Budget-Friendly Adventures for Everyone

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“Explore the Weekend is a YouTube channel and social media account run by partners, Stu and Elijah, who are passionate about exploring the UK on a budget. They share their adventures, tips, and recommendations for affordable weekend getaways, encouraging viewers to discover hidden gems and make the most of their free time. Their channel is a "time capsule" of their experiences, showcasing the beauty and affordability of exploring the UK”.

Background

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We both come from pretty different backgrounds! Stu is a military veteran having served with the RAF for a number of years and is just about to head to University for the first time to pursue a career in physics, whereas Elijah is currently researching for a PhD in Atmospheric Chemistry and is well established in academia.

Elijah is from Oxfordshire, so plenty of lush green countryside adventures whilst growing up, whereas Stu grew up on the coast in Hampshire. Being based in Leicester these days, we miss out on both the countryside and the coast and would love to move somewhere like Norfolk or Northumberland in the future once we know where life is taking us! Amusingly, we both lived in London for a while at overlapping times, so it’s fun to think we might just have walked past each other before we actually met!

You’ve recently started up a wonderful YouTube channel and social media account Called ‘Explore the Weekend’’ Who came up with the idea for "Explore the Weekend"? What inspired you to start the channel, and what is its purpose?

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We both wanted a way to capture our days out/adventures together, so that when we’re old and grey we have something to watch back and enjoy! The channel is a ‘time capsule’ at its core. Being long-time subscribers of channels like Steve Marsh, we knew the kind of videos we’d like to make, so the idea snowballed pretty quickly! Stu had prior experience on YouTube, so the setup was really easy, and turning our little lightbulb moment into a full channel was just a really fun evening!

Where would you like to see ‘Explore the Weekend’ go in the future? What are your long-term goals for the channel?

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There are more ideas than we can possibly mention so we’ll stick to the big long term ones! With the Channel itself, alongside our usual ‘day-trip’ videos, we’re quietly planning some big ‘challenge’ style adventures. These have stemmed from asking ourselves “I wonder if we could do this faster/cheaper” when we’re travelling, and they’re something we’re really looking forward to sharing.

Away from the channel, we’d love to set up a website where we can document all these places we’ve been, our recommendations/tips etc, travel guides and more. Something that would be a really fun extension of that would be an ‘Explorers Club’, where people can share their own trips and guidance. If we could get to a position where we could partner with major attractions (English Heritage/National Trust etc.), to help offer further discounts to ‘Explorers’, and make weekends that little bit more affordable, then that would be awesome!

Since starting your channel, can you share with us some of the locations you have visited so far? And how do you go about finding these places?

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Guernsey has been the best place so far! We didn’t really know much about the island before going there, and were totally blown away! The coastline is rugged and untamed, there were endless walks and trails to follow, so much history to check out (recent shipwrecks right back to prehistoric tombs), it was budget friendly, and the food and drinks were great! We’re already saving to go back again! A close second would be Luxembourg. Just a charming country and we’d love to explore more as we were only there a few days.

Do you ever set out exploring these places with a criteria on your mind? For instance, ‘Would this place be ideal for families? Let’s go find out’.

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Our priorities are affordability and time. Elijah studies full time, and Stu works full time (but will imminently also be a full time student), so we don’t have the luxury of being able to pop away to exotic places during the week. That limits us to weekends like the vast majority of people. Therefore, everything we plan is centered around getting the absolute most out of those two days.

We’re a minimum income household, so keeping things to an absolute budget is critical. We want to be able to prove to everyone in a similar situation that yes, you might not be cash-rich, or have the grandest holidays options, but you can absolutely get out there and have an amazing time on a shoestring budget. There are so many cool places right on your doorstep, and we want to help you find them!

Do you have any locations that you definitely want to visit in the future?

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There are so many! Big bucket list destinations would be New Zealand for its scenery and history, the USA for its food and national parks, and Japan for the culture. Closer to home, Alderney is the last of the Channel Islands for us to visit alongside a trip back to Guernsey, and we’d love to check out more of Wales. We visited Snowdonia earlier this year, and the scenery just blew us away. More niche destinations would include Chamonix, as its where the UTMB Finals take place every year. Stu is a keen trail runner, so it would just be an absolute dream to go and compete there, soaking in all the tiny villages throughout the valleys, and just throwing ourselves into the event atmosphere.

How do you plan to grow and evolve your content?

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We really enjoyed filming the Channel Islands ‘miniseries’, and that format is something we’re looking to do more of. A trip to Scotland in September is going to be the perfect place for us to experiment with that further. There are a few ‘challenge’ style videos in the works, and whilst these will definitely take a lot longer to film due to the research and prep that’s going on behind the scenes, we hope it’ll be something fun and a little different for our returning viewers.

With Stu loving trail running, and Elijah just starting to dip his toes into it too, Raceday videos are something we’re also looking to explore. Growth specific, our Instagram account is definitely something that's underutilised right now, and our future plans for a website will definitely help get our adventures out into the world!

Below is a list of our top 3 questions - Can you kindly answer them for us?

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1) You're on a tight budget but still want to have a fun weekend. What are some budget-friendly activities or hidden gems you'd recommend?

Local museums! Lots of people won’t realise just how much is on offer in their local area. Leicester is fortunate to have a whole range of museums that are either free or budget friendly and have hours’ worth of exhibits to check out, and that setup is repeated in nearly every town and city we’ve visited so far. Alternatively, a walk around town or a nature trail can be a great way of getting out and finding something new. For those that want a specific activity to focus on, we recommend Geocaching! It’s a hunt for little objects that have been hidden worldwide, and there are thousands in the UK to look for! You just need a pen!

2) You're travelling with a group of friends with diverse interests. How do you approach planning a weekend trip that caters to everyone's preferences?

Make sure you see what’s on offer before you go and split your time accordingly. If there’s divided interests, you can split your group down and cover multiple activities at the same time and all have a good time. You can then catch up over dinner, and just enjoy your friends' enthusiasm about their day, even if you personally had no interest in that specific activity.

3) You're looking for something to do on a rainy day in London. What are your go-to indoor activities that are both fun and engaging?

London is overflowing with the amount of museums and tours that you can do, and most are budget friendly. If you find yourself out of ideas and bored, you’ve probably not done it right! For us, top picks are: Mercato Metropolitano (An indoor marketplace with more food stalls that you can ever try), The British Museum, the Natural History and Science Museum, St Pauls Cathedral, and The Tower of London.

Words of Wisdom

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Seek and ye shall find! Your local area probably has more going on than you realise!