3 Levels of Fun

Why do you choose to travel? Is it “Wanderlust” or maybe you are just an adventurous person? Think about that for a second… Why are you picking to go on this adventure, holiday, vacation, or weekend get-away? The answer boils down to you are looking for an experience, you are craving an experience of fun and excitement. Now that we have established the why behind your reason for travelling what I want to give you now is how do we measure our fun? How do we make that a tangible experience and can look back at it and say, “Damn that was fantastic”? With this in regard I want to introduce you to a system called the 3 levels of fun (as quoted by Travis King, a guy who learned it from a hipster in a bike shop in the North East United States). In life there are 3 levels of fun to adventurous, you may have never heard this term I certainly never had until about a week ago. What are the 3 levels of fun you may be asking and how do you achieve them, well that’s what this blog will be all about!

Level 1

This is the expected fun, this is that event that you planned and knew it would happen, something along the lines of booking a hike and you knew that there would be an amazing view at the top. It could also be something along the lines of the booze cruise you booked last weekend and completely forgot about after you got black out drunk, this is that level 1 fun. The part of your trip that is anticipated and prepared for. Sounds easy to remember, RIGHT?? Well let’s look at the next step….

Level 2

These are the intangibles we don’t plan for when we get an event started, ducking into a small grocery on a side street and finding your favorite foreign chocolate. Perhaps it is running into an old friend you haven’t seen in many years that you were not expecting to or something weird and unexpected along these lines. That piece that makes something unexpected and exciting that feeling of “wow this is incredible because I wasn’t expecting it” that’s level 2 fun. Now what does that leave? Well it is simple, when everything goes into 100% disarray and you have that reaction of slight panic mixed with a chemical cocktail of adrenaline and endorphins.

Level 3

Hmm so have you ever had this type of experience? Think back to all your trips you have ever been on; the 2 most memorable parts are level 2 and level 3 fun. That is why I am writing this because I want to change how you experience and perceive your travels, the last time I had level 3 fun was at the start of my year long journey abroad. I was in Newcastle England with my Aunt and Uncle whom I have not seen in close to 20 years. I flew into London Heathrow after an overnight flight and promptly made my way over to Kings cross station to catch a train bound for new castle, at this point I am reaching that level 1 fun, it was planned I knew what I was in for and I was excited that my journey had begun. My journey was smooth, no delays easy, although the station has no heaters and is very open to the outdoors and it was about 0 Degrees (Celsius) outside and I was freezing. I got on my train and arrived in Newcastle after a few hours. My family picked me up and started giving me a tour of where my family is from, all in all it was an amazing experience! We stopped for fish and chips at a local favorite spot of theirs and had some great conversations. Well as this meal took place the temperature drastically dropped and snow just continued to fall outside, this caused a very icy road. Typically, this wouldn’t be a problem but considering they live in a very hill oriented coastal town…. We couldn’t get up the hills to get home! We tried and tried but to no avail, we ended up parking the car and walking to a metro station to get a little closer to home for them. Once we got home I got settled in and all and all it was a great experience even though we walked a far distance in the snow, still not that level 3 fun though. Over the next few days we remained pretty local and just went on walks to shops near their home, but then my Aunt wanted to take me down by the coast line of the North Sea (just a short distance from their home) I was extremely ecstatic because this is one of the only memories I have of Newcastle as a child, SOO we walked down by the sea wall I got some amazing pictures for my Instagram as well as a plethora of history from my family about the area. We began our walk back but dipped into a coffee shop for a couple of flat whites and biscuits, during our walk back is when everything went completely wrong, the light snow and wind quickly turned into a white out with gusting winds making the snow fly sideways. Saying as I am native Born Texan and have spent my most recent years in Florida this was a SHOCKING experience for me, My aunt was hysterically apologizing for this snow and that’s when we started having that level 3 fun, she began to dance around like a child and I began laughing in that deep sense that makes your cheek bones ache and your stomach sore. I literally had my beard freeze and snow layered on just my left leg, it was something I will never forget and even though I was freezing and was a little worried about this white out blizzard, it was one of the best experiences of my life. I say this because I want to remind you that during your travel things will go wrong… we cannot control the world especially not the weather, we can’t control delayed flights, we can’t control freak accidents… However, we can control our attitudes and how we respond to these events, you live with a positive attitude and decide to have that level 3 fun and you will have the most amazing experience when travelling no matter what comes your way, even if it is a blizzard!

ENJOY THE DAY

The point to all of this is simple… without the oh F*** moments we may not be able to stop and appreciate the rest of the moments that come to us not only on our travels but in our lives as well. Every day we encounter things that either challenge, excite, terrify, stress, or some combination of other complex emotion, the way you react to said things will determine your level of happiness and success throughout that process. I will end this week’s blog post with one of my all time favorite quotes,

“Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.”

• Zig Ziglar

For more follow my Instagram Journey @ Andrew.Gray31