Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with leisure

Canadian National Parks

netbros — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:06:54 -0800

This is for our Canuck MeFites (or those with knowledge or experience). Please tell me about the Canadian National Park System. For the past 25 years I have spent a great deal of my leisure time exploring the U.S. National Parks. I am interested in doing the same north of the border. I especially love hiking in the mountains, so I'm looking for national park recommendations in the Purcell Mountains or Canadian Rockies. If you have familiarity with specific trails or off-road exploring that would be great.

But I don't want to exclude the easterners. What would you recommend on your side of the country? My previous Canadian experiences have been limited to Montreal and Toronto. I'd like to get out of the cities and into the wild. Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Hey Hon! Baltimore Cruise!

imjustsaying — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:32:00 -0800

Hey Hon, I want to cruise! We've taken Caribbean cruises out of Baltimore twice, but the last one was in 2003. It was great!...

...as was (in romantic retrospect) the super bargain cruise on a horrible small ship with The Temptations as the premier onboard entertainment.

I want to wow my wife and surprise her with a September five day cruise to Bermuda.

I'm looking for pro or con suggestions for online booking agents.

I know that this time frame is arguably in the height of hurricane season, but we have been to Bermuda before, and as five time cruisers we have enjoyed the shipboard experience so much that we'd have a great time even if the ship never leaves the dock.

What are the very best 'That was SOOOOO worth it' experiences in Southern California?

lemonade — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 08:29:20 -0800

What are the very best 'That was SOOOOO worth it' experiences in Southern California? This question is a little tricky, because I'm looking for 'experiences' like others we've loved in the past--but I don't want to limit it too much, because we're up for anything! So two examples:

1. Sushi omakase at The Hump in Santa Monica: the food was fantastic as was the service, the variety was large and there were a number of things we'd never had before. They also described every dish they brought, and told us how it should be eaten.

2. The Photo Caravan at the Wild Animal Park: again fantastic service, up close and personal with the animals (feeding and petting), only 8 people (all adults) on the truck, very knowledgeable guide.

Some of the things I think made us love these experiences so much:
--Out of the everyday experience, something we haven't done before
--Intimate setting. Just us, or a few others
--Every detail thought of, amazing service and knowledge sharing
--Sort of...behind the scenes feeling maybe? It's hard to describe what else made these two so memorable.

Beyond that...we're up for anything, really. Both of these were very expensive, but there's no reason it has to be. We're interested in pretty much anything: all kinds of food, sports, TV and movies, music, art, physical activities, nature, science, etc, etc, etc.

Make a habit, break a habit, keep me occupied!

lemonade — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:39:36 -0800

I am about to leave on a 2-month trip for work, where I'll be working the 3-11PM shift, 7 days a week. Help keep me occupied! Last time I did a trip this long, I only worked the evening shift for one week, and I was terribly homesick during that week because there was no one to hang out with when I was not working! On the plus side, it's a great time for making/breaking habits and learning new skills, because of the extreme routine and because I'm away from my usual distractions. Last time I was on extended travel, I established a near-daily gym habit, which was fantastic.

Things I have access to:
decent gym
lap pool
sand volleyball court (decent player)
tennis court (very beginning player)
rock gym (very good climber)
very out-of tune piano (good player)
personal laptop and high-speed internet

I plan to bring along Pimsleur's Japanese I, some art supplies, and a nice DSLR. My main worry is that without a plan and some goals, even with the stuff that's available to do, I'll just spend a lot of time moping (call me type A+). So, mefi, how should I fill ~8 hours per day, alone but not lonely? Solo vball/tennis drills? Meditation habit? Learn to juggle? Knit a sweater?

I Want Quality to Kick Quantity's Ass

antisocialstudies — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:26:01 -0800

Help me extract more quality from the quantity of the Information Age, especially as regards my leisure time. I recently received a promotion that seemed initially fortuitous but is now eating up more and more hours in my day with every passing week. In that context, I find myself newly wondering: how do I, amidst the overwhelming mass of life and leisure options already offered up by the Information Age, best separate the wheat from the chaff, the cream from the crop, and the ones from the zeros? In other (less cheeky) words: how can I distill the most quality out of the ginormous quantity of shite that bombards us every day, when I - like you, no doubt - have less and less leisure time as it is?

