Guys, after my December of travel I was exhausted. I moved flats early in the month, spent a weekend in Germany, and flew through Dublin to save money when going home to Washington, D.C. for the holidays which turned out to be totally chaotic – basically everything that could go wrong did go wrong on my outbound journey. By the time I arrived back in England in January, I was borderline ready to not leave my couch.

The breakneck pace that I traveled during 2016 – usually flying or taking the train to another country twice a month – was not/is not happening this month.

In fact, most of the travel I’m doing or have slated for January doesn’t have a lot of organization at all. I went hiking in the Cotswolds last weekend, something I decided on the day before. I went to Bath with my friend Karen on Monday and except for a list of a few of the top sights, I didn’t do any planning then either. I’m heading to Cirencester, a market town in the Cotswolds this weekend, and besides a cafe to eat at (food is important!) I don’t have a whole lot planned either. Have I become a lazy* traveler?

This is soo unlike me. In the vast majority of my 2016 travel, especially solo, I pretty much had an outline of what I wanted to do every day, and often had tickets and whatnot reserved ahead.

*Lazy meaning relaxed, not as a negative connotation.

Part of me feels so relieved by this. In 2017 I’m really trying to cut a lot of the stress as a control freak that I put on myself out, so just going somewhere without all the planning and research I normally do has felt good. On the other hand, it may just be how I feel this month, but who knows, without the pressure of ‘new years resolutions’ next month I may get back to planning all my time.

What’s your style when you travel? Are you a ‘lazy’ traveler?