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HAVE YOU EVER just decided to throw planning to the wind?
Play hooky? Disappear for the weekend? Find some peace and quiet? Do virtually
nothing – and have all day to do it in?
You wouldn’t be alone. Seventeen percent of leisure travellers (and 52 percent of business
travellers) plan travel on a whim, according to Lastminutetravel.com.
Spontaneity, the healthy defiance of routine, can be fabulously rewarding.
But where to go?
Somewhere close to home, accessible but rural – someplace like Qualicum Beach, for example.
A place where you can relax but have the option of activities if you want. A
place that will engender intimacy with the landscape, and offer isolation from
the hustle and bustle of life.
What should you do upon arrival?
Nothing.
There’s nothing wrong with doing nothing. Everyone is quite capable of doing nothing,
if they really put in the effort.
Here’s a Do Not Do list to help you enjoy the thrill of spontaneous travel:
Do not compare prices on resort websites.
Do not compose a packing list, right down to colour-coordinated underwear.
Do not bring a blackberry, laptop, cell phone, iPhone or teenaged daughter with
a boyfriend back home.
Do not load your route into your GPS (the one with the stern female British
accent that chastises you every time you go off course).
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Do not pack for every eventuality, bringing everything from your winter coat and
mukluks to shorts and flip flops.
Do not book your tee time, dinner reservations, hiking guide, walking guide and
kayak guide before you leave home.
And if you happen to bring along someone not as adept at doing nothing as you
(opposites sometimes do attract), there are things you can do without actually
doing much: beachcombing, birdwatching, hiking and biking.
If you’re a do-nothing novice, perhaps you should start with a weekend getaway, so it’s not too much of a shock to your system.
Try it. You might discover that nothing really is something.
– Chris Higgins
– Courtesy of Oceanside Tourism Association
June 2009
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