as you possibly can. Yes, there are also errands to run, bills to pay, and the house to clean, but for some reason even these daily tasks can seem exciting when they're done on a Saturday or Sunday. And of course, the weekend is always preceded by the absolute feeling of promise that can only be had on a Friday night. For a while, I had lost the joy of Saturday and Sunday. Taking a break from traveling has brought it back into my life, and I'm loving every minute of it.

When you travel, days of the week can become irrelevant. The traditional five-days-on, two-days-off routine just doesn't exist on the road. In fact, it's not unusual for travelers to completely lose track of normal time-keeping measures such as weekdays and weekends. Of course, this lack of day awareness can sometimes lead to trouble. For example, if you live in Paris and you forget it's Sunday and walk to your favorite fromagerie with visions of brie in your head, you'll only be disappointed when you see that they're closed...and even more so when you realize that so is every other cheese shop for miles. But for the most part, the no weekend lifestyle is good, especially if you previously spent years on the other schedule. Nevertheless, for nearly one month now I have been relishing my weekends.

The only problem with rediscovering the fabulousness that is the weekend, is that it also forces you to rediscover the concept of Monday. Mondays are the anti-weekend. The alarm sounds, most of us will have to go to work or school, and fun (unless you love your job, in which case, right on!) gets relegated to after 5pm. But there's hope. Every action has a reaction, and those of us who dread Mondays must always bear in mind that, if we make it through the day, the next weekend is just around the corner. Have you made your plans yet?