Sorry in advance for the long post.

A while ago Matt and I took a weeklong vacation to one of our favorite cities in Europe. Yet you wouldn’t know that as there were no blog posts, no Instagram photos or Facebook ‘check in’s.’ We flew business class both ways, stayed in a location known for its Gay nightlife in a city where café/wine culture is everywhere. Along with no social media posts we also decided not to drink any alcohol including at the airport and on the plane. What did we learn from this experience?

Context

Historically Matt and I generally do the same thing on every vacation. Whether we are in a remote town in Brazil, in the middle of Paris, or chilling in South Florida; the common denominator is drinking almost all day. We wake up and have a mimosa or two with breakfast. Then we will move to the beach or a café for a glass of rose’. Lunch would include of a bottle of wine or at the very least a cocktail.  We would then crash until it was time to get ready for dinner which includes more wine. Afterwards we would typically go to a bar for a few drinks until it was time to go to sleep. Sleeping would be quite miserable as we transitioned from intoxication to hangover.

While we were drinking, we would often take lots of selfies and post them on social media and our only ‘working out’ would consist of walking to restaurants or shopping.

Why Our Typical Vacation Approach was Flawed

The problem was while I had a lot of fun and told myself I was coming home relaxed; the reality was I usually came home feeling like shit. It was not just the alcohol, it was the lack of sleep, eating like a pig, not exercising, and focusing more on social media than spending time with my husband. Time away when we should be focused on our wellness was anything but. I would get home and get on the weight scale and regret the entire week(s) of vacation. But hey I got 100 likes on Instagram!

Our Secret Trip

It’s bizarre to run a travel blog and not post about our vacation. That was my exact reaction when Matt suggested we not drink alcohol and not post about pictures from the trip! But then I thought more about it and grew excited. A vacation focused on wellness and spending time together while in Europe. No booze, time together, no social media and lots of exercise.  How bad can that be! 

Part 1: The Challenges of Not Drinking

4 Lounges and 4 Business Class Flights

Ironically, I found this to be the most challenging part of our trip. What is the fun of traveling in luxury without drinking? How is my vacation official if people don’t see the Facebook check in? Actually I quite enjoyed our lounge experiences and business class flights without the booze. We had some nice meals, quality conversations and even a showered. On the way we transited in NY from Boston before our overnight flight. Without the booze we arrived fully refreshed and ready to go. In fact, our room wasn’t ready so we found a locally gay owned gym to shower and went for a 6 mile walk. By the time we were done our room was ready, we napped for 2 hours and had a lovely dinner out.

I would say though it was a little challenging to decline the pre-flight cocktail or the nice flight attendants asking repeatedly if they could get me a glass of wine, but it was totally worth it.

Meals Out

I am not going to lie; it was initially little disappointing going to Europe and not having excellent (and cheap) wine with dinner. We were pleasantly surprised though that a few restaurants offered mocktails, but it’s not the same. However, not feeling drunk or hungover or just miserable made it easily worth it!

Evenings Out

The city we visited has an evening atmosphere and we were staying in the heart of the gay area so bars were everywhere. We did not really participate in nights out. Good news is we are also not evening people so this wasn’t a huge deal. The lovey rooftop bar at our hotel made us a nice mocktail for us to sip on before bedtime.

Afternoons

In all honesty, I found afternoons more challenging than evenings. This was particularly the case when we moved to a small beach town and had a beautiful balcony overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. A glass of rose would have been lovely….However, we were pleasantly surprised that non-alcholic wine was available in the small wine shops. We had a few bottles of those and they were perfect for patio drinks.

 

You might be thinking, this sounds like the vacation from Hell. Andrew and Matt went to Europe, sat on patios, in restaurants and visited bars without drinking….wtf did they do?

Sleep

This was the biggest win for me on vacation. Our beds were not that comfortable in Europe, but it did not matter because I slept like a baby without the alcohol and its accompanying headache every night. I slept great on the plane too. I came home feeling refreshed and not exhausted. Business class without the booze is actually more comfortable. 

Exercise

I have done a fitness photoshoot, I have ran a half marathon. I have lost 40 lbs of fat and gained muscle. I have NEVER exercised on vacation before this trip. Why would I exercise. Relaxing on vacation was all about drinking and eating, the last thing I wanted to do was work my body. On this trip we ran almost every day and I have to tell you, this was the highlight of the trip. Running is an amazing way to see a new place. I felt great after each run and was able to recover easily by eating nutritious foods and not drink. It was far more relaxing than being drunk.

Walked

We don’t typically do guided tours on vacation since they are staged and we can google anything we see. But Matt and I must have walked almost 8 miles a day. We saw some cool buildings, ate some good food and browsed through many stores.

Shopped and Saved Money

We bought a lot of clothes and yet we still saved money…..because we didn’t buy any alcohol. Have you ever stopped and looked how much you spend on booze while on vacation?

Spent Time Together

This one goes without saying, but alcohol truly limited the quality time together on vacation. It was lovely exploring Europe completely sober and not worrying about taking social media photos with my husband.

 

Overall, Was it Worth It?

Absolutely! We got to experience one of our favorite destinations together, we returned home refreshed and feeling physically and mentally great. I didn’t have to go home to ‘start a diet’ after vacation because the lack of booze and increase in exercise enabled me to return home at my same weight. 

Does this mean I will never drink on vacation again? Who knows, but I did not miss it and the benefits clearly outweighed the negatives, and if you stop and think…the negatives of not drinking aren’t actually negatives. More money, more energy, more quality time, less headaches and feeling much healthier.  While it was a different way to travel, it was also an excellent experience and will absolutely make me rethink where we travel to and the kinds of hotels we stay at.

Bon Voyage,

Andrew

 

PS I will post a few reviews from the trip soon.