My birthday staycation in Eastbourne: Sketching The View Hotel
As my birthday this year was approaching, I always thought of having a birthday trip. However, when I got very serious flu from Christmas last year and couldn’t recover for weeks, I thought I might have to stay at home instead. Because either going out or working would make me feel sick again.
After seeing my GP and having some medicines provided by him for a few days, I started feeling better. Especially after getting food from the supermarket I no longer felt tired again. Thus I wanted to have good memories in my birthday while being cautious, and staycation was on my mind.
January is a non-peak season, so some hotel rooms especially with sea view can provide every good price. I chose The View Hotel in Eastbourne since it is the one I wanted to stay, but during the summer the room price is usually much more expensive.
What attracts me to The View Hotel is its hot bath as well as the balcony. If I was not sick, I still need a bath tub to help me relax. When I was sick, a bath tub can treat my flu to a certain extent - at least to make my body warmer. The balcony provides a wide view of the coast of Eastbourne, even though in winter it should be very cold.
The hotel room was as nice as I expected. As I was on the way of recovery, I tried to not make me busy, except sketching and exploring my room from a bird view. On the day of check in, I spent most of the time inside my room, except dining out.
I used to have very bad sleep as I always sweated and woke up, and my smartwatch showed me I was so stressed. That night I sweated much less and almost nothing interrupted my sleep. However, I was awake again so early (around 7am) and when I put away the curtain I saw the beautiful sky and sea.
From the app called SunCalc.net, I acknowledged that the sun will rise just in front of my room, so I would easily see the sunrise. Thankfully, there was almost no cloud and so I could see the sun rose perfectly from the sea level. I watched the sunrise so many times, but this was the best sunrise I have ever seen.
I had a good breakfast in the hotel and relaxed in my room until the checkout time midday. I am not good at doing nothing but the change in environment was enough to make me feel both tranquil and energetic.
The weather after checkout was very nice — after a series of days of overcast — warm in the sun even though the temperature was just around 3c. I spent some time in Towner Eastbourne — a very nice art gallery in the town, as well as in a cafe so that I could finish my sketching of the hotel.
As I visited Eastbourne before and I was still on the way to recovery, I didn’t visit so many places this time. But I was satisfied. Sometimes travel means visiting inner instead of outer — exploring the hotel room and even inner self, rather than checking in as many spots as possible. Travel somewhere is a change in environment to bring me different kinds of inspiration and preparation to my life afterwards — to make me feel more energetic instead of tired after doing so many things during the trip. Travelling is a kind of treatment, in terms of both physical illness and mental wellbeing. We do too much too fast in our life, and travelling reminds us of the change and thus tells us to slow down to adjust to our own natural pace, which should not be regarded as being miserable, so that we won’t have burnout again and again.
