Live a different life in your hometown with Bimble this Summer
by Myesha Munro
With so many countries off limits this year and prices to green light destinations rising fast, let’s take a closer look at staycations.
Part of the thrill of going abroad is pretending to live a parallel life: fulfilling your dreams of becoming a secluded poet in a French hamlet, or an Oxford graduate touring Greece and belting out ABBA songs, before putting a pin in alternate you and returning to the 9 to 5.
But what if your alter ego lived in the exact same place you do, merely choosing to follow a different lifestyle? If you were to choose new and exciting experiences in your own city, to follow a lifestyle completely contrary to your own, how different is that to a real holiday?
Check Bimble for a place you have yet to visit. Assume that other lifestyle, spend a week touring the vegan hotspots in your area and pretend you could give up cheese for a while. Bar hop with the gals and drink everything but your normal go to (at this point the G&T’s are basic, not boujee). Find a way to live in someone else’s shoes for a day, to spice up reality.
Still can’t envision a holiday without a fresh location? Then book a few nights at a hotel or Airbnb a few miles from your own home.
Take London as an example, millions of people live in greater London, but most never experience a full weekend in the centre. Imagine staying in a flat in Soho, only having to walk for ten minutes after the club and popping out to Wardour Street for a lobster roll with champagne sauce from Burger & Lobster (I know, that sounds like holiday food) if you want a snack. Imagine having the time to wander the streets before breakfast, before the daytime hustle and bustle, before being engulfed and jostled by the crowds.
If this is your reality (in which case know I envy you) then imagine a weekend away from the tall buildings and loud streets, a bungalow at the end of the tube line surrounded by countryside where you could walk for hours without doing that ‘who goes left’ dance with a stranger on a narrow path. Local coffee shops unlike the ones you know and love, comfort outside of your comfort zone.
The idea behind Airbnb is to let you live like a local, try out a new life. But in a way, what I propose is the opposite — don’t live like a seasoned regular in your town, but look at it with fresh eyes and in this way travel without ever leaving home.
Follow in the footsteps of another Bimbler. When someone makes a Bimble, it’s an invitation: #ComeBimbleWithMe. Why not take them up on it? Click here.
