Mentally escaping to reduce stress

I have had a lot of stress lately due to pain caused by back problems. I started using an anti-stress technique that I haven't used in a while to deal with this. That technique, for lack of a better way of describing it, is "positive remembering". What it involves is taking a memory of a time when I was the least stressed I've ever been and trying to invison myself there again. The time I like to remember is being in Santiago, Chile in my early 20s and being alone as a traveler. For several days I stayed at the youth hostel and during the day, which was quite warm but not humid or excessivly hot, I would get on busses that went around the city and ride them to wherever they went and then get off and ride other buses. Santiago is a big city and a very safe one at that. The whole time I was listening to great relaxing techno music. I spoke Spanish passibly but I could tune out to the messages on billboards, signs, and the voices around me if I wanted to. I did this for 8 hours a day, spoke to noone, and it was the most relaxed I've ever been.