Ask HN: Going travelling for a year, how best not to squander it
I'm extremely conscious that this is a pretty special time and want to make the most of it, but I'm also conscious of not filling it up completely, and leaving (lots of) time for reading, thinking, being unplugged from the Internet. I also feel like there are a lot of practical skills I'd like to learn as I'm not at all handy in the DIY realm, so hoping to do a few small projects with my parents while in Ireland (dads pretty handy).
Anyway, I was just wondering what HN would suggest. Books to read, volunteering sites (particularly for South America), how best to contribute to (and find) smallish open source projects with tasks that could be easily picked off.
It's a very nebulous question I know, but I'm just a little afraid that it'd be easy for this year to float by without having anything concrete come out the other side. From the replies here, and my own thoughts, I'll try distil some goals and then check them off.
Thanks for any and all suggestions :)