9 Ways to Enjoy your City….
I know what you’re thinking. As if surviving in this concrete jungle wasn’t enough — you now have to enjoy it. Enjoy the traffic snarls, the pollution, the dumps, the noise and all the million little annoyances that you face everyday while living, or um, surviving here. Great.
The first thing city people anywhere want to do when they have a few days off of work is get out of the city, because cities are just not meant for enjoyment. While that may be true, especially in a place like ours, cities can be enjoyed, if you know where to go, what to do and have some great company. In fact even if you don’t have the last, or let’s say you’re in a new city, there are ways in which city life can be extremely enjoyable, exciting even.
- Get a bus
The best way to get to know a city, it’s people, it’s nooks and crannies is by using the heck out of it’s buses. It’s usually one of the safest ways to explore a city. Ever had a few hours to spend and wondered, “hey — I’ve never been to such-and-such all these years.” Get on a bus. Pick an off-peak hour, grab a pair of headphones, get a seat. Best stress buster ever. And quite possibly the most relaxing and reflective quiet-time you’ll ever spend.
2. Take a Food Walk
Almost every place in the city is marked by a eating joint. Eateries are the cornerstones around which every city-dweller builds his or her routine. THey are the original landmarks and social hubs. So try out a few. A growing number of foodies and in metros offer ‘food walks’ — a fairly new but enticing concept. A ‘gourmet enthusiast’ takes you round a popular area, sampling delicacies through the walk. Good shoes, an empty belly and a few friends and you should be back home with a full tummy!
3. Explore the Heritage
Do something boring. Go visit a museum. Practically every city has them and no one ever visits them, except for tourists and school children on picnics. That’s just sad. Because they’re actually quite nice. Firstly, it’s one of the few places in a city that’s eerily quiet. Secondly, if you spend sometime reading up the plaques, it can prove to be quite interesting. Just don’t pick things up and click selfies with them.
4. Take the Ferry to somewhere
If you live in a city on a coast, there’s definitely something in the sea that you haven’t been to, yet. Find out what that is and take the ferry to it. Ferry rides have practically the same effect as bus rides, in that they are breezy, contemplative and peaceful. Plus you get to feel like you’ve gone out of town without really having left city limits.
5. Cycle on the streets at midnight.
There’s a whole bunch of riders that would rather burn calories than fossil fuels, and it may be a good idea to join them. Agreed, pedaling around on a bicycle in the heat and noise of daytime may not make much sense, but at night — it’s an amazing feeling. Find a few cycles and friends and set out. There’s apparently a whole different side to cities at night — and it’s worth checking out pedaling away.
6. Become a tour guide
The best part about living in a city is that it’s never short of people asking for directions. Be the good Samaritan and offer to take tourists around — preferably for free — to places you know well. It’s a great way to show off your local knowledge plus you get to meet new people. There’s a lot of websites and apps you can sign up with that put you in touch with travelers and tourists looking for directions.
7. Take part in a local festival
City people are known to not really celebrate festivals —except when they’re clicking photos for social media, so this may be going out of your comfort zone. But try and participate in some local festive action. The kind where strangers gather together and act like they’ve known each other for ages. ’Cause we just don’t do that anymore.
8. Get caught in a downpour
Not a deluge. Those are to be avoided at all costs. But city rains are super fun, provided you’re not trying to get anywhere in a hurry. Sure the roads are bit mucky, traffic is all shot to hell and you can’t tell a pothole from a manhole. But hey — that’s not the way to enjoy city rains. City rains are best enjoyed with a day off from work, at your favourite eatery, sipping on hot tea or coffee, chit-chatting with friends and strangers. Or at best — with a walk around the block while it drizzles.
9. Clean up after yourself
While life in our cities ain’t easy, there are places where it is indeed, worse off. And so the city deserves something back. You may scoff at social work, but think of it more as being nice to an old relative. Thankfully cleaning up a spot in your city is no longer uncool. In fact there’s a lot of enthused people who have no qualms getting their hands dirty and their surroundings clean. Find them, team up and make yourself proud.
While a vacay every now and then is a great idea, you don’t need to keep running from the city to be able to enjoy life. With the right company and inspiration — you will never be at a loss for awesome things to do and fun to have. Brigge makes both possible. Check out Brigge here.
