The luxury of doing nothing

April 9, 2026By maverickbirdPosted in Africa, Egypt, Outside India

As adults, one of the things we crave is some time for ourselves. However, when, by luck, we do get some free time, we forget about the things we wanted to do – read a book, listen to music, watch that film we wanted to see – and start focusing on the things-to-do in our heads. It´s as if we forget to simply relax and unwind as adults, and our default mode gets set to an action mode. I used to be one such adult until the day I was not. It took a lot of conscious training to not do things, even inside my head, and just to unwind. I started with the easiest step: reading a book. It eventually led me to reading a book in the sun, then falling asleep in the sun with a book on my face. I love the feel of warm sunshine on my skin and the smell of pages of a book. These eventually resulted in slowing down on certain days, living without watching TV, and lying/sitting still in the sun. All these helped me discover the luxury of doing nothing, and every winter, I head over to Marsa Alam in Egypt to do just that.

Winter can be dreadful in Germany. It is especially dreary in Cologne, which hardly gets any snow. Instead, we have endless dark days of gloomy, overcast skies and persistent rain. Marsa Alam comes as a much-needed relief. The skies are blue there, and the sun shines warmly. Even though the Red Sea is colder than normal, the marine life thrives there, and the corals flaunt gorgeous colours. Marsa Alam is not your run-of-the-mill Egyptian seaside resort. It does not have glitzy seaside promenades lined with bars and restaurants. The little town is dusty, has a little market, and government officials´ residences. What it offers, though, are endless stretches of empty beaches, stunning blue sea, golden desert, and a sky full of stars. There are a handful of resorts, but these have limited interaction with the locals, and the best homestays face the sea. It´s the perfect place to indulge in doing nothing – sunbathe, look at sunsets and sunrises from your bed, swim, snorkel, dive, and explore the desert. If these sound too boring for you, then you have the option of exploring its stunning mangrove forests, blue coves, and Roman-era ruined temples in the desert. Don´t believe me? Check out this photo essay on the art of doing nothing in Marsa Alam.