Today I decided to talk to you about how you don’t realize that sometimes you need a break until you actually experience one.

A couple of weeks ago me and my friends decided to go away for almost a week so we could enjoy our little holidays. Now, for this you don’t need to go far, in fact we stayed near-ish from where we live (given the fact that it only took us one hour to reach our destination).

I have to admit that I took my things to do some work there because I just simply thought that the only thing that was worth doing would be to slow down a bit but still be productive. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

The minute we got there it was instantly relaxing. The last thing that any of us wanted to do was to take care of our responsibilities. I still worked on some things at first but then I decided that it was worth more to take a break for some days and enjoy myself with the people I love.

The weather was almost warm except for the chilly wind that blew from time to time but the sun was out every single day. So, we made it a habit to walk everyday to the beach, which wasn’t far, and come back again.

You know, I have never been a big of a fan about going to the beach, especially in the summer. I just don’t like the excessive heat and I abhor sand. Sorry if I’m offending anyone, but the truth is, when you live in a country where spring and summer can be very hot, such as Portugal, the number of people that don’t like excessive hot weather tends to increase than if it would be in a country the other way around. But I found that I really can appreciate a long walk to the beach with wintery and autumnally temperatures. I find it very satisfying to put on a really chunky warm coat, comfortable footwear and, if need be, a massive scarf and go to an empty beach only with people that I love to be with as company. Also, you can laugh if you want, João had to be constantly calling out for me because I was somehow addicted at picking up shells. There were so many that I just wanted to take them all.

In the end of the week we didn’t do anything special except for spending some quality time together. We cooked every meal and they all tasted better than usual, we played board games and card games that somehow always ended with us laughing with tears running down our faces and during our walks we talked about so many unlinked things that that one hour seemed like five minutes.

This is something that I definitely recommend everyone to do. You can recharge your batteries and put your worries in a different perspective.

DISCLAIMER: all photos marked as * were taken by Inês Vicent: (Instagram: @invi.art)