This week’s theme as the summer comes to a close is Play. As an adult, I rarely get to play and have fun without a care in the world unless I am traveling. When traveling, the rules seem to fall away (or at least give me an excuse to ignore them). Much of my fun falls into the “wheeee” category even if I just silently say it in my head. Traveling solo, the outlets for fun differ in my opinion as I need to seek out play a bit more than others. Often times, I get so serious in my agenda, I have to remind myself that I have permission to play – to have fun – to see the world like a child with playful wonder. How awesome is that?!
Playing in Queenstown on the South Island of New Zealand, this alpine go kart luge on the side of the mountain overlooking the Remarkables was incredible fun! I felt free to fly (ok, my version of speeding down a mountain) in my little plastic car. Play doesn’t get better than this……
Unless you are playing with all the gadgets in business class on the A380! Hidden in the last row of business class in the back sub-section of three rows, I had a secluded purple pod with windows on my Thai A380 flight from Bangkok to Paris. The seat reclined to a full flat bed meeting the cubby for my feet. Under the window, I had a storage area all to myself. I had buttons, levers, a remote and touchscreen. When all of that play was done, I pressed my inquisitive face to the window looking out like in the movies at the stars. I wanted to play with the stars! I wanted to count them and reach out to touch them as they burned bright in the sky while the land/sea below was black. Seeing the big dipper and the little dipper and so many other shapes was fun for me – I really was a little kid in awe of this amazing double decker plane in the sky.
From one massive plane of over 500 passengers to a helicopter with 4 people, this travel fun falls into the “look ma, no hands” while my mom is having a coronary praying for my feet to be back on the ground (to be fair, I don’t worry my mom ahead of time leaving this travel fun off the itinerary, I tell her when I get home). My helicopter aerial tour of the Twelve Apostles along the Great Ocean Road in Australia was scary travel fun as it was the smallest helicopter I’ve flown in – it reminded me of a toy helicopter.
So to make Mom happy, with more fun play that doesn’t involve signing a legal waiver – here is my art playtime, fun with paint in Melbourne, Paris and London on street art tours – travel fun that makes you think, discuss and smile.
Lastly, traveling with my 11 yo niece this summer to Paris and London, I got to play more than normal (having a child with you is automatic pass to be silly and have fun) during our Treasure Hunt at the Louvre and the Harry Potter Studio tour while her playtime involved playing with her food!
