-
Ed Stafford: 5 ways adventure can help you succeed in everyday life
-
Why your 30s and 40s are the best time to travel with your parents
We’ve all tried holiday rentals, but what about a holiday with the ‘rentals? If you think you’re too old, too cool or too likely to spend your holiday regressing to the point where you lock yourself in your room and listen to The Cure on loop, think again. Your 30 and 40s are the BEST…
-
6 reasons you shouldn’t travel with your friends
Friends are great. Do we love them? Yes, we do. Can you have a fun holiday with them? Yes, you can. Can they ruin a holiday? Sometimes. Can you get more by occasionally travelling without them? Most definitely. Here are six reasons why you shouldn’t travel with friends. 1. Let’s start with science As you…
-
These 7 words perfectly sum up the reality of life in your 30s
These phrases exactly capture the beautiful struggle of life in your 30s (including why your 30s are better than 20s). In an interview with Vogue, Emma Watson talks about her decision to “self-partner” herself in her 30s. “I was like, ‘Why does everyone make such a big fuss about turning 30? This is not a…
-
How solo travel can fix your toxic relationships
Most people have toxic relationships in their lives, but they can be hard to see when you’re nose-up to the action. And that’s where solo travel comes in. When you travel alone, you gain the distance and head space to recognise the people who bring you down. And, since you can’t escape every difficult figure…
-
Life in Italy fuels this lost happiness habit
Aperitivo. Sunshine. Great scoops of creamy gelato. There are plenty of reasons for happiness in Italy. But perhaps the finest of all lies in a cultural ideal. Il dolce far niente means “the sweetness of doing nothing”. And, in this frazzled world we live in, it’s a rare value indeed. The sweetness of doing nothing Busy…
-
Turning 40 and embracing a midlife crisis changed my life
For Andrew Dickens, turning 40 was a wake-up call. He thinks we should all embrace the midlife crisis Life begins at 40! Try telling that to someone from the 15th century. If they hit 40, they’d be looking over their shoulder for an unearthly scythe held by a guy who always looks slim in black.…
-
Ageism begins at 40 – and I’m mad as hell
You associate ageism with discrimination against the elderly, but Andrew Dickens thinks turning 40 is when the prejudice kicks in Hello. My name is Andrew and I’m 44 years old. This is not only a fact, but one that it would be literally impossible to avoid unless I’d met with an unfortunate fate before last…
-
My 30s life: welcome to the age of self-confidence (finally!)
Every week, Flash Pack operations director and resident columnist Jenni Shaw discusses a different aspect of her life as a 30-something adventurer. This week: finding confidence. There seems to be a common theme amongst my musings that reaching 30 opens the door to some sort of nirvana and everything falls beautifully in to place. On…
-
Finding happiness: how to live in the moment
“Life isn’t as serious as the mind makes it out to be” ― so says Eckhart Tolle aka the guru of living in The Now. It’s no secret that our thoughts love to pinball between the past and the future, churning up a cycle of negativity between “what was” or “what will be”. Read more: Can…
-
Your year in review: What did you achieve in 2018? And how to achieve more in 2019
Looking back, you did plenty, but could you have done more? Here are five tips to do just that next year. It’s the end of the year. Adios 2018, see you soon 2019. It’s a time for testing the physical capacity of your stomach and your patience with your family. It’s also a time for…
-
8 group travel tips every introvert needs to know
If you think that group travel isn’t for the quiet, reflective type, think again The idea of group travel can be intimidating to introverts, who, as inward-looking and reflective people, often feel overwhelmed by spending too much time with others. As natural listeners, introverts prefer to think before they speak and can find talking in front…
-
5 ways solo travel could be the most empowering thing you ever do
There are a million reasons why solo travel is good for you. The chance to escape the everyday, eat good food and walk for miles, to name but a few. But solo travel has the added bonus of allowing you to focus on you, and only you. It is a powerful way of feeding your…
-
“Hiking the Everest Trail helped lift my depression”
Tony Stevens recently travelled with Flash Pack on our first adventure to the Nepalese highlands, hiking the Everest Trail to the viewpoint at Farak Ri, at 5,000 metres. Here, he explains how escaping to the hazy Himalayan foothills helped clear his head, creating a new path forwards from a low period in his life Our…
-
A simple way to cope with travel anxiety
Anxiety is a funny old thing. Give it centre stage and it will take over your life, turning every little niggle into a full-blown saga (in your head at least). But ignore it completely, and it’s likely to flare up at all the wrong moments, sending you right off-kilter. If you’re the kind of person…
-
This productivity hack will change your life
Ever wondered why you found it so damn hard to focus? At the point where you most need to get down to it, your brain finds every excuse not to: “Maybe I’ll paint the bathroom…” “Hmm, those plants are looking a little dry” “I wonder what that person I met 15 years ago at drama…
-
Can being single help you live longer?
Anyone who’s ever been single in their 30s and 40s will be familiar with the titled head gaze. The domain of well-meaning relatives, this time-honoured gesture is often accompanied by the words, “Shouldn’t you be settling down by now?” (Side note – never feel obliged to do anything that starts with the word “should”). What…
-
Upgrade your workout with kickboxing
No longer the realm of hardened fighters, kickboxing gyms are becoming a popular option for city-goers who want to bust stress and boost wellbeing. Here, world title holder Alex Lawson – who trains clients at London’s Springhealth Kickboxing, KXU gym and Equinox gym – reveals the benefits of an intense and thrilling sport: Calorie after-burn Not many…
-
Solo travel unlocks this secret to fulfillment
According to a new blog by Quartz, resilience is the most important quality in life. “Feeling good is all fine and good, but it’s fleeting,” says writer Ephrat Livni. “Learning to deal with difficulty, by contrast, improves your chances of feeling good again. That’s much more useful than clinging to an illusion. “To be happy,…
-
Golden rules to a happier workplace
A wise woman once said: the key to employee happiness is yoga and ice-cream machines. OK, perhaps she didn’t… But the fact remains that it only takes a few magic touches to lift an office from drudge central to Place I Wanna Be. Flash Pack HQ, for example, would be a flatter realm without the…