Beat the existential stress of trying to fit too much into overfilled days by cutting out non-essential goals.
Life’s too short to…
See the Mona Lisa
You already know what she looks like. And if you go to the Louvre, you’ll find she’s actually much smaller than you thought she would be. You might also have to wait in a long line as other visitors insist on holding up their mobile phones and framing a shot to prove they were there – and then moving on without ever really looking at her closely. Do visit the Louvre – it’s amazing – but don’t worry about queueing up to see Mona.
Go up the Statue of Liberty
The problem with climbing the Statue of Liberty is that while you’re inside her, you can’t see her. She’s not the highest place to view New York from, so why not save your legs and your hard-earned cash? The best place to look at the Statue of Liberty is aboard the ferry from the southern tip of Manhattan to Staten Island.
Read Moby Dick
If you’re not madly fascinated by either whales or literature for their own sake, I would say you’re safe to give Herman Melville’s classic a miss. Yes, it’s a staple of American literature, and yes it gets an awful lot of references throughout popular culture, but I think you can enjoy the references without committing to the entire novel. Read a page-turner romance or thriller instead, you’ll probably have more fun.
Climb Everest
It’s not for the faint of heart, but so many people are attempting to climb the world’s highest mountain that it has become dangerously overcrowded – with climbers vying to take selfies of themselves at the peak, and a number of deaths recorded each season. There are many other places to go climbing – better to find a mountain not as dangerous or crowded.
Watch Game of Thrones
If you’re into fantasy and fighting, blood and gore, and lots of raunchy bits, this top-rated series is definitely for you. If you’re not, and you’re finding it a slog – in spite of the spectacular production effects and visuals – just give it a miss. Eight seasons is a lot of warriors and dragons to invest your time in if it’s just not for you.
Tour a wine cellar
If you’re an absolute wine buff, or you’re keen on factories and seeing how things are made, by all means go for it. But if you don’t want to hear an obsessed winemaker waxing lyrical about pneumatic grape crushers, hygienic steel tanks, and where the wood for the barrels comes from, I suggest you skip the tour and head straight for the tasting.
See a Shakespearean play
There are plenty of people who love the writing of Britain’s greatest ever dramatist, who laugh at Shakespearean humour and cry at the tragedies. There are many others left completely cold by a sense of humour and a use of the English language that is now about 400 years out of date. If you don’t love Shakespeare, don’t force yourself – go and see something contemporary instead.
Stay in an ice hotel
They’re really expensive, and I’m told they’re cold (who’d have thought?). Not your cup of iced tea? Save your cash and go somewhere balmy instead.
Go bungee jumping
There’s a reason your body is telling you not to jump off a platform from an enormous height with nothing but an elastic band tied to your ankle. It wants to protect you from falling and injury. And it is quite right to.
Get into atonal music
Just… don’t.
