We’re going to Bangkok next week. And you know the one thing people keep telling us to do? “Ooh you MUST go to a ping pong show and watch all the girls make things fly out of their fu fus. The drinks there cost a bomb, but you’ve gotta do it.”
Errr, no. And not because of morals (although Wikipedia’s description does a good job of putting us off for those reasons too). We won’t go because it’s just not our sort of thing and we don’t care that all the guide books and other people say we should.
We’ve just been to Paris. Everyone said, “You MUST visit the Mona Lisa.” We didn’t. We’re not too into art, we really hate crowds, and we knew we’d rather wander around the Jardin Du Luxembourg or drink an obscenely overpriced coffee in a cafe where all the waiters are rude. Because that’s what we like doing.
We went to Munich once. And everyone told us to watch the 11am chiming of the Rathaus-Glockenspiel. Reluctantly, we did. Have you ever watched the chiming of the Rathaus-Glockenspiel? It looks and sounds like this. Now tell us – two people who aren’t that into crowds or novelty clocks – was it really worth leaving our cuddle with the hotel puppy early for the experience?
We don’t like this “peer pressure” aspect of travel – the idea that there’s a tourism script you must learn for every part of the world. Sure, it’s great to get ideas from friends, apps and travel guides. And yes it’s important to broaden your horizons and do things you wouldn’t normally do. But only up to a point.
As we always say to ourselves when we opt out of a celebrated museum in favour of a gentle stroll (or a nap), “We’re not here to write the fucking guidebook.” We’re not here to visit everything everyone tells us to, just so we won’t get embarrassed or feel uncultured when people ask if we’ve done x, y or z on our trip.
People, do us a favour: do what you want to do. Yes, take account of the tips and advice. Yes, try new things. But don’t wait in line all day at the Empire State Building if views aren’t your thing, and don’t eat currywurst if you don’t like sausages, or curry, or both.
The same goes for life and work. Screw what everyone else does or whatever they tell you to do. Don’t follow the “9-5″ script or the “lifestyle business” script unless you really want to. Stop doing things by default just because everyone else is. Grow a pair, tear up the scripts and do you own damn thing!
On the blog this week
- Entrepreneurship and roast chicken. TED talks and typography. Pet Shop Boys and property investment. These are not only an insight into why the Match.com algorithm would never work for us, but also examples of how to come up with a truly Purple Cow-y business idea.
- When we were in NYC, Mish took a photography course. One of her projects was a day in the life of the “Sally orgasm table” in Katz’s Deli. You quite literally wouldn’t get this kind of thing on Problogger.
- We’re hiring! The successful applicant will be a self-starter, capable of working alone or in a team, and jump to attend to our every whim for around $500 per month. Here’s how we’re preparing for our new virtual assistant. (Next in the series: “Why Filipinos are piss-poor at puns, and what to do about it.”)
What we’ve been reading
- We’ve got a major crush on Buffer-founder Joel Gascoigne. His post on how to craft a successful morning routine makes a compelling case for “boring” being the new cool, and therefore makes us feel much better about ourselves. Now we just need to be as successful as him…
- It’s that time of year when the TV is full of “The 50 most shocking reality show moments of 2012″ kind of stuff. For some reason no channel thought to commission the top five web design UX trends of 2012, but he’s an article about it anyway.
- James Altucher has had a worse year than you.
- Your friends may be telling you that you’ve just got to wait for the right man to come along who appreciates you for you, but Ramit Sethi will tell you the truth: you need to improve yourself. And probably ditch that sweater – it’s just not working for you.
(You can now view our entire week’s reading list – including a load of extra links we can’t be bothered to write up – at Scoop.It.)