Walk this Way….Actually, Lets Just Drive

, ,

As some of you have known I was gone in Europe for almost a month, but I am now back! You can ask me about the trip any time you see me and I will do my best to give you the abbreviated version, but all in all it was an amazing experience. I saw some amazing historical sites, was able to reconnect with family I hadn’t seen in a long time, and of course ate a lot of good food! Amongst many things that I experienced one that I noticed wherever we went was that we walked EVERYWHERE. Part of it was because we were being tourists, but also walking is much more a part of the European culture, at least in the larger cities. I tracked my steps and on average I walked more than 20,000 steps a day! Things like going to dinner, getting a coffee, grabbing groceries are all things we would walk to. These are things I would never walk to back at home even if it is in a very walkable distance.

I was talking to Aaron last night and we both agreed that when on vacation we tend to walk more places which is kind of ironic because for a lot of us the goal for vacation is just to relax and not have to do much in terms of physical movement. If we, for example, wanted to go to dinner and the restaurant was 10 blocks away we would almost always drive there when we are back at home, but when we are on vacation we are usually more inclined to walk. This can be for a multitude of reasons but I think it is mostly because we have just become so accustomed to driving. Next time you want to go for a meal or drink close to where you are try walking! There is even scientific evidence that walking after a meal can help digestions and better regulate blood sugar levels.  

You don’t always have to look this happy when you walk but maybe walking can make you this happy!

Next time you go on vacation try and track your daily steps and then compare it with how many you take on average when you are at home. It was interesting to see how much of a contrast I had on my vacation steps and my at home steps….you might see me walking to the gym or to grab my coffee more often!

2 replies
  1. Tara Swarts
    Tara Swarts says:

    DJ…
    The “Flash” doesn’t walk he zooms!! Are u sure that 20,000 number wasn’t more like 200,000??
    Seriously glad u are back and also that u had a great time!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *