Girls Just Want To Have Pastries & Go To The Museum
on perfecting travel routines...
It’s 8:45 a.m. in Copenhagen. My jeans already have powdered sugar on them. My iced latte is sweating from being set outside with me on the nearby bench, but the museum didn’t open until 10, so we’re not rushing.
The plan is simple: pastry, art, wandering. Repeat.
Somewhere between the first bite of my cardamom bun and the quiet shuffle of the morning commuters, I realized—I don’t want anything extravagant for my perfect day abroad. I just want this.
Old Rituals In New Places
Since departing home, Luke and I have been go-go-go in a way that isn’t our usual. Almost every day has been filled with tours and buses, quick lunches in between sights, and crashing into bed at 8 pm after clocking a good 20,000 steps a day.
Let me be clear, I have no complaints! This first week of travel has been a whirlwind of beauty and awe. I feel so grateful to collect these moments and memories together. But, without a doubt, we were seriously teetering on travel burnout.
Since landing in Copenhagen, we’ve promised ourselves that we would pause and take a moment to honor our individual, artistic desires. For Luke, that means watercolor time. For me, it means time to edit photos and write. But to do that requires time “down.” Hours spent over the page and without an impending deadline of when the next train leaves.
And that… can feel like a huge sacrifice. What happens if we spend hours eating pastries and creating instead of seeing those bucket list sights? What would happen if we didn’t see xyz while we’re here? So and so would hate to know we didn’t go see xyz!
Establishing small, repeatable routines while we travel here feels like we’re grounding ourselves. Kind of like when you order the same breakfast in the morning, or always putting on that perfect pair of jeans when you feel stuck getting dressed in the morning. Those routines that help us reconnect with ourselves so that we can go out and dig deep.
The beautiful, predictable pleasures are a requirement for me, both at home and abroad. Here in Copenhagen, they look like:
A perfect morning pastry with an iced coffee
An open table and free wifi to open my laptop and let my thoughts stream out
A museum visit with headphones on and a perfect playlist - my favorite creative recharge
Romanticizing the in-between… like when sitting on a bench, sipping coffee while watching the locals, staring longingly out the window on the metro like the main character of a rom-com, or perusing a boutique and admiring the textures and little charming details
A Slower Routine
Although the first week here has been a chaotic swirl of planes, trains, and automobiles (and trams, and boats, and ferries), I feel it’s important to mention that I always feel more fulfilled by curated, more soul-nourishing days abroad.
Travel routines should feel intuitive and in touch with your inner world, more so than a checklist of things that you need to get done.
I always love to have one anchor per day. Be it a trip to a museum, or a garden. Something that feels good and inspiring. Not what I “should” do necessarily, but something that I feel called to experience. Something that will be creative fodder or fuel for future projects.
So yeah, we might not be seeing all there is to see in Copenhagen these next few days. That’s just something I’ve made peace with. Softer, slower days here may mean that my photo album won’t have all the major sights the bloggers have suggested. But, what I’ll get in exchange means so much more. I’ll get a freer mind, a more observant heart. I’ll get hours that I can reconnect with my inner life. I’ll build more creative trust within myself. The hours that will follow will be more enriching and more pleasurable.
TLDR: girls just want to eat pastries and go to the museum. It’s the perfect day, whether you’re at home or abroad.
And for those gentle creatives who are adventuring, remember to chase quiet awe, a moment or three of making, and a flaky crust to start your days.
I’m just a girl, exclaiming that you shouldn’t have to chase the whole city. You can be a girl with your headphones sitting in front of a Monet and get just the same joy and awe as someone who's checked off every item from their bucket list.
Definitely a mix of soft and go go go. Nowadays one has to book tickets in advance for so many museums and sights that one has to plan at least part of the day. But I love to roam without a plan too!
When I travel, I like to list just a few places I really want to visit, usually three to five. It keeps things manageable and stops me feeling overwhelmed. A city trip is still a holiday, after all. And we sometimes forget to treat it as one. But then, when you come back home, you need a week to recuperate. I love having time to just wander, settle into a café, see what the day brings and try to feel like a local. Pastry, art and wandering is very much my go-to as well.