Personally two things come to mind: Hedonistic or Noble
Hedonistic:
Fly to Amsterdam one way, buy a few doses of truffles, smoke some weed, see some boobs or whatever floats your boat I dunno. Then go to centraal station, buy the first train ticket and keep traveling. Stay in hostels, be open to meeting people. Every hostel will point you to walking tours in the morning, and usually a group will go together. Just join that group.
Saying "Hey, I've got some mushrooms, why don't we all go find somewhere to do them and hike" is actually a great icebreaker at a hostel. It's how I met my (sober) wife. Making friends at hostels throughout Europe was how I rebuilt my life after burning out on my 100% tech social network.
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Nobel: Call up Habitat for Humanity, tell them you have 2 weeks free and want to help out on a build if they have any open in the country. I did this as well, it's how I learned carpentry.
Be wary, some ppl in bars abuse of you when you go the Hedonistic type.
They think you're gullible and drunk (so don't be too drunk)
Last time I did that (not in Amsterdam), a group of 5~6 sailors wanted to come in my hotel room. (And they also wanted me to pay for the note at the bar and for the taxi)
(these were memorable holiday, for the record)
@op Don't you have internet friends that you could join in some other country ?
Or is there some city that organises a mildly interesting fair around, with boonies to explore around ?
Very good point. Know your limits, and do things like only keep your hotel room key, phone, and a half empty wallet (keep money in your pocket as well as your wallet).. but don't let fear get in the way. We only live once.
Travel. Dont over think it. Go now, go light. Just book a hotel\hostel somewhere out of the beaten path for a few days to get your bearings then explore and wing it. You dont need\want an itenary, doors will open to you unkown when you take the first steps there. Visiting natural wonders is a good way to guide you..
Many workaholics feel the need to do something productive during holidays. That's a paradox !
During a time off, you're allowed to do nothing and to rest. Nobody will judge you.
If you afraid of being lonely and have a budget, you can travel, discover new things or culture, meet people and embrace your life as the song "Sea, Sex and Sun".
Sleep a lot, eat your favorite foods, eat healthy, work out, just go sit on a beach or park bench, work on a dream project you always wanted to start on. Just things that come to mind.
The trick for me was to start enjoying the healthy food. Asparagus and cauliflower suck, but add some bacon to it, dip it in sriracha, and eat it as a side with a juicy steak and it’s suddenly not that bad!
I don’t enjoy sweets or fast food though, so that makes things a bit easier for me. And thank god for Coke Zero.
I will generalize Your observation a bit - proper spiecies are probably the secret that will unlock healthy food for me someday. I have not found those yet - hot pepper based sauses are the closest, but unfortunately despite my mind loving them, my body not so much (especially my bowels).
But You are right - this is the way (and You are not the only one - even Schwarzenegger believes in it - https://youtu.be/0L5SZLUmnYA?t=33)
Get busy with something even if that is vacationing. Just don't sit around and sleep+idle you will regret it. If you can't do anything else wander about aimlessly in your city and discover stuff.
My vote for travel as well. International if you haven’t done one. I’m always surprised to see how many of my fellow American coworkers haven’t don’t oversea trips but the ones that do do it for the first time are happy and can’t wait to do it again.
Best holiday I had in recent memory was in a cottage overlooking a big river with no electricity - so I read books all day, swam, and had some good pizza.
If you have a license, take a road trip, they can be quite relaxing solo. Every morning when you wake up just look at the map and figure out where you want to reach that day and take it from there.
Nothing. Do nothing. Bore yourself out of your mind. Resist wanting to do anything useful or productive. Look, listen and smell your surroundings. Remind yourself what it means to be alive. You now have time to gaze what the sky looks like again, or appreciate how nice your floors or walls are. Do this until you
genuinely want to do something again.
I just started a month off of work (same situation as you) and will be returning at the start of January. I’m going to be keeping up with a running training plan I started a few months ago, trying to read a book every day or two, going to the coffee shop I like, and that’s it.
Specifically because it's December, take a look at whitewater rafting in Chile on the Futaleufu River. Not cheap but looks absolutely amazing. (if it was summer I'd suggest Middle Fork of Idaho's Salmon River, which I've done and strongly recommend!)
Go to the closest library, get as many completely different books as catch your interest. Go home and spend at least 10 minutes with each book, of course going longer if you are enjoying it.
Take a break every once in a while for a light exercise.
Look inward, focus on yourself. Don't be sorry about it. If that means rest, or doing 'nothing' all day looking out a window or in nature don't feel bad it.
Would be nice to know what to expect and/or the subtleties of it, which character is assumed. I tried to do it and it was dull and boring. I did all my chores though.
i mostly read genre stuff (science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, humour), my all time favourite author being terry pratchett. "guards! guards!" is a great first book of his, it's humorous fantasy but also with a lot of depth and superb character development. if you like that, go on to read the entire discworld series, they are almost all excellent.
science fiction - i would recommend lois bujold's "vorkosigan" series. start with "the warrior's apprentice"; there are two prequels but they can be read on their own at any time and i think "the warrior's apprentice" is a better introduction to the series.
another very engaging series is harry kemmelman's "rabbi small" mysteries, they are both great mystery novels and an overall story arc of a young rabbi establishing himself in a small new england town.
The OP is not asking a bunch of geeks what to do with time off. They’re asking a bunch of geeks what these geeks would do with time off. There’s a big difference and it’s interesting to me that so many of the geeks here jump to “advice mode” rather than answering the question.
Hedonistic: Fly to Amsterdam one way, buy a few doses of truffles, smoke some weed, see some boobs or whatever floats your boat I dunno. Then go to centraal station, buy the first train ticket and keep traveling. Stay in hostels, be open to meeting people. Every hostel will point you to walking tours in the morning, and usually a group will go together. Just join that group.
Saying "Hey, I've got some mushrooms, why don't we all go find somewhere to do them and hike" is actually a great icebreaker at a hostel. It's how I met my (sober) wife. Making friends at hostels throughout Europe was how I rebuilt my life after burning out on my 100% tech social network.
--
Nobel: Call up Habitat for Humanity, tell them you have 2 weeks free and want to help out on a build if they have any open in the country. I did this as well, it's how I learned carpentry.