New Places and Activities: What have I learnt and what was the best

Going through the list of new places and experiences I’ve noticed there were no theme and a great deal of variety.

In terms of new places I’ve been to this past year, I wanted to go to the Gold Coast to see my friend Jasmine, but my finances took a turn. In fact the only place abroad I went to was Rome for a long weekend. I did however see more of the UK then I thought, with trips to; Bath, Stone Henge, Salisbury, Abergavenny and Whitney. All of which were very different. There were a couple of places I went to which I thought should be on the list, but after checking with my parents and friends it turned out I’d already been to them years ago.

Some of the experiences I had no idea what to expect going in; my first new activity in Chessboxing were completely random, but one turned out to be one of the best nights and one of the highlights of this part of the challenge. The same goes for the edible horror farm and seeing Cool Runnings on an ice rink.

The pole photo shoot, taking part in a parade and a festival tested the nerves but the end result was worth it.

Some of the new experiences were quite small and not as big as I predicted doing. Originally ice climbing, circus skills and going on Europe’s longest zip wire were going to be part of the challenge, but life changes and the people I had planned to do these activities with didn’t follow through. Instead making something from Pinterest and jump starting my car were part of my challenge.

The best experiences in the challenge were ones I experienced with people. Taking my dad to a rugby match was particularly special as he hadn’t been to Wembley Stadium before and the last time he went to a rugby match was in the sixties. I loved making brunch for my friends as there’s nothing better than people enjoying food I’ve cooked.

Thanks to meeting Matt, and him being obsessed with rugby, the sport is now on my radar. I went to the Rugby 7s festival which was a great present for my friend Ro (as she loves rugby players) and we had a really fun weekend.

I have no plans in stopping doing unusual activities that have no rhyme or reason. In fact I already have an idea for a series of activities to do next year!