The phrase “I’m bored” always comes out at the worst time. Often on weekends, when you have no plans, and you consider relaxing to be the greatest reward. Lounging at home on your sofa with your favorite Netflix show can be a great thing, but too much of it can just make the idea of relaxing not as exciting, and before you know it, the days and weekends start to repeat. In college, I found myself going through this situation quite often. I of course don’t have any money to spend on lavish vacations, or weekend getaways, as I save up to graduate in two months. I’m often left wondering, how can I escape this cycle of boredom without spending too much money?
Go to a party?
No.
Exercise?
Eh.
Meditate?
Nah.
All those may sound like pretty okay solutions, but the problem is that when you get bored, you get bored because there’s nothing new and exciting happening or to look forward to. Our ability to relax comes when we know something exciting is in the near future, and that if we rest, our mind will be clear to be able to enjoy it more. That’s what makes relaxing rewarding. So, if there’s nothing to look forward to, why waste a moment lying down? The best cure for any boredom is when what you do is unplanned, so here’s one of the stories of my unplanned (and cheap) adventures.
It all started one afternoon in October. My best friend in the world, Zoey, was coming to visit and due to arrive any moment. I was in college at the time, and it also happened to be the day before my roommate Virginia’s birthday, so she had invited some of her friends over as well. The night started pretty quickly, being October, we decided we wanted to do something spooky, since she enjoys Halloween. I go to college in an area with a lot of corn fields, so finding spooky Halloween activities is a cake walk. We pulled up to a haunted corn maze and spent about three hours there, riding rides, being very scared, and indulging in funnel cake. When we ended, it was about 10pm. So myself, Virginia, Zoey, and Virginia’s friend Ashlynn all piled back into Zoeys car and drove back to school. Zoey likes to drive fast, so at one point we caught air on a hill on our way back. The trip wasn’t anything too exciting, but little did we know just where we’d take ourselves next. We got back to school and realized the worst; we were bored. What else do college students do at 11pm? We decided we were hungry, and because the campus dining closes at 9pm, there was no way to get food besides driving somewhere. Ashlynn suggested Wafflehouse (a cheap and great place to go for breakfast food at any hour), so we piled back in zoeys car and drove off listening to hit songs from the mid 2000s. On our way there though, we made a wild decision, why go to the wafflehouse near our school, when we could have fun in the car and drive to the one in Maryland instead? Like a destination wafflehouse. It seemed kind of crazy, but we all agreed it would be worth it. Sometimes you have to exercise your free will and just kind of roll with your spontaneity. When we got there, there were only two older guys in the restaurant with us. We ordered and started to Snapchat our friends and joke about the fact that we drove to a whole other state for waffles. When they brought us our food, we pointed out that it was Virginia’s birthday now because it was midnight, so the wafflehouse people brought her a birthday waffle with sprinkles. As the two other guys were leaving, they asked if they could sing happy birthday to her, so we all did, and she sat there a little embarrassed, but all in good fun. When we left it was about 1am. We walked to the gas station across the street, full of breakfast food and stopped to use the bathroom. I wondered the aisles with Ashlynn looking at some strange knockoff candy brands while Zoey filled her car with gas. As we drove back towards school, we thought about how much fun we were having, and then that’s when Virginia laughed and said “What if we went to Baltimore haha”.
At that moment, Zoey hit the breaks and immediately turned the car around. “Let’s go!” She said. A little in shock, but not objecting to the idea, she turned up the music and we zoomed off. On our way there, we found a Wawa and picked up some coffee, only about a dollar. We sang as we drove into Baltimore, now stuck in morning work traffic. I’m one hundred percent sure we confused and maybe slightly annoyed all the people on the way in, but we were having so much fun and laughing about the ridiculousness of the situation, that we couldn’t help ourselves. It was about 4am when we reached Baltimore’s inner harbor. We parked in a 24 hour lot, and cautiously got out of her car. At this point, we needed a bathroom break and decided to try and find something. The only problem was, what would be open at 4:30am?
A fancy hotel.
A fancy hotel was open at 4:30am.
We rushed inside, terrible underdressed and the concierge was nice enough to help us. Everything in the hotel was closed of course, because it’s the middle of the night, but being young college girls, they knew we wouldn’t cause any problems. We thanked the hotel staff and walked towards the inner harbor. The sky was still dark, but starting to reflect a little blue as the sun came up. We sat on the edge of one of the docks and watched the sunrise. Ashlynn even bought a disposable camera from a CVS across the street, (complete with a very long receipt as per usual). We took pictures and pointed out unusual touristy locations.
Did you know the National Aquarium in Baltimore glows at night?
Did you know that ducks come out and walk around the harbor freely in the dark?
Did you know there are people out at 5am smiling and waving and ready to take on a new day?
I sure didn’t. As we got back to zoeys car, and pulled our spare change together to pay the parking lot fee, I felt bliss. The trip was quite unplanned, but we had made memories to last forever. I fell asleep in the back of the car as we drove out of the city, stopping at the Maryland House, (a famous east coast rest stop) for morning coffee and Dunkin Donuts.
We made it back to school around 8am, extremely tired, ushering ourselves into the dining hall for breakfast (again).
This trip is about two and half years old now, but I never forgot what made it special. I learned so much about the beauty of being adventurous and the importance of breaking your cycle. I don’t think I’ll ever forget a journey like this. It’s the same excitement that goes along with driving to the airport in the early morning, or leaving for a vacation late at night. The best part is, you don’t even have to spend money, in fact the only thing you need to spend is time with your friends, discovering the unseen beauty of ordinary places.
I often find myself still going on these adventures. Driving to the airport at 10pm to watch the planes take off, wondering where people are going. Journeying halfway across the state to the beach in one night, just to feel the Atlantic Ocean touch your feet. My point is, finding the fun in small adventures can really cure boredom. The excitement of the unknown is what makes life worth living, no matter what you see or do. Had you not decided to go there, you wouldn’t have experienced any of the oddities to be found or memories to be made.
So all in all, whether it be big or small, never forget to break your cycle (safely of course), it might just be the cure to boredom that you never knew you needed.
