Day 76: On the Question of Holidaying

I have been pondering the essence of what holidaying is all about. Why do you do it? What makes a holiday enjoyable? Sometimes I think the most enjoyable parts of a holiday are the anticipation and the memory. The actual being in the now of a holiday is often so overwhelming or impactful or emotional that it seems not enjoyable. I am not being ungrateful. I will love the time I am having when I am no longer having it. And plenty of what I am doing is fabulous. It just makes me think about it when I do things like going into town this afternoon. We made the mistake of putting our names down for the bus transfer in and out of town. It meant that we had to hang around for the full duration of the time allotted, so that the poor driver wouldn't be looking for us in vain when the trip home came around, rather than jumping in a taxi when we had had enough. Hoi An is beautiful. It has a plethora of buildings which, unlike many other towns in Vietnam, haven't been damaged in any number of wars. But I am a terrible tourist (another element that got me thinking about all this today) because going through museums and houses, which is what you 'do' in Hoi An, is the last thing I want. My brain is too full. I can't take in information in a museum format. Audibly, fine. It soaks in there like liquid after too much food, and becomes solid somewhere along the way when I am able to process it. But reading signs and placards, or enforced rather than random looking, makes me restless. And so we just wandered the streets of Hoi An and took it all in. Hoi An is not so big. Four and a half hours were too many. I would happily look in shops (even though, believe it or not from the amount of clothing and shoes I have, I hate shopping) but if any one talks to me I am out of there. And you get talked to very quickly. I wish I could explain that people would get a lot out of me if they would just leave me alone. I am not winging. I sound like it. But it is more like venting. Or trying to understand myself. Trying to understand why I come to places where what happens drives me a little insane. Is a holiday a time when you push yourself out of your usual comfort zone? Or is a holiday supposed to be relaxing? I suppose you have to resign yourself to the fact that the two are mutually exclusive and that if you choose the former, it will take time to think of it as enjoyable.

I think Irene looks lovely today. And from what I hear a jumper is fully in order. Good Ol' Melbourne having day after day of sweaty, sticky weather and then making you get out jumpers and rugs and electric blankets. We are like a European winter—an endless dance of on again, off again jackets and coats. It is just ours is day to day rather than dependant on whether you are inside or outside.

Irene's Outfit Jumper: Op-shopped Skirt: Op-shopped

List_Addict's Outfit and Distractions Top: Op-shopped Shorts: Target Shoes: Teva Sunnies: Gifted, Oroton (the only designer thing I own) Photos (clockwise from top left): lanterns in the streets of Hoi An; Me against the vivid yellow buildings in Hoi An, with the coming sunset throwing a shadow of my cowboy photographer up beside me; more lanterns with the river and yellow buildings in the background; narrow laneways of Hoi An

Photographer de Jour: V——

Who wore it better? Linky, but not necessarily stylishly so, today with: