The Room Is Only the Excuse

No one truly remembers a room the way we think they do.

Years later, people do not remember the square metres.

Or the wardrobe.

Or the bathroom tiles.

They remember other things.

They remember how they slept.

They remember that morning when they woke up without immediately jumping out of bed.

They remember sleeping so deeply that they did not even hear the alarm.

Sometimes guests come down late for breakfast and say, almost apologetically:

“I’m sorry… I didn’t hear anything.”

And I smile every time.

Because behind that sentence there is usually deep exhaustion.

People who had not truly slept for months.

People who kept waking up during the night.

People whose bodies stayed tense even while sleeping.

And then, somewhere during a few quiet days here, the body finally begins to let go.

Perhaps that is what we are really searching for when we travel.

Not only a beautiful room.

But that rare feeling that, for a little while, we no longer need to remain constantly alert.

Perhaps the room is only the excuse after all.