Here comes summer
by Doug Brodie
/1. Annapurna circuit.
Try Jagged Edge for a fully hand-held and catered ‘try out’ trek to the Annapurna Sanctuary. You’ve never seen an 8,000 metre mountain until you get two right outside your bedroom window. Only £2,895 including flights, and when you’re there you’ll there’s not much use for your pension money. (https://www.jagged-globe.co.uk/trek/i/annapurna+sanctuary.html n.b. they have incredible photos on this website).
/2. Tahiti catamaran charter.
https://www.tahiti.com/vacations/polynesian-surf-and-turf-4117
Chartering a catamaran in Tahiti is feasible if you go with a few others – that brings the cost down from exorbitant to merely expensive…But do-able. Avoid the obvious stormy season and a reason for doing Tahiti is the sailing will also be ‘do-able’ , i.e. not wild and windy.
/3. Bootcamp art workshop in Provence.
https://workshopsinfrance.com/bonjour-bootcamp/
As it says on their website, you can just use the art as an excuse:
Beginners ready to take the plunge into art.
Artists who want to truly build their fundamental art skills.
Studio artists who want to transition to plein air painting.
All creatives who want to up their game!
Those who want to experience the beauty of Provence.
/4. Riding in Montana.
You won’t need to be an experienced rider to go riding with Jake in Big Sky country, however you will experience wide open spaces your neighbours will not have seen.
/5. Beat the kids at their own game: villa in Ibiza.
Surely 23,000 18 to 26-year-olds every year can’t be wrong?
https://www.villanovo.com/magazine/spain/ibiza/article-10-of-the-best-luxury-villas-in-ibiza
/6. Le Mans Classic – drive, don’t spectate.
Under starter’s orders: https://www.lemansclassic.com/?lang=en
All you need is a racing licence (it’s not about taking on Lewis Hamilton, you don’t need to go that fast), and car of a type that has at some stage in distant decades raced at Le Mans. My personal idea (long gone) was to find a Frogeye Sprite and a mechanic.
Or an MGA, or anything that says Austin Healey. The next Classic is next year, 2025, it’s a hoot, very relaxed and a must for anyone who loves elegant car designs of past years, or wandering around cars in bits in the paddock with amateur mechanics struggling with a spanner in one hand, glass of Bordeaux in the other.
/7. Learn to kitesurf in Egypt.
The water is as warm as your bath, as deep as your waist and sand bottom for miles. It really is that good:
And for a little extra adventure you can learn to dive, or if qualified, go night diving or dive the Dahab blue hole:
/8. Volunteer in daycare in Nairobi.
If you want to feel the best about yourself that you probably can, try volunteering. A collective ‘we’ funded and built the first day care for under 5’s in Kiambiu, a Nairobi slum. I could post a pic of small smiling kids however this is the real purpose of what the volunteers do:
Unfortunately, there have been floods in Nairobi, Kirsty’s Place was under a foot of river water, and the government’s response has been to bulldoze the area, including the day care centre we only opened last year. So if you’d like to make a difference, this group is run by angels: https://tushinde.org.uk/