Now that's what I call a holiday - but now what?

It’s been a while – again – but I could say as an excuse that I’ve recently been busy leading an exciting life. Hooray! 

I went on a hiking holiday in early June, hiking in several national parks in the US Southwest, places such as Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands National Park, Arches National Park, Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon. It was hot, it was beautiful, it was thrilling and most of all it was an amazing experience that most certainly was exciting. And how I pondered about booking it at the time, thinking it was going to be too expensive (read about that here). Well yes it was expensive but it was worth every penny I paid for it and I don’t think about the money at all anymore. It was an experience that will stay with me for the rest of my life. 



Bryce Canyon in Utah, US. Doesn't it look amazing? I loved the colours. 

Soon after coming back home I went to watch some grand slam tennis at Wimbledon. Now that was really cool. I had been lucky in the Wimbledon ticket ballot and got two tickets to the No. 1 Court for the second day of the tournament. I was thinking that I’d be watching unknowns all day (I know a little about who's who in the tennis world but I’m not an expert) but to my huge surprise they had Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova and Eugenie Bouchard playing at the No. 1 Court that day. Experiencing the whole thing, being on the grounds, seeing all those courts that they have there, it was wonderful.
 
I was able spread the joy, too. I gave the other ticket to my niece who, despite her young age (she’s a pre-teen) is a sports fanatic and thought it was very exciting that she had the chance to experience what she’d only ever been watching on TV. So did I. 

Sadly, it's all behind me now and I have blank diary pages starting at me for the foreseeable future. Not very much fun or exciting at all. So I've put my thinking cap on to find ways to rectify this. You may be in the same situation so here are some ideas that I came up with:
 

• Plan ahead. It pays as I've just noticed.
• Think of events you’d like to attend; concerts, sports events, festivals, gatherings, shows, opera, theatre, whatever rocks your boat and find out when and where the next one is and how you can attend. Book your ticket, put the date in your diary and start planning the experience.
• Think about for instance what you would like to have experienced by the end of this summer and write them down. It may only be a couple of items or many more. Then set out to do them, even if you have to force yourself. At the time you're doing what you wanted to do you'll be thanking yourself.

• Start thinking about your next holiday. Where would you really like to go? Don’t just go for the easy and/or cheap option or where you always go. Really think about a place that interests you or you’ve seen beautiful pictures of and would like to see. 
• No companion? Don't let that stop you. It can be wonderfully liberating to do things on your own, even going on holiday. You can do exactly what you want, go exactly where you want to go, eat what you like, when you like... And you gain confidence from realising that 'hey, I can do this by myself, I don't need someone else to hold my hand' (figuratively speaking). Or go on a group holiday like I just did. I met nice, like-minded people and shared the experience with them.

I already have several ideas for my next holiday so I'm just going to wait a while and let them brew till one emerges as a winner.  I'm definitely going to write a list of things I'd like to have done by September and already have some ideas for that, e.g. go to a West End show and a walk somewhere on the south coast of England that's been on my wish list for quite some time now. I'm going to start compiling my list right now and will report back later. What's on your list?