Thats no good being bored are you travelling, intending to travel,or caught in boarder lockdown. may I suggest you go and get a good book to read ,as whenever I do this someone always interrupts me and I get to converse with them . All grey nomads will help you with advice on what to see and do . Hang outside your camper etc no body will bang on your door if your inside
Cheers Chris
It may seem counter intuitive, but try slowing down. Park up somewhere. Discover detail. Try photography. Walk & look. Try downloading a bird app if you don't have one & start a bird list both for each location & an overall list - it becomes addictive plus there is a huge & active community of birders around the country & on the road. It gives a reason to visit places you may not have considered. Check out Birdthefeckathome on Facebook to see that not all birders are obsessive nerds! :D
I'm sure there are many other activities which you can enjoy & which bring you into contact with others who enjoy similar.
There are two of us - that helps, but I know if we had kept up our original travelling pace that I'd be burned out & disillusioned by now. "Oh another gorge/beach/lake etc - ho hum, what's the point", but slowing down, enough to get to know locals, enough to be known by locals, enough to discover possibilities that folk 'passing through' never see or hear about & importantly with the flexibility to take up opportunities that appeal' - these things (for us at least) have made a difference to how we travel & kept the enjoyment & interest alive. We house sit & caretake, primarily to get experiences we could never get whilst on the move all the time, getting a 'deeper' experience of places of interest.
We are not sociable 'happy hour' types & whilst we enjoy sharing with other travellers now & then, definitely feel the need to have contact with a broader range of folk.
'Networking' on social media can be very productive. An example. We were caretaking a small campground, remote, & closed for the wet season, approx 180kms north of Broome for 7 months. Whilst there we needed to keep an eye on the weather, primarily to know if we were going to be threatened by a cyclone at any time. As a result I came across a Facebook page of Broome area 'weather watchers' who always seemed interested in my observations. Through this group we got to know a number of folk in the area, meeting some face to face, & even got asked if we'd like to live in Broome for a while to look after someone's dog & swimming pool (which we did). Our experience is that 'one thing often leads to another' & the result is that whilst we still travel we most definitely also feel that we also continue to 'live life'.
We have been in Nth Qld since late 2019, & have been up on Cape York for about a year now. Many folk wizz up to the tip & back in a few weeks because they have limited holidays. We are retired & don't have to be anywhere at any time so have looked for & found ways to take our time. We had planned to leave the Cape in May, but instead have accepted an offer to caretake/live deep in the rainforest in a modern house not far from an aboriginal community for 12 months instead. Not suggesting that this would necessarily be to your taste (although for us - we view it as a unique opportunity that few would get the chance to experience), but the point is that if travelling is no longer 'floating your boat', & you don't want to (or can't) go home, stopping anywhere for long enough to make a few connections can throw up a whole new lot of possibilities for you.
Hmmmm. Have jus noticed that the OP was posted mid last year. Never mind, perhaps someone else who is struggling to enjoy travel might get something from my answer. I hope the OP has found a way forward by now. :)
-- Edited by Cuppa on Wednesday 6th of April 2022 10:56:02 AM
One of the reasons I have taken up gold detecting and treasure hunting is to learn about the history of the areas that I am passing through.
Those little towns didnt just pop up for no reason, and when you start looking into the origins, the history is an education in itself.
I will be living on the road full time as a single man....initially anyway, who knows after that, but, my chosen hobby has many layers to it, and hopefully some rewards as well.
What a fabulous in-depth answer that was, Cuppa. Im about to head into the travelling life shortly, and your words have really given me hope for the future. Thanks very much -Fran
A bit like in a recent thread, basically the person would rather hang themself than drive the Nullarbor again.
I found it one of the most interesting places in Australia. Could spend endless amounts in of time looking left & right. I photographed a lot of stuff, just simply getting out of the car & walking up escarpments ended up in a multi day experience.
Stop more often than necessary & take in the detail, it will enlighten you more than you ever realised.
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