‘ve always thought that more interesting (or weird) people have more interesting (or weird) experiences. Often life doesn’t come to you, you have to go out and find it. Sometimes it’s a lot of work to hunt down those experiences. However, if you already have some unique hobbies that you continue to practice while traveling it can lead to a better (or at least more interesting) trips.
1. Photography
Besides allowing you to time travel (you can look back into the past after you’ve snapped the photo). It also helps develop your ‘eye’ – be it for architectural details of a new city, the light, geography, fashion, or what’s beautiful about what you’re seeing.
Trying to get some good shots can lead to exploring new places, interacting with locals, and allowing you to explore different types of photography – pinhole lenses, black and white, and more artistic shots.
2. People watching
Let’s face it, you’re a stranger in a strange land. Surrounded by strangers – many of them are also probably in a strange land (if they’re tourists). Even in the middle of a crowd, you can feel lost and lonely.
One hobby that will never let you down is people watching, and creating stories… Are they local, is that couple on a date, does she love that guy she’s with. Where is the old man going etc? Watching how people dress, behave and interact is always free entertainment.
3. Journaling or blogging
You experience a day, then that day is gone. You can’t get back to it, can’t change or edit it. There are no do-overs. In a few days or weeks, you can’t even remember the day clearly. A full 24hr will be reduced to a few snapshots in your head or camera, the high and low points.
Journaling helps you record the things you did and how you felt while doing them. There’s a few types of journaling.. 1. cataloging – where you list the basics, we woke up at 10 am, ate a buffet of fried dinosaur steaks, took a walk on the moon, etc. Then there’s the more creative type where you talk about your emotions, how do you feel while in Paris?
I try to at least write one quick opening paragraph that gives the basics for the day so I can remember it, and then go into a much longer personal journal. If you’re a creative writer, like a novelist, then writing in strange cities can be inspirational.
4. Collecting
Anytime you have a collecting fetish, travel is great. Be it t-shirts with weird slogans, or just shot glasses, or in my case: magnets. I can’t say I always loved magnets, but for someone who lives out of a suitcase for 3 months at a time – they sure do pack down small. Some are super lame, and others are intricate and almost artistic – in a kitsch way. Having to find the perfect magnet (or two) in each city I visit gives me a mission, and is always fun.
5. Selfies?
Selfies seem like a self-absorbed and narcissistic habit. But they’re damn useful if you decide to ever start a travel blog to archive your trips or help others out. It’s also fun to remember how you look at different ages because your body is going to change over time. Selfies with friends, in front of monument and mountains – it seems vain and we can all roll our eyes at someone else doing it with a selfie-stick. But in years past we would have just asked a passerby if they’d mind taking a picture of us – and end up with far fewer pictorial memories to keep and share.
It can also lead to falling off cliffs, bridges, and trains – it’s estimated that between October 2011 and November 2017, there were 259 selfie deaths. Be careful!
6. ‘Picture shopping’
We all love shopping, but shopping doesn’t love small carry-on suitcases. So one hobby I have, if I like something is to photograph it. Be it a vintage toy, or candy, or a beautiful winter coat I couldn’t possibly fit in my carry on.. Just take a photo and I can bring it with me. If I fall in love I’ll be sure to photograph the manufacturer so I can buy it online (probably cheaper) later.
7. Audiobooks or podcasts
Standing in line in the airport your brain can be on Mars, or at Hogwarts, a million miles away in some fictional place to occupy your thoughts while your body is stuck in the mundane world of pushing your carry on luggage 12 inches every 12 minutes or suffer the worse fate of being tapped on the shoulder by the person behind you if you start daydreaming.
8. Sleeping whenever / wherever
Travel gets tiring, from the initial (probably) long flight, to the endless days of walking, hiking and just ‘seeing’ so much new stuff. One of my biggest ‘hobbies’ is sleeping, I can sleep all day at home, when it’s raining, or fall asleep in minutes on a European train, bus, or wherever. It serves me well as when I get to a place I’m rested and ready to explore.
9. Cooking
I started taking cooking classes locally in the Philippines. This opened up a new world to me. Before I’d travel and just eat my meals. We’d pay the bill and rate them 1-5… and that was it. but after the cooking classes, I started to look at what I was eating and trying to figure out what was in it, how it was prepared, and if I liked it – how I could recreate it at home. Now I keep a recipe box at home and write down my favorite meals I come across while traveling or taking cooking classes.
10. Drinking
Nothing lets you experience a new country like sitting a few hours in a local pub. Nothing lets you enjoy a new place by wandering around drunk – or at least buzzed. Everything sparkles, like someone, just polished your eyeballs or dipped the city in resin. Going to a bar (or bars) at night is not only entertainments but a chance to sip the local microbrews or cocktails, mingle with the locals (or tourists) and is just fun. I can’t imagine what non-drinkers do in the evenings?
11. Getting nude
Now, as a Filipina, I’m naturally reserved. At home, I’d go swimming with a dark t-shirt and shorts. But when you’re in a foreign country and going to spas that happen to be nude… why not. You only live once. Going spa-ing is not only healthy but makes you feel better about yourself and judge people less. There are all shapes and sizes of bodies at all ages in life. We’re all born naked and that’s our natural state. There’s nothing to be ashamed of. Going to the spa is a great hobby, seeking the most interesting ones out (nude or not) in each city is a great way to relax.
12. Bike riding
If you’re in another country and see a bike for rent – rent it – immediately. Even better if it’s an eBike. Failing that – an eScooter, a boat on a lake or even Segway will do… It allows you a different perspective of the city, u feel like you belong (on a bike) and you get to see a lot more of the neighborhoods, parks, and vistas than you probably could by walking. Along with getting some exercise.
13. Design
It’s cool how every country solved the same design problems but in slightly different ways. Stoplights, stop signs, and signals, train stations, subways, houses, storefronts, sidewalks, trains, trams, architecture. Having an eye for how each place is unique is often interesting. A lot more things are being standardized these days, but you can still find the oddball weird design elements that are fascinating.
14. Art appreciation
If you travel much you’ll invariably find yourself in big museums. I can’t say that I love them to pour over a 1,500-year-old 5″ statue of a rotund rock figure from Mesopotamia. But understanding the basics about well-known artists can help. How Picasso went through many phases, or why Pollock put his canvases on the ground and splattered them, who Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Chagall and other famous artists were, and the times they worked in can help you appreciate what you’ve come so far to see.
15. Walking
The one hobby that’s the most important I saved for last: walking.
Let’s face it, today it’s so much easier to call Grab taxi, catch a trike, Jeepney or jump in our car. We hardly ever walk in the Philippines, if there’s another option. Not only is the pollution bad, but there are not always good sidewalks, it’s hot, and sometimes not even safe.
But if you’re traveling to other countries where these issues aren’t as much of a concern – walking will allow you to see the city in a way that you’d never see in a taxi, bus or subway. Just walk as much as you can, it’s healthy and you experience all the nooks and crannies, sidestreets, alleys, wide-open boulevards, and small shops, you can instantly stop and take photographs, get ice cream, drink and just chill out in a park. After all, you’ve paid a lot and gone through a lot of hassle to get to another country, you might as well enjoy as much of it as you can during your visit.
