Making My Bed to Lie In

Let's get the small amount of whinging out of the way first. I'm still at work, it's still very busy, I still hate it, but it's still making me good money. On the bright side, I'll be heading for a mini vacation to Kamloops in two days, so that will be a fantastic break. I don't want to just talk about my annoying job though, I have a different topic in mind for today. It will probably be another short post, partly because I don't have a whole wealth of things to say at the moment, and partly because I have to go to bed soon to get up for work in the morning.

Khal Drogo's Arakh hangs above me as I sleep. Yeah, I collect wall hanger fantasy swords, fight me.

To the left of this text (or somewhere else if you're on mobile, who knows where the hell you'll see it) you will see my bed. This is how it looks in the morning after I make it. It's nothing fancy, it doesn't really match all that well, and I don't have a collection of throw pillows to decorate it with, but I think it looks pretty good for what it is. I have my pillows I use for sleeping, a longer body pillow that I usually keep beside me so I don't roll over the couch during my sleep, my duvet (which apparently is spelt with a "t"), my wool blanket that my Grandma made for me and I love, and the duck down, nylon blanket my mom gave me for christmas. I don't necessarily use each piece on the bed every day, but I use them often enough to want to keep them out.

At this point you might be wondering why I'm talking about my bed. To be completely honest it is a bit of a dull topic, but there is an underlying theme here. As you can see from the picture, the bed is made. It may not be neatly creased out to military standards, but you can tell at a glance that I've put an effort in to have it not be a ball of fabric and feathers. This is an intentional change on my part since I've gotten back from Europe. In a sort of amalgamation of ideas, some that I came up with myself, and some that I've heard on various forms of media (cough, podcasts, cough) I really feel like making my bed in the morning is a great way to centre myself in an organized fashion at the beginning of each morning. It's simple to do; it takes me maybe 5 minutes at the most. Something about the clean aesthetic of the sheets laid out in an orderly fashion, and knowing that I did this, that I was able to take some sort of control over this part of my day, is really calming and, I hesitate to use this word because of how ridiculous this all seems, therapeutic. I heard from a source that I trust that there are actual scientific legitimacies behind the idea that making your bed in the morning can lead to a more enjoyable and productive day. I have yet to follow this through to a primary source and check it out for myself, but I can say anecdotally that this totally makes sense. So what I want to know is do you make your bed in the morning? Why or why not? If not, I suggest giving it a try and focusing on how you feel during and afterward.

So there's the short reasons why I make the bed in the morning. I know it's kind of a weird topic, and a short one, but it's something I've wanted to write down for a few days. It's actually a bit of bad timing to write this post now, since I haven't slept in this bed since last Thursday as I've been staying in town at my Grandma's since it's much closer to work for right now, but it calms me to know that my bed sits there, just as above in the photo, waiting for me to return and drift to sleep in it's supple clutches.

While we're on the topic of beds I just wanted to take this opportunity to talk very briefly about a couple hostels in Europe. Having stayed in both Hostels and Hotels during my trip, I can say with confidence that Hostels are the way to go. The hotels were nice to have some privacy and a bit of a break, but I don't think my trip would have been worse off if I'd stayed in hostels the entire time. You'll notice that the header image for this post is the hostel room I stayed at in Prague at the Post Hostel Prague. I chose it as the header because a) it's a nice, neutralish image that works well as a background, and b) I wanted to mention it in the body of the post, because it's easily the nicest hostel I stayed in the whole trip. It was nicer than some hotels I've been in. The rooms were immaculately clean, the beds were well constructed, it had lockers in the room that you could use with your travel locks. I also liked the curtains on the bed for extra privacy, although I didn't use it because it made it far too hot inside the bed. There was no air conditioning, and with the curtain closed the lack of airflow was nearly unbearable, so I just slept with it open. The building was conveniently located, and it had plenty of clean bathrooms and kitchen areas. There were sitting areas and you could buy drinks and snacks in the lobby. It was really nice, and a great way to start off my trip.

While all of the hostels were decent, none of them compared to the Post Hostel Prague. I do want to talk briefly about the first hostel I ever stayed in, in Amsterdam. This was by no means a 10/10 hostel, but I'm grateful for what it was because I think the experience I got at that hostel was the perfect first time experience. It was located right in the middle of a busy, restaurant filled section of Amsterdam. The building was old and narrow, and it had those amazing Amsterdam stairs, the ones that went up at about 85 degrees and could barely fit one person on them. I was on the top floor, so every time I came into the hostel I climbed 4 flights of these stairs. It was tiring, a bit annoying, and entirely wonderful. The rooms (I'll drop a kind of artsy, not very good photo below) were extremely small, with 2 pipe framed bunk beds about a shoulder width apart. I had the top bunk of the left bed, and there were no ladders so I had to fling myself onto it. The bathroom consisted of 2 separate rooms, one tiny one with a toilet with the tank way up high near the ceiling, and the little chain you pulled to flush. The other had a rusty shower with exposed pipes. It was clean enough that I didn't feel like I was going to catch the plague, but dirty enough that I felt like I was really getting an authentic hostel experience. It was great, and if anyone is thinking about travelling Europe, I would highly recommend the hostel route. You meet some really cool people, come out with some funny or horrifying stories, and save some money while you're at it. The superior Euro-travel way.