A Much Needed Adventure
How often have you said, “What I need is a holiday” And by this you mean packing a bag, leaving the country and preferably heading to the sun for two weeks, returning restored with all your weary woes gone like magic? But the truth is, sometimes these ‘quick fix’ breaks don’t actually fix anything. You merely take your problems with you and return with most of them but you are poorer and have a load of dirty washing! The tan that gave you a boost has disappeared within 10 days and usually so have most of the memories. So our ‘My Weekly’ bucket list holiday feature is a whole new ball game because you’re setting out to do something unforgettable that you’ll be talking about for the rest of your life. Do you already know what it is you’d love to do? Maybe you have a list? So what’s stopping you? Is it finances, is it because you’re on your own, or are you a little scared? (Scared by the way is perfectly normal, the overly confident worry me far more than the methodical). While writing to you I’ve just googled ‘Travelling Companion’ and found a whole host of reputable websites including Silver Surfers who match people together, those with money and maybe a slight disability who want to travel and are happy to pay for a companion and if you’re going it alone there are companies who specialise in putting groups of single travellers together. What I’m trying to demonstrate here is that anything is possible if you really want to do it.
I’m going to delve now into my, little black book of adventures, some were over 20 years ago (which saying it has just frightened me) but the experiences were so positive that I’ll l never forget them, they even changed my view of the world. The point of an Adventure it to take yourself into a different space and the one I recommend to newbie adventurers or people traveling alone is an African Safari. There are many different types you can go on, from animal to landscape, and there’s nothing like an African Sunset. It also ticks the box if you’ve decided to take a young family member along because the worry of what are we going to do and what if they get bored completely disappears, you cannot get bored in Africa. My only caveat is that unless you are a seasoned traveller you don’t go ‘off-
piste’, you place yourself in the hands of a company who are experts. Research and preparation are everything so be sure to do yours, it’s part of the fun. Watch Meryl Streep in ‘Out of Africa’ to David Attenborough and everything in-between. Learn about the country you’re visiting, its history and why when you arrive, you’ll have a strange feeling of familiarity, belonging, understanding and compulsion to return.
Don’t forget though there are adventures on our own shores, I have my eyes on the Three Peaks Challenge, Hadrian’s Wall and the Orkneys – Anyone fancy it?
Love, Anthea X