Lifestyle

Something Saturdays

Hi everyone, I’m Elizabeth from Something Saturdays! My boyfriend, Luke, and I enjoy exploring new places and travel whenever we can, sharing our weekly adventures on our blog. 

The concept of Something Saturdays was born during a train journey, while we were living in the Netherlands in 2012. We wanted to take advantage of living abroad and challenged ourselves to do something new every weekend, calling our exploits “Something Saturdays”. And well, the idea just stuck.

Our “official definition” is doing something new, going somewhere new, eating something new, or trying something new on a Saturday (or Sunday).  Something Saturdays are all about making the extra effort to make the most of every weekend and exploring your own backyard! 

We also love travelling and hop on a plane whenever we can, but the point of this post is to show you that you too can have your own Something Saturday adventures, wherever you may be! I want to give you some ideas and inspiration for doing your own Something Saturdays and challenge you to start exploring your local area.

Geocaching

We started our blog in Spring 2013 as a place to record our adventures after Luke moved to Newfoundland. Over the past (nearly) 3 years of Something Saturdays we have learned how to ski; visited countless museums and festivals; learned how to survive in the wilderness and make maple syrup (not at the same time); gotten lost while geocaching; went orienteering (and didn’t get lost); went zip lining and scuba diving (for 30 seconds); completed various DIY projects including felting and making a shoe rack; and attended lots of community/cultural events. 

Food and Wine
 
 
Why do Something Saturdays

Something Saturdays are a great way/excuse to get out of your comfort zone and learn more about the world around you. For expats, it’s a nice reminder to continue exploring your temporary home and delve deeper into the local history. For people who live near where they grew up, you’d be surprised what gems you can uncover in your local area! We have discovered some of our top recommendations for visitors to St. John’s because of this – the Downtown Foodie Tour, and the Quidi Vidi section of the East Coast Trail being two of them.  

 
View of Quidi Vidi
 
 
How to Get Started 

 So you want to try your own Something Saturdays? Great. The first thing to do is to make a list of any of your current Something Saturday ideas. Here are some questions to get your creative juices flowing:- Are there any major sights or attractions in your community that you just haven’t taken the time to visit? – Has anything new opened up in your area that you’ve been interested to try/visit? e.g. restaurants, museums, entertainment/activity centres, coffee shops- Have people been raving about something around town that you haven’t yet checked out? e.g. a hiking trail, a new exhibit, a unique cafe in another neighborhood- Do you have any ideas for DIY projects you haven’t tried yet?- Any shows or events coming up that you’d like to attend?- Is there a sport you’d like to learn but haven’t taken the time to try it out? How about a skill you’d like to develop?

Skate Skiing
 
 
How to Continuously Find New Things to Do
 
 

Always keep your eyes peeled and your ears open. 

– I have a list of local websites I check every week for upcoming community and local events. We would never have even known about the Storytelling Festival, the Urban Gardening (FEASt) Fest, or Underwater Santa if it wasn’t for those websites! 

– Check local recreation centres or art schools for weekend classes or events. So far, we have tried our hand(s) at felting, taken a wilderness survival course, and learned how to tap maple trees to create maple syrup.

– Keep abreast of new places or attractions opening in your local area. For example, a golf course in St. John’s decided to start offering Foot Golf, so guess who invited their friends out for a round a few weeks later?! 

– Expand your search area – look for attractions in a different neighborhood/city/town/village. Now think bigger, is there anything you could see that’s 2 hours away? How about 3? The world is your oyster.

 
Saint Pierre
 If you live in a small town or somewhere isolated then you may be skeptical about some of the points above. Have no fear – we currently live in St. John’s, Newfoundland which is a small city on a fairly large, sparsely-populated island, and even we manage to find something new every single weekend. Most of the time we have to choose between a couple of compelling options! In saying that, in the winter it can be slightly trickier to come up with ideas so you’ll just have to think harder and dig deeper to figure out your Something Saturdays… Not unlike when we made a LEGO stop-motion animation film in the middle of a snowstorm!Something Saturdays also don’t have to be expensive. Yes, road tripping around the Yucatan Peninsula wasn’t cheap, and neither was walking around the edge of the CN Tower. However, most of our Something Saturdays are very affordable; exploring nature is always free and many community events are cheap or by donation only. You just need to pick and choose what fits with your budget and take advantage of any deals that come up. For example, earlier in June we managed to take an Eco Boat Tour for $10 instead of the regular $55 because it was part of the World Ocean’s Day festivities!
 
Boat Tour
 
 
Something Saturdays have become a lifestyle for us and we look forward to our adventures every week. It’s nice to step out of our routine and try something new every weekend, whether it involves boarding a plane to Havana or simply hiking a new trail and breathing in the fresh, salty, Newfoundland air.
 

So. What are you doing for your next Something Saturday? :)_________________________________________________

What a treat! I hope you guys all enjoyed this super helpful guest post that Elizabeth so lovingly wrote for me! 

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