What things people aspire to do baffles you?

[Soubriquet]

Currently watching Everest and I had to Google it because I heard it now costs a lot of money to do it. It does. It’s between $32,000 and $60,000 to climb the mountain in the hopes you make it to the summit and don’t die. To me that’s crazy. That’s a lot of money to risk your life and at the end of the day, all you can say is….i climbed Mount Everest…

High heels.

Especially spending stupid money on designer high heels. Just give me a cushioned flat sole any day.

Skiing - just doesn't appeal. It's cold, expensive, repetitive. Up and down and up and down, doesn't it get dull?

A massive arse.

Oh yes, this one for me too. Plus everyone I know who skiis has had some horrible accident or injury (broken leg, broken back, broken arm, head injury). I'm so clumsy it would be a disaster.

The speed is what stops it being dull- you travel really fast ( once you get reasonably good, obviously 🤣) so I guess the fun is like other “thrill sports”. The other thing is you don’t keep going up and down one piste - you would travel all over the resort linking up pistes and lifts- will do a variety of runs, so some steep and technical, some cruisy.

For snowboarders it’s a bit different- it’s more of a feeling akin to wakeboarding or surfing.

Owning an expensive car.

Just… nope don’t get it.

I am able to get a car through work and people keep asking why I haven’t bought a Tesla or similar.

I don’t know why I would want a very expensive car. I have a second hand car which cost ~£25k and even that feels like it was far, far too much.

Yeah I think I lack the thrill gene. I don't really like anything in the thrill sports territory or rollercoasters or anything

Going to Dubai. Why anyone thinks that a trashy modern city in a desert, built and staffed by people who are basically slaves, is an aspirational holiday destination is beyond me.

Appearing on X Factor. Thousands of people queuing up for the chance to embarrass themselves on TV. No blooming way.

@Redlarge I shared a house with a cave diver when I was at University. He told me how on one cave dive there is a corpse that is stuck, it’s now skeletal and people always shake its hand when they pass.

DH and his sister have done a lot of bungee jumps, jumping out of planes and he has also gone mountaineering and canoed down the Amazon and camped in Africa. It’s not for me. I climbed a lot of trees and have gone scrambling which is a cross between hiking and climbing but with no equipment when I was young, I loved it but it can be dangerous. I did almost fall off the top of a mountain trail once when snow gave way.

Terrified of heights so those hobbies out. Terrified of confined spaces so subbing and caving out.

I enjoy sailing but not in bad storms.

I'm a mouse

That woman who spent a very long time in a cave underground with no access to light. Just why.

With that submersible I'd not call anyone involved a scientist mad or otherwise as it seemed to be designed and used by amateurs without a basic grip of physics or any kind of marine engineering expertise.

For me Disney, extreme sports as mentioned, caving, bungees, scuba, skiing, expensive cars, Dubai... Funny how so many of the same things come up!

I just want a cosy bed and a lie in and I'm happy.

I have to agree that Dubai has never appealed to me. I do like the airport when stopping off to go somewhere else.

I was going to mention holidaying in Dubai as my 'why bother' nomination.

All mountain climbing requires a huge chunk of selfishness, imo. Lots of extreme sports do, actually.

Going to Lapland is mine. I just don't get it. I know a lot of people are weirdly obsessed with Christmas (including on MN) but it just strikes me as madly consumerist and a terrible "cold" experience.

No, I get it - I'm certainly not saying that professional photographers don't add value and (usually) do a very good job.

But at every wedding I've been to in recent years, guests always gladly whip out their phones and start snapping away - even when there's a pro also taking a shot of the exact same scene (and not one that the pro has specifically set up), without anybody having to ask or rely on them - many people consider it an integral part of the enjoyment of the wedding and not a chore at all.

I completely agree with you there. Something like a sprint, I completely get why people want to do it - although I wouldn't/couldn't, I absolutely can understand the thrill and exhilaration.

But with marathons, it just strikes me as - and I realise this is a 'me' thing - a very inefficient way to cover a long distance, when we have multiple vehicles available that would be much better suited to it. Same as I could get much higher than any Olympic pole-vaulter, because I have a ladder

The Nutty Putty Cave incident is just so harrowing. I cannot for a second properly imagine what must have gone through his head, knowing that he was trapped upside down and just waiting for hours to die.

One thing I don't get, though, when you see clear photos of other people who are (temporarily) stuck down a cave, unable to move their bodies any more than a few millimetres at a time - who is holding the camera?!

Stop digging her out, her post is literally the point of the whole thread!

I'm a Mr.Ballen fan (youtube), so I've been completely cured of any desire to do anything stupid.

Like climbing into any tight spaces, trusting coworkers to not cook me and not checking constantly for sink holes that might swallow my bed whole with me on it.

But mostly avoiding caves and scuba diving.

Especially scuba diving IN caves.

What does digging her out mean?

Its not hard to work out.

Wordle

Crosswords

See man made monuments that can easily be seen as photographs on the Internet.

Triathlons

Swimming the channel

Basically everything Bear Grylls has ever done.

I also don't understand people who want to survive a global catastrophic event. It would be most unpleasant afterwards.

Ha ha, when I saw your title, I immediately thought “climb Mt Everest”.

I absolutely don’t get it. Particularly the need to get to the top. I think that’s what makes it different to other exploration - unless you get right to the top, it’s seen as a failure.