Travel Resources: Creating an Adventure List

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“You have an exciting life”, commented a colleague of mine today who has read about my adventures on this blog. I responded back that it wasn’t always that way. You can have just as many adventures as I do, all it takes is some simple planning. Today’s post shares just how to do that.

One summer while I was in graduate school I lived in Boston (rent free I might add). In the heart of Downtown Boston, I could walk to the subway station in less than 5 minutes and explore all the great sights the city had to offer. Orlando doesn’t have a subway system or a really great mass-transit system to get from one place to another. It also doesn’t have the same “city feeling” that I’m used to up North. While I enjoy my work in Orlando, I had always been frustrated with the lack of excitement Central Florida seemed to have.

Many weekends and evenings were wasted sitting in front of the television because I thought that there wasn’t anything worthwhile to explore. Tired of being bored all the time, I set out to create my own excitement and have captured them here at adventureswithben.com.

Step 1: If you want to have an adventure, you need to determine what it is you want to do. I ask a lot of friends and co-workers what they have done recently to get some ideas. Then I write them down. You can see my list for Adventures in Florida at the top of the page. I have found that if you write them down, you can work towards eliminating adventures off the list one by one. It’s a great visual reminder. What is on your Adventure List? Comment below.

Step 2: Take a risk. I realized that part of the reason I was so bored at home was because I was saying “no” too much. I didn’t want to try something because the drive was too far, it sounded lame, it cost too much (like 5 bucks), I had no one to go with, and the list went on and on. It’s easy to come up with reasons why you shouldn’t do something. Just do it. If it was lame don’t go back again. I think you’re lame for not taking the risk.

Step 3: Plan it out. This was step 1 in my article about planning a 3-Day Weekend. If you don’t decide on a date for your adventure, it will never happen. Go to your list and write down the dates your going to do each of them. For example, it’s Wednesday and I already know what I will do this Friday night and Saturday. Next week I’ll be headed to the Lakeridge Winery Grape Stomp (stay tuned for posts on my competition experience at the grape stomp!) If you don’t make a plan, you’ll miss out and time will pass you by.

Step 4: Stop making excuses and just do it. Okay, this sounds a lot like step 2, but I know some of you are still making excuses why you shouldn’t go somewhere. Stop it, seriously. Let your guard down and have some fun.

For those of you reading and thinking to yourself how simple and boring a life you have, what are you doing to change that? If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got. So go out there and have an adventure! And when you’re done, send me an e-mail and tell me all about it.

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