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10 Jan

Adventure.

Posted January 10, 2011 by Kim in adventures, community, living without money. Tagged: , , , , .

From the zine How to have an amazingly adventurous life for zero dollars a day.

What is adventure?  Does it require going to a far away place, and spending lots of money, or can you have an adventure in your own neighbourhood?  Can you buy an adventure, or does the fact that you’ve paid for an Experience, and know exactly what you are going to get, preclude all possibility of adventures occurring?

Here’s a few free adventure options.

Wilderness survival. Can you live in the bush, eat bush foods and build a bush shelter, find fresh water and make clothes from animal skins?  People have been living on this land for thousands of years doing exactly this.  Give it a go.  You’re guaranteed not to be bored.

Urban exploration. The suburbs can be places to explore and discover.  The street directory might show you the streets, parks and shopping malls, but it can’t show the mulberry tree with luscious berries in an alley, abandoned buildings, haunted houses, rooftops, and trees to climb.

Down the drain. There’s a whole world to explore under the city, the stormwater drains that direct our water away from where it’s most needed and send it out to sea.  Every city has a community of drain explorers.  This one’s not for a rainy day.

Talk to people on the street. This could lead to …who knows what?  It’ll probably be something interesting, and if it’s not, then no great loss.

Try new things. Anything you’ve never done before has the potential to be an adventure, maybe even life-changing.

Take a different route home.

Change the way you look at the world. Even things you do every day can become exciting and new if you look at them closely, or change your perspective. Become aware of the spaces between. What else is around you all the time that you’ve never noticed, just waiting to be discovered?

Leave your wallet at home. Finding something for dinner, a new dress, a place to live, a way to get home, or a birthday present can be fun rather than boring if you expand your options beyond the bought.

Pee outside. Yes, even urinating can be an adventure if you want it to.  Finding a spot that looks like it could do with a bit of liquid fertiliser, and isn’t exposed to passers by, can lead you to discover places you would never otherwise go.  Even in your own backyard.

Wwoof. Volunteer on organic farms in exchange for meals, accommodation, learning and lots of fun.

Couch surf. Stay at people’s houses as you’re travelling.  You’ll get to know the area and the culture a lot better than if you stay in a hotel or backpackers.

Invite people to come stay with you. When an American friend came to stay at my house, she took me on an adventure of discovering my local area in a new way, exploring places it would never have occurred to me to go.

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