Due to the current pandemic and its effect on all of our lives, I thought a more light-hearted, casual story would be more appropriate for this cycle. This story will contain many of my personal opinions, so I recommend you take them with a grain of salt… after all, what do I know? So, without further ado, here are my plans/recommendations for a not-so-boring summer vacation.

Read a book!

For you readers I recommend The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. The book follows the story of professional journalist Mikael Blomkvist as he investigates the true happenings of the disappearance of Harriet Vanger, a now 40 year-old cold case that continues to haunt her elderly uncle. The mystery quickly turns into a fast-paced investigation that leaves you hungering for more, I couldn’t recommend this one enough! (Though I do have to admit the following books in the series are quite lackluster). If The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo doesn’t pique your interest, Goodreads is a great place to look for recommendations!

Play a video game!

Beyond the more academic world of books, I admit that I’ve been enraptured by the recently released video game: Animal Crossing New Horizons. This game takes the player on a deserted island adventure where they get to take part in building a new town on the island. The game features a colorful cast of animal villagers and a plethora of unique items you can use to make your deserted island getaway your own.

While the game has a variety of directions you can go, whether it be discovering all of the unique species of island wildlife to donate to the island museum or collecting all of the furniture items to decorate your new island home with, the main goal of the game is to beautify your island to the extreme so that the famous canine pop star, K.K. Slider takes an interest in performing there, thus thrusting the deserted island getaway package into infamy.

If Animal Crossing isn’t your fort, this article from The Verge can give you a few other suggestions!

Do something with your family!

Your family is just as stuck in these weird times as you are, so don’t be afraid to lean on the other members of your household for a bit of entertainment! Iconic card games like Uno are always good choices to play with family, but if your family needs something a bit more involved I highly recommend Forbidden Island by Gamewright. This relatively easy to learn board game forces you to play as a team with two to four members of your family to recover four unique treasures while the island around them begins to flood and collapse.

These were all of my favorite pandemic pastimes; I hope that even one of my suggestions can kill some of your boredom during these strange times.

I would also like to find newer things I could enjoy (if you have any suggestions please tell me by commenting on this story! I’d love to learn about what our readers are doing to pass the time during these uncertain times.)