I’ve always loved trying new things, enjoying new experiences, exploring new places. One of my favourite hobbies is going to places I’ve never been and seeing what’s there.

Sometimes I go to new parks. Sometimes new art galleries. Sometimes new towns. Sometimes I’ll jump on a random train and see where it takes me. Sometimes I pull out a map and look for suburbs or streets with funny-sounding names and visit them.

I do this almost every weekend, and I can’t think of a single time I haven’t had a blast.

We humans have a wonderful ability to form habits and do things on autopilot. We tie our shoelaces without having to think about it. We (hopefully) shower every day, brush our teeth twice a day. Habits make our lives run much smoother and free our brains up to think about more important things.

The problem is our habit-forming ability can also be a barrier to leading an exciting, happy, fulfilling life. We can get stuck in ruts, repeating the same habits day in day out to the point of monotony. We go to the same restaurants, do the same activities each weekend, take the same route home from work each day, order the same dishes when we eat out.

Life becomes predictable. Repetitive. Boring.

Fuck that. Let’s mix it up once in a while.

How? Go to new suburbs, new towns, new areas. Check out streets you normally ignore. Go inside buildings you walk past every day.

If you can’t travel out of your city, go to your closest train station or bus depot and catch a random train or bus and get off as soon as you see somewhere interesting. Walk down streets you’ve never been down before. Let yourself get lost.

Docklands by Night

Be a tourist in your own town or city.

Do what tourists do. Check out local museums, art galleries, landmarks. Sign up for a tour. Check out parks, lakes, nature walks, mountains. Imagine you’ve never set foot in your city, you’re here for the first time. Look at everything with fresh eyes. Your town/city is probably very exciting to someone who’s never been there; why shouldn’t it be exciting to you too?

1 Cow, 1 Tree

Whenever we visit new and exotic locations, we can’t help but get taken in by all the fascinating sights and sounds. We’re inspired to take a bunch of awesome photos. We’re excited and full of energy. Take advantage of this inspiration and intentionally manufacture those same feelings yourself.

Google Maps is your friend.

Open up Google Maps, zoom out a bit so you can see all of your city/town + surrounding areas. Any areas on the map look interesting to you? Go there and walk around, check them out. Parks, lakes, beaches, cafe strips, museums, gardens, amusement parks, landmarks are always fun.

While on Google maps, try searching with these search terms for inspiration:

– Botanical Garden

– Cafe

– Zoo

– Museum

– Amusement

– Go Kart/Laser Tag/Trampoline/Rock Climbing/Mini Golf

– Gallery

– Beach- Park- Pier/Jetty/Harbor/Harbour

– Falls/Waterfall/Valley/Canyon

The world is your playground – Geocaching.

Whether it’s a far away exotic destination or somewhere closer to home, there’s always something new to find. Explore it. Have fun. Take pictures of places you see, people you meet, objects you find.

Since the world is your playground, why not make a game of it? Try some Geocaching – treasure hunting on an epic scale. Start here.

I’ve seen a perfect sunset. I can die a happy man now.

Mix up your schedule.

Normally a night-owl? Try getting up before dawn and enjoying a sunrise. If you’re lucky, there will be nobody else around. It always feels magical when it’s just you and Mother Nature.

Maybe you’re a morning person who’s in bed shortly after the sun sets? Try checking out the night life in your local area. This doesn’t have to be limited to clubs and pubs – lots of places have night markets, comedy shows and more.

Be a true explorer – Urban Exploration.

If you’re feeling really adventurous, try some Urban Exploration (Urbex for short). Sites like Forbidden Places list popular locations. There are also plenty of Flickr groups and subreddits dedicated to Urbex.

(The usual disclaimers about “check the laws in your area before urbexing” and “I’m in no way encouraging you to break the law” apply here. Be careful, stay safe.)

No, this is not my bedroom

Any loser can sit at home all weekend watching TV.

Be different. Get out there and explore. Go nuts.

Beep Beep Mothertrucker

Got some other suggestions for cool places to visit? Drop a comment below and share ’em with us.