Here are some examples of strategies I'm already implementing (or contemplating) toward this end: 1) I generally won't see a movie anymore unless it has a 60+ rating on metacritic.com (after all, two lost hours is too much to risk on a crap film in today's time-starved world). 2) Rather than watching a news program, I'm starting to think, "If any part of this show is REALLY good or noteworthy, I'll read about it later on a message board or see it on youtube." 3) Yes, I already own a Tivo, and it is a must for time-crunched leisure obsessives like myself (by fast-fwding between plays, I can watch an entire football game in under 45 minutes!). 4) When I'm reading a really old ask.mefi question, sometimes I only read the answers that were favorited (scandalous, I know).

Stuff like that. My interests are wide-ranging, so any tip that the hive mind has to offer about maximizing QPM (quality per minute) is likely to help, regardless of the subject matter or medium.

(p.s. I've read a ton of threads here about GTD and maximizing efficiency, so I'm not looking for that kind of info per se.)

Cheap fun in Madison!

chippie — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:45:58 -0800

What are your favorite free (or nearly free) things to do in Madison, Wisconsin? I'm looking for ways to kill a couple of hours that are a little more interesting than just walking up State Street or hanging out at the Terrace (though those are certainly fun). I'm especially looking for unique, quirky, or out-of-the-way things to do and places to go. I'm outdoorsy but will consider indoor activities, too. Thanks!

Where can I get Leisure Suit Larry scripts?

mdbell79 — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 09:38:54 -0800

Is there anywhere online (or in book form, if necessary) that I could get the scripts for the Leisure Suit Larry games, specifically the first one?

After a tough day, what can I do to get back in the mood to do more work?

lunchbox — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 00:22:13 -0800

After a tough day, what can I do to get back in the mood to do more work? Scenario: It's a busy college day and I have a bunch of deadlines looming. I arrive back to my room after finishing something strenuous (say, an exam or a day of classes), but I am too mentally exhausted to begin working again. Even if I try to begin working, I am incapable of doing it, and my mind wanders. What can I do to get that feeling of "OK, now I'm ready to get back to work" fairly quickly?

Recently, I have been surfing the web, playing video games, watching TV, and listening to music, but I find that I can often do these activities for a long time without actually feeling replenished.

What activities get people here restored and ready to work again? I know this will vary incredibly from person to person, but I'm interested to hear ideas. I'm planning to try jogging, taking naps, or just lying down and clearing my head. Any other things to try out?

Can I got back to school and have a life at the same time?

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 20:37:10 -0800

How can I cut my work hours in half and have my pay scale down accordingly? I've been a full-time C# .NET programmer for a few years now. I enjoy it, but I'm pretty sure I'll be sick of it in a few years, so I'd like to go back to school and learn some other cool stuff.

I've tried going to school alongside working my 40 hours a week (which inevitably becomes 45-60 hours anyways), but that's too much for me to be doing at once -- it becomes very stressful for me, and I end up dropping the classes.

In a perfect world, I'd work half as much and get paid half as much, go to school with my extra time, and still have some time to relax.

So I'm looking for advice on what I can do to get myself in a situation like that (and whether it's even possible).

(I've thought about independently consulting, but I fear the non-programming work that would come along with that.)

Where to vacation in the Bay Area?

xorowo — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 13:48:12 -0800

BayArea/LaborDayWeekend/WhatToDoFilter...My wife and I, and three of our friends, want to get away labor day weekend, somewhere within a couple hours of San Francisco. Where should we go? Our initial plan was to go camping, but the dearth of available campsites mocks our late planning. So instead, we started looking at a nice suite somewhere. Maybe overlooking the water, or in the Redwoods. So with just two weeks to go, we are looking for recommendations for a nice suite where we can go relax (three of the people going are teachers and we want to celebrate the start of a good year of teaching), within about 2 hours of the City. Thanks in advance!

whence the weekend

humuhumu — Sat, 13 Nov 2004 12:26:13 -0800

From when and where does the idea of having a 'weekend' come? Who first decided that two days out of seven should be kept work-free (for most working people)?