# Everyday Adventures: Exploring Home Source: https://sarr.is/everyday-adventures/ Published: 2010-10-08 Author: Jeff Sarris --- [responsive_video]\ [Embedded content](https://player.vimeo.com/video/15670850?dnt=1&app_id=122963) \ [/responsive_video] I started this blog to share and document the things that we learn in our travels, and there’s still much to share about Europe that we’ll write and post in the coming weeks. But beyond travel alone I think there’s things to share simply about living life to the fullest and this is one of those posts. The point can be summed up in one sentence. Travel is exciting because of new experiences, but you don’t have to travel to have adventures. ### Life on the Road, From Home You may not have a location independent life right now, you may not even want one, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t live like you’re traveling. No I don’t mean staying in hotels and spending way too much in meals, I mean reaching out and having adventures while staying close enough to home that you sleep in your own bed at night. ### Escape Mentality So many times people have it set in their mind that they need an escape. And an escape from the everyday monotony of work and home usually comes in the form of travel. There’s two things that I want to address. First, if you do in fact need an escape what exactly are you escaping from? What about your everyday life is worthy of escape? If you need to escape part of your life then what’s the point of having that thing in your life? Remove it. Sure it may not seem that easy, maybe you would be escaping your job, but then again starting a new career is likely exactly what you need to have a more fulfilled life. I know you’re probably thinking that so many people are out of work and others tell you that you’re lucky to have a job, and to suck it up until you retire. Well that’s a load of crap. There’s countless stories of people who have been recently laid off due to economy and instead of sitting on their butt and wallowing in self pity, they’ve found their life’s work. Remember, money is for paying the bills, it’s not the end goal. Becoming a millionaire isn’t a dream because you want the money in your bank account, you simply want to live the life that you imagine a million dollars will give you. I’m not going to dig too far into this right now but Everett Bogue has and it comes down to minimalism. Everett’s a minimalist who’s ditched all but 100 or so of his possessions and lives and works anywhere, moving somewhere new and exciting every few months. If you’re interested in learning more about living a minimalist lifestyle of abundance check out his excellent ebook, [The Art of Being Minimalist](https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php?ii=602501&c=ib&aff=28862&cl=91858). ### Escaping Home The second part of the escape that I want to address is the reason for escaping what you already have. Work aside, why do you have to leave home (not just the physical home, but your hometown) to have an adventure? Most people are bored at home, but a lot of people also sit in front of the TV or computer all day mindlessly surfing. Without a doubt there are adventures to be had in your own city or general area, it just takes some exploring. Sometimes, as is the case with New Yorkers who’ve never been to Liberty Island, there are experiences that people escape their own lives to see that are literally in your backyard. Let me give you an example of our own recent adventures. As you know we just came back from Europe. The day after we got home we of course had errands to run, specifically to get food and to get Marla’s phone fixed. So we could have jumped in the car, put up with traffic and driven to the stores. But instead I pulled up Google Maps, which has nifty new bike directions, and found that there was indeed a path that we could take to safely get to the Apple Store on our bikes. We had never attempted  to ride our bikes there previously because there’s a busy highway that we otherwise would never cross on bikes, but having a path that safely takes us underneath the road is ideal. ### Everything’s an Adventure Whether at home or on the road, things don’t always go on as planned, but that doesn’t mean that the experience is lessened. It’s simply more memorable. On the way to the newly discovered path the back tire on my bike, which must’ve had a slow leak, went completely flat. This would be the end to a long riding journey for sure, but luckily there’s a bike shop close enough that I was able to walk my bike there. Sure it may have taken a half hour of time to walk it there, but it’s all part of the adventure. It was a beautiful sunny day which was the perfect setting for a nice long walk. So after the nice leisurely walk we got to the bike shop and, while they replaced the innertube, sat in the park and chatted about possible future travel locations. After a short 20 minute wait we continued on our way, found the new path and rode along a nice wooded area as the sun was beginning to set over the creek. It was a very enjoyable and rewarding ride. ### I’m Not 12 I Don’t Ride Bikes I know that one of my friends thinks that we’re silly for riding bikes and that it’s something just for kids. So maybe you don’t take walks, or run, or ride a bike (I highly suggest that you do all three, but maybe they’re not for you), but that doesn’t mean that adventure isn’t still right around the corner. You just have to look a little deeper. ![](https://sarr.is/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2010/10/the-dominator-storm-chasers-at-harper-college-300x178.jpg) *The Dominator at Harper College* Our second adventure in the week since coming home was just a couple days ago. Marla was reading her Twitter feed and saw that [Reed Timmer](http://twitter.com/TornadoVideos/status/26488931055) from [Storm Chasers](http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/storm-chasers/) was on his way to Harper College to speak. It didn’t take more than a glance between the two of us to know that we were both excited and definitely going. I love Storm Chasers and Reed’s unbridled passion for storm chasing is very inspiring. This event, although a polar opposite from our bike riding adventure, was still a travel worthy experience that didn’t require us to escape our home turf. Having the opportunity to discover a new part of town by bike and being able to meet someone whom we respect (plus see the Dominator) just took a little thinking outside the box and they both turned out to be very worthwhile experiences. So much time is wasted in front of the TV that you owe it to yourself to step away for a bit. Break from your normal routine and see what else is out there. The term “staycation” seems to have caught on as of late as a tongue in cheek way of downplaying time off at home as being less than stellar, but there’s no reason why you can’t have travel quality experiences while you’re still in your hometown. So get out there and have an adventure. ***Is there anything in your hometown that you’ve never made the effort to experience? I propose a challenge, go out this weekend and discover something about your city. When you do, really take it in, enjoy it, and then come back here next week and let us know about your experiences in the [comments](http://sarris.me/everyday-adventures/#respond). Who knows, you may find adventure right outside your doorstep.\*** ### As I’ve mentioned before I like videoing things that we do, but I rarely used create anything with the raw footage. So I just quickly threw together a video from when we saw the Dominator. Raw video footage is rarely of any interest, but I find that just having a fun little video montage turns that same footage into something that I actually want to watch. So I think every so often, if it pertains to the post, I’ll be adding new videos just like this one. Hopefully you enjoy them 🙂