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4 Surprising Ways in Which I Profited from a Vacation in Italy
Don’t cross things off your bucket list
Is it just my Instagram feed or is everyone obsessed with Italy? From Hasbulla walking memes to tips on where to find the best gelato, from lemon print dresses to Vespas, we all want that Dolce Far Niente.
We go to the beautiful country in the hope that all those meals, architecture, and culture will teach us the art of living. But the reality is never as we imagine and certain things may surprise you in the land in the shape of a boot.
Here are my four little revelations from the trip I returned from last week.
1) 11 days of walking did more than 8 months of gym
Rome in 2024 is pretty different from when I last saw it 11 years ago: way more people and construction fences everywhere. Turns out that COVID-19 and the panic about the Third World War made everyone buy a plane ticket and spend thousands of dollars before they die.
With masses everywhere, I’d stay away from public transport, remembering what the agent had told me when I took out the travel health insurance:
“It’s not just COVID anymore. We had people with the West Nile virus and dengue fever.”
I didn’t want to exchange regional illnesses with other citizens of the world, so my family would walk up to 30,000 steps daily instead of riding on the metro. With so many sights to enjoy, we didn’t binge and remembered what an empty stomach feels like. And so the 45-year-old me effortlessly lost 2.205 lb in 10 days. Compared to a personal trainer I had been paying for 8 months and not losing an ounce, this was huge.
With a daily goal of just enjoying ourselves, I didn’t have a food craving. Appreciating a slow life despite the hot weather clearly decreased my cortisol levels and sped up my metabolism. I was happy, healthy, and fine.
And we profited from our decision on how to spend our time.
2) Not waiting in lines for food and tourist attractions
Since we’re neither US nor EU citizens, we had to wait in a special line after landing. It took us 1.5 hours…
