Do you often find yourself daydreaming or feeling bored regardless of where you are? If so, you could benefit from taking up a hobby that you can do anywhere whether for fun or function.
Most of these hobbies will require something portable or applicable regardless of what you have around you. These types of hobbies can be beneficial for pretty much anyone but especially for people who have fleeting attention spans or for those who want to be productive and fill all of their time in the day.
After all, we all get the same twenty-four hours each day to make the most of so why not have fun while you’re out and about or have a bit of time to kill?
1. Reading
Whether you read through your phone on the Kindle app, or perhaps, prefer to carry your favorite book around with you, reading is one of the most portable hobbies you can do and is one of the most beneficial. Reading helps to expand your views of the world as it introduces new concepts and thoughts that you may not have had otherwise.
There are so many options too in terms of genre; you have the main overarching categories which are fiction or non-fiction and all of the sub-genres that fall under either of those categories such as dark fantasy, political thrillers, ancient greek history, cookery, and much much more.
In essence, you should be able to find a book for pretty much anything you can imagine which also makes it so exciting.
2. Writing
Writing, whether on a laptop or in a notepad is a great way to flex your creativity throughout the day irrespective of where you are or what you’re doing. This includes things like writing a book, developing a blog, or just making notes about how to optimize your day or keeping a record of what you’ve been doing.
Writing can also help with developing your thoughts and ideas that aren’t as easy to express out loud, mainly because it gives you time to understand the processes behind your intentions.
3. Photography
Most cameras are extremely portable these days and have handy accessories like camera bags to take them around with you safely. It’s also likely you’ll have a camera on your phone if you own one (and depending on the model) that is usually capable of taking okay pictures.
Taking a photograph that looks good is mostly in the eye of the beholder but if you want to enhance your images then we recommend grabbing a proper DSLR camera as it comes with many useful shooting functions.
There are many niche areas of photography you can focus on such as macro photography (closeup), landscape, wildlife, and urban photography. This means you’ll have plenty to do regardless of where you are.
4. Music
If you’ve ever walked around any major urban city or along any fairly populated coastline then you may have noticed people singing their hearts out or busking away to their favorite tunes.
Music isn’t just something you do in your spare time hidden away in your home, it’s something that you can bring outside to the world around you to entertain others and to connect with people. Arguably, some instruments will be more portable than others but that shouldn’t stop you from doing what you love most wherever you are.
5. Sketching
Sketching is a great hobby that you can do anywhere provided you have a decent pencil and a pad for sketching on. It’s far more practical than other art formats such as painting as you don’t need to carry around lots of materials or brushes to get going.
Sketching can be done in an abstract fashion or in a literal fashion where you can sketch the landscape or a person in front of you. Some people make awesome flipbook sketches like the one below:
Sketching is quite a basic hobby in terms of requirements but allows you to be as inventive as you want to be with what you create or sketch out.
6. Card Games
Trading cards and regular cards (e.g. poker) are something that you can easily carry around with you to pass the time. Regular cards are usually more versatile as there are many different styles of games you can play but trading card games offer a good bit of variety too.
Trading card games usually offer more role-playing aspects with them, especially as they are usually based on specific fictional universes such as Magic: The Gathering or Pokémon.
You can get a pack of cards with a book of games to help you get started or alternatively you could try a pre-made Magic: The Gathering deck to learn and play with friends (they’ll need a deck too).
7. Gaming
Gaming doesn’t have to stop when you leave the house anymore as there’s a whole host of games you can play whilst you’re out and about. Although you can game on your phone, we still think a dedicated console like the Nintendo Switch Lite could be a better solution as the games are often more fleshed out compared to mobile games and you don’t need to put up with annoying adverts.
Most chargeable batteries for mobile and gaming consoles should last several hours on a full charge when they’re unplugged from a power socket giving you plenty of time to rack up some achievements.
8. Yo-Yoing
Yo-yos went through a major resurgence during the nineties and early noughties but have dropped off in favor of video games or other internet-connected entertainment formats. With that said, you can still grab a decent yo-yo to pull out when you’re bored or want something to do.
It’s better to get a professional yo-yo as they will feature a special clutch that allows the yo-yo to spin while it’s down so you can do tricks with it. This hobby is relatively inexpensive and extremely portable making it ideal to do anywhere.
9. Socializing
Socializing is something we don’t think of when we bring up the term hobby but it can in fact be something very enjoyable or entertaining for people to do depending on what your goals and motivations for doing so are.
To be more specific, most people will end up socializing with each other out of necessity such as at their job or when working towards a common goal, however, few people give any thought to the idea of just talking to strangers out on the street or at their local cafe.
Some of the most satisfying experiences in life involve other people, mainly because the things we do and the achievements we work toward are only relevant when considered against others. However, even the simple act of having a positive interaction with a stranger when out for a walk can really brighten your day.
This is a really underrated pastime but we really recommend getting out of your comfort zone and talking to the people around you to see what kind of positive connections you can make.
10. Walking
It seems very simple but walking is a great way to burn some calories, reduce your stress, and kill some boredom if you have nothing to do. Better yet, you can pretty much walk anywhere you want within reason meaning you can change it up almost every time.
We recommend going for a walk down the beach if you’re lucky enough to have a coastline nearby or to a nature reserve to experience the connection to the life around you. You can also get other people involved which means the process of walking becomes an event for all of you which is a lot more fun.
Conclusion
Hobbies are fun but are even better if you can take them with you. Hopefully, you’ll have found a portable hobby solution within our list or at least something to give you some inspiration to keep active regardless of your whereabouts.
Some hobbies are more productive than others which might help give you an idea of what you’re wanting to take up depending on your style.
As always, if you enjoyed the article, please share it on social media and bookmark our homepage for regular hobby updates. You can also browse our ultimate list of hobbies for hobbies similar to the ones mentioned and more.
