There are two kinds of vacations. There’s the kind where you go and see and do a lot, like the vacation where you go to Washington D.C. and visit the Smithsonian and all of the monuments, or the kind where you go to New York to see the Mets or cheer for the Yankees (or not, depending on what side of that fence you happen to be on). Or you could take a road trip down Route 66, or take the usual adventure cop-out and go to Disneyland.

Then there’s the vacation where you deliberately do as little as possible. Vacations of this nature involve a cabin in the woods or a hotel room on a beach, a pile of DVDs and/or cable and/or a really good book or three. And you stay there. The best attraction in a thirty mile radius is a variety of antique stores, which are always worth perusing. But for the most part, you do nothing.

Both are completely legitimate uses of vacation time. There is as much to be learned from periods of inactivity as there are periods of activity and bustle. While going and doing can teach you much, it can be stressful. And sitting back and doing nothing can be stressful for those who don’t like to be inactive.

It’s all about picking your poison, I suppose. Both have their pros and cons. But I can tell you that right now, after two weeks of constant activity, having license to sleep until 10 and then take a nap at 3 and go to bed at 9 is perfectly fine with me. As much as I love doing something, having the chance to do nothing at all is as refreshing as it gets.