Time for another This + That feature, aka my random lifestyle ramblings and life updates.
Explore your own city
Somehow it’s been more than 3 months since my last This + That post. I don’t know why, I actually like writing these types of random life updates, but spring has just gone by in a blink, and it seems the same is happening with summer.
I tried to be very intentional with my summer program planning this year. Sometimes I think I don’t really take advantage of the city I’m living in and all it can offer. And it can offer a lot, especially during the summer –great food, tons of outdoor cafés and restaurants, rooftop bars, cool exhibitions, outdoor concerts and movie screenings, markets, design installations, art fairs, organized city walks, and tons of unique summer programs.
We often think about travel and adventures only in terms of leaving and traveling to faraway places, sadly ignoring the places that are nearby. We think we’ve seen it all, there’s nothing new, or we just choose the comfort of our home instead of making an effort and exploring what is happening in the city.
When I lived in the US, I always filled my weekends with fun programs – playing a tourist in the city I was living in. It was easy probably because I knew it was temporary and I wanted to make the most of it. But that attitude should not be reserved for short-term stays – we can totally play tourist in our own city as well.
I definitely make an effort to explore everything my city can offer – I follow event news, read reviews of new places, enthusiastically await the weekly program recommendations from my favorite city website, or just set out to walk around, try to go with the flow, and see the place with new eyes.
It’s kind of easy to do this during the summer, but I’m quite set on keeping this habit in the future as well.
Vienna
What I said about neglecting my own city is kind of true for nearby places as well. Case in point – Vienna. It’s pretty much a 3-hours drive from Budapest, I like going there for a short weekend, it has awesome museums, design shops, cafés, and places, and we still do not go there that often (that definitely needs to change). But whenever we go, we like doing thematic tours – exploring the city with a different theme in mind, be it culture, music, history, street art, food, or like this time – design and concept stores.
I can very much recommend this type of tourism especially in places you can visit more than once. It’s a fun way to focus on one area and immerse yourself totally. We don’t do organized tours, but we make research beforehand and ask around to find the best places.
Dealing with big changes
If I said June/July have gone by pretty fast, I have a feeling this will be all the more true for August.
August will busy – even though I hate using this word.
You know when you plan something carefully and have everything in order and then life happens and totally rewrites those plans? This is what happened with our moving.
Originally, I thought we would have to deal with it in the fall. Moving out and hopefully, if everything aligns, go straight to the new flat, which will be ready around October.
Well, this plan has to be reconfigured.
After a very long and, to be honest, tiring and emotionally draining process of trying to sell our current flat, it seems we found our buyers – with the small caveat that they would move in by September 1st. Which, of course, complicates things a bit, as we now have to do a double move – first pack things up, move back to my family home for a couple of weeks (thankfully, our new flat will be ready earlier than we expected), then move again to the new place, and start decorating and furnishing everything from scratch. And by everything, I mean everything – new kitchen, new wardrobes, new furniture, new everything. Exciting, but slightly overwhelming at the same time.
Also, we’re going to be traveling for the first two weeks in August, which means we’ll have 2 weeks for packing up our whole flat and life. I’m sure it’ll be an interesting experience with useful life lessons.
Next time, I’ll share those with you.
Until then, hope you have a great August, have fun, and enjoy the slow summer moments.
