Zublog

The Zufall experience usually comes from rolling two dice but sometimes we only need one.  We’ve used the blue (we call it letting blue decide)  when we have two options and just can’t make up our minds. We let blue decide by assigning each option either odds or evens.  Well, once in a while we use only the directional dice.

We told you about finding a hotel on St. Martin (a part of the French West Indies in the Caribbean) by chance – but the rolls didn’t stop there:   

I had heard that Anse Marcel was a nice, secluded beach that not a lot of people ended up at -perfect. When it comes to beach time, we are DIYers. So, we packed up our cooler, our towels and our umbrella and headed North.

View of Anse Marcel and Marina

The drive was very pretty, with the final stretch, up a winding road, providing a stunning preview of the little cove known as Anse Marcel. Arriving at the end of the road, we discovered free parking and plenty of signage to get you to the beach. The walkway led us straight to an area where beach chair and umbrella are for rent at $15 each. It’s smack dab in between the white loungers of the Radisson and the orangey-red of Hotel Le Domaine de Lonvilliers (jhee jhee).

We walked right past those haute chairs to the southwest side of the beach – which was wide open. It likely won’t stay that way very long based on the bulldozers ripping up the ground behind that portion of the beach. We stuck our umbrella in the ground and set up our towels…but a few minutes later a white clad waiter informed us that we were not welcome to stay. A small white plastic fence stuck in the sand was apparently the divider between public and private beach and we were in the domain of Le Domaine. A local had told us that all beaches on St. Martin are public and that regardless of how fervently a resort might try to protect its guest from having to look at riff-raff sitting directly on the sand (gasp), you had every right to stay put. But, we weren’t in the mood for putting up the good fight – we wanted to swim and chill and if that meant moving three feet to the left, so be it.

Red Stripe on the beach

Once settled, we broke out the picnic and had ourselves a nice cold beer. We frolicked in the gentle surf (the drop off is quite gradual, so it was a great location for bobbing in the water), read our books, and watched the people walking down the beach (most of whom were actually wearing bathing suits – a rare thing indeed on a French beach). 

It was the perfect last day on an island that we had truly enjoyed and thought we had fully explored.  Thanks to the dice, we found one more cove worth discovering.  And, that is why we never go on vacation without our Zufall dice.

A friend of mine found herself chowing down on the same old Subway sandwich during her lunch break from work.  It was the same one she always gets, at the restaurant she always goes to.  It occurred to her that she really should have rolled the dice to find a new place to eat.

She remembered thinking about where to go, wondering for a moment about searching something new out, but then laziness and routine kicked in and before she knew it she was asking a sandwich artist for extra olives.  It was an uninspired decision based on ease and little else. I suggested that she keep a kit in her desk for the next time an opportunity for a lunch-time adventure presented itself.  She went one better and said she was going to put one in her purse.  I like how she thinks…you never know when a drone moment will hit that can only be remedied by a bit of chance.

Looking to save a bit of money and improve your social life?  If you want to pick up a Zufall kit but you hate to pay full price – why not get a group together and buy in bulk to save on the kit and the shipping?

 Once you and your friends start rolling, you can exchange stories and even do events together. One of the things we like to do with a few other couples is to meet at a specific spot (usually a pub or bar), all agree to the same parameters and we each roll. In a few hours, we’ll meet back up at the start point (which is why we usually pick a bar…) and talk about our adventures.  Sometimes, you even get people rolling the same thing but having totally different experiences. 

 Or, you can do a group roll.  This is particularly fun if you are getting together for a bike ride or a walk, or even a paddle. One roll and everyone goes together.  It’s amazing how much more you’ll take in with so many eyeballs on the look out for interesting things.

 Whether it’s a meet up, a group roll, or something you created, I hope you’ll tell everyone about it on the iZufalled section of the website.  Or, tell us about it on Twitter  @izufall or Facebook! We love to hear about new ways that people are having adventures by chance.

 When I explain Zufall to people, the often ask “but what if the roll leads you to nothing – doesn’t that ruin your time?” It’s amazing to me how limiting this fear of disappointment can be. Yet, so often when we plan something, we still encounter that disappointment. 

 There are many ‘happiness philosophers’ (yes, there are many of them) who subscribe to the notion that you simply need to decide to be happy to live a life of happiness.  Zufall is the same way – decide to have an adventure. After you roll, realize that everything from then on is all part of the adventure. Be observant and engaged in the journey, discover what the final destination has to offer. And if all else fails, see the destination as the next starting point.

 I was zufalling with a friend one day and we picked an inauspicious starting point. We rolled a NE/6 with the base value of two blocks.  After 12 blocks, we’d had a lovely walk in an unknown part of town but found there was nothing in the way of coffee (which we were both craving) at our destination.  We decided to keep the journey going and went another 12 blocks – shazaam. We discovered this amazing, out-of-the-way chocolate shop where we indulged not just in a great coffee (mocha latte to be exact) but also some sumptuous homemade truffles.

 Before we found the shop, we had both agreed that the walk had been excellent and given us a chance to really catch up while getting some exercise – and the fact that we walked twice as far meant we didn’t feel quite as guilty about our decadent treats.  

   YUM!