In the British philosopher Alain de Botton’s book The Art of Travel, there was a mention of well-travelled military man Xavier de Maistre, who wrote a parody travelogue titled Voyage Around My Room.

In the book, De Maistre describes the contents and furniture of his small room shaped in a parallelogram, as well as imaginary situations and dialogues that take place during his ‘’travels’’.

I read this book while trying to fall asleep in a nice room in Kyoto years ago and suddenly missed my scrappy bedroom. 

For some reason, I would always long for my own bed at home every time I travelled, even on the occasions the hotel’s bed was clearly superior.  

Whenever I meet my friends, the topic of travel plans would usually surface. For the first time in a while, I have been telling them I had no plans.