Everyone has those activities–or meals or pit-stops–they have to do every time they go on a trip. For me, those rituals are quite small, and to some may seem outlandish, but everybody’s got their ticks.

1. Haircut in Dublin

I moved to Dallas, Texas (from another part of Texas) in January. I have since then tried to find a hairstylist in Dallas that I can trust, but haircuts are scary things. It’s a coin toss for me whether the hair stylist will actually listen to what I want, or just go snip crazy with my locks. Every time I’ve visited Dublin I’ve gotten a haircut at House of Color (the count so far is at 4, soon to be 5). There’s trust built up between the salon and I. I always come out with a better hair style than I went in with. It’s also a nice way to unwind for an hour or so. They bring me tea and a small cake to snack on while the stylist works her magic. It also helps that a fresh haircut during travel means I don’t have to mess with it for a few days.

2. Walking to the Vatican at Night

While I was living in Rome, Italy for 6 months I made it a nightly ritual to walk around the city. Mainly because I was in a deep depressive episode during that time (thanks to the anxiety of living in a new city/culture, wanting to do well in school, and my beloved first cat falling ill). At first, I wandered closer to my apartment in Trastevere, just up and down the winding streets, but then one night I walked along the River Tiber to the Castel Sant’Angelo and back. St.Peter’s Cathedral glowed in the low light of the moon, and the towering columns shrouded in shadows. The Piazza San Pietro just felt so different at night, that serenity I’d looked for during the day finally appeared. I couldn’t help but gravitate there every night afterwards; especially after my late night economics class (which I barely passed..).

3. Petting the cats at the Largo Di Torre Argentina

It did not matter if I was late to class, or a train, anytime I walked by the Largo di Torre Argentina I had to stop and pet the cats. As some of you know (from posts like this) I am a cat person. I have a lovely cat named Artemis back home, but when I was in Rome the feral cats were my children. It always made me feel 300x better whenever I visited the cat sanctuary, and to be honest, it helped the cats out a bit too. They got their daily scratches and I got to pet kitties while staring at Roman ruins. There’s nothing better than that.

What are some of your travel rituals? Let me know all about them in the comments below.

Well internet friends and strangers, the time has come. On Friday I leave the U.S. for about 8 days to visit Christmas Markets in Switzerland, have a pint of Bulmers in Ireland, and eat enough pasta to kill me in Italy. If you want to stay up to date with next week’s travels make sure to follow me on Instagram @ LittleSliceofBri.

Thanks for Reading!