Does "Doing Laundry" Quietly Kill Your Fitness Motivation?

Hello Reader,​
✉️ Monday Momentum #38
​

Heya Fit Travel Tribe,​
Today’s Monday Momentum is brought to you by…laundry day (or lack thereof)...

😅Re-wearing lightly sweaty clothes 😅

You ever do that?

When you’re traveling and don’t really have enough fitness gear for life + workouts + “I might sweat today, I might not” uncertainty…

Suddenly your entire workout decision starts to hinge on things like:

👉 “Can I get away with wearing this one more time?”
👉 “Is this yoga set still a little damp?”
👉 “If I do laundry today, am I wasting clean clothes later?”​
​

And honestly?

This is where travel gets weirdly psychological.

Not the workouts themselves.

But the tiny decisions around them.

Simple fixes to reduce this kind of friction?

✅ Hang lightly sweaty clothes up immediately
→ If it’s not fully gross, give yourself the option of a second use (walks, yoga, light sessions)
​
✅ Put truly sweaty clothes straight into a laundry bag
→ No debating later. Future-you will thank you.
​
✅ Wear “fresh gym clothes” as daytime athleisure
→ Then your workout becomes their “second life” already. (Highly efficient system, honestly.)

​
✅ Know your laundry situation in advance
→ Cost, drying time, location, and whether you’ll actually wait around for it or abandon it mid-cycle 😅

👋Here’s a slightly sullen “Zdravo” from Serbia…

I've mostly been in Serbia since May 2nd (Belgrade, Nis, and Pirot).

I did get 3 random days back last week though, so I made a quick trip home to help with a furniture delivery.

And honestly? We were so screwed trying to get that couch up the stairs.

I’m still convinced they lied about the weight of the “heaviest item.” But thank GOODNESS, my partner called his friend to help us out.

Fast forward:
​ 👉 two couch pieces + 83 stairs
👉 me mentally yelling “PIVOT” in my head
👉 the 3 of us laughing mid-haul so we didn’t fully lose it

We celebrated with beer + wine on our balcony and sunset views😅

Sadly, I had to bus back to Niš on Thursday.
And Friday morning the consulate confirmed: VISA NOT READY.

Cue the waterworks 😭😭😭

I'll be honest - the hardest part is the repetition of waiting one day at a time. ​
And all anyone can say is:
​👉 “Just hang in there.”

I’ve been “hanging in there” for about 2 years now trying to get this visa.
But obviously....that's all I can do.

The door to the Bulgarian Consulate in Nis. I've stopped by here 4 times this month already.

At least I got to meet up with someone from my travel community. Only second time meeting up in person and I got to show her around the city a bit.

Building relationships with the 4 cats at this hostel. I've pet 3 of them so far (to the surprise of the hostel owner).

While I was in Sofia for 3 days, I did a quick interview...

Check out a snippet of my recent interview! Last week I met with Marina from @datingbeyondborders to talk about cross-cultural relationships. ​ Besides dating, we discussed more broader "culture shock" items including....CUSTOMER SERVICE ​ This is SUPER relevant to the struggles I'm feeling now as I try and communicate with various administrative staff about my visa process. 👉 Watch the Insta reel

We've changed to a MONTHLY newsletter and, oh wow, I needed it!

Bulgaria is on EVERYONE'S minds these days....

Why?

🇧🇬 BANGARANGA 🇧🇬

Bulgaria WON Eurovision!!!!!!

If you don't know....The Eurovision Song Contest is the longest-running annual televised international music competition in the world.

Created in 1956, it features original songs submitted by participating countries across Europe and beyond, which are then performed live and voted on to determine a winner.

Basically...it's a BIG deal!

Bulgaria has NEVER won Eurovision. ​
And the last time a Balkan country won the contest was Serbia in 2007....so...almost 2 decades ago.

Now, many are wondering how that might peak tourism.

👇 👇 👇

So if you or anyone you know is headed to this part of the Balkans, consider strolling around with freedom and flexibility with my Sofia audio walking tour on VoiceMap.

Also, check out the rebrand for VoiceMap (new logo, new personality) - fresh as of exactly TODAY!

🏔 Tara National Park, Serbia

A few people at my hostel recently recommended Tara National Park to me.

And after looking it up…

WOW.

👉 giant winding river viewpoints
👉 forested mountains
👉 hiking trails everywhere

It honestly looks like one of those places we don't know about until it starts booming on travel blogs.

The famous Drina River especially looks unreal from above.

You'll find tours offered from Belgrade or you can go on your own!

There are relative new travel blog posts and Youtube videos to get you excited.

🛒 Grocery shopping gets weird when you live day-by-day

One thing nobody talks about enough with uncertain travel?
​👉 Feeding yourself becomes strangely stressful.

Because when you don’t know how long you’re staying somewhere…
​everything becomes a calculation.

So lately I’ve been trying to simplify.

What’s helping:

• choosing accommodations with kitchens (I'll never regret cooking)
• repeating a few easy meals
• buying versatile ingredients
• using tupperware (in case I suddenly leave - I'll have food to go)

Always on my mind: More money for more travel! It's often worth a little homework for those savings 💸

“ The oak fought the wind and was broken. The willow bent when it must and survived. ​​ ​ — Robert Jordan

A friendly favor (tiny ask): If this helped, share with one friend and use my links when you buy gear/cards. It costs you nothing - it just keeps my content free. Thank you ❤️

Feel free to always respond back to this email with any thoughts and questions you might have or content you'd love to see in the future.

Happy travels & healthy living,

Heidi​
​Heidirunsabroad.com ✈️💪

Note: Some images and GIFs sourced from Unsplash and Giphy.