It was a few years ago now that my wife and I visited Lyon, the food capital of France. It is a bustling, vibrant city that always seems to have something to do. One evening, we decided to go for supper. After the usual negotiations as to which restaurant we should choose, we landed at what was billed as an “authentic” French restaurant in the heavily tourist, UNESCO heritage area of the city called Vieux Lyon.
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They sat us in the “patio” area, which was little more than dozens of tables they had set up for night dining on the pedestrian, cobblestone streets of the medieval town center. The table was a little round thing that barely accommodated our food and the chairs were rickety metal cafe chairs that strained to hold up my six-foot frame.
“This is going to be interesting,” I thought as we sat down.
I was right.
It was at that moment that I decided to take the advice of the 4th century Bishop of Milan and, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
So, looking at the menu, I chose what should have been an ideal meal for me – Pike Souffle.
It was described in the English menu they had given to us as a pike dumpling in sauce.
Why not?
What could possibly go wrong?
I like pike. I love dumplings and sauce.
Sounds good…give me one of them.
That’s where the fun story took a dramatically negative turn. The service was horrible and when my pike souffle (a highly promoted specialty of the region) came, I discovered that my ordering had gone horribly off the rails.
What I got was a ball of dough floating in a powdery sauce that a fish might have swum through at some point in the past 200 years.
Pike was nowhere in sight.
But as I look back on our time in Lyon, that is the meal that I will never forget.
Was the food or the service worth the pricetag? – NO
But the experience was.
If you have a choice – always invest in the experience. Yes, it may not end up being the experience that you want, but it will be something that you won’t forget.
Studies show that people who buy experiences – not things – are happier. (Read the article by Nicholas Garcia at lifehack.org.)
Souvenirs get lost, break, and become outdated.
Who wants to wear the Hawaiian shirt a year after the vacation?
It’s the experience that matters and the memories that are valuable.
So, try to find experiences to invest in.
A new park, a restaurant you haven’t been to before, a dish you haven’t tried…start simple and inexpensive. Take a risk. You may like the experience, or you may not.
Regardless of your feelings about things in the moment, you will have much happiness over the years looking back on the time you invested in an experience instead of a souvenir.
“Buy experiences, not things. Spending on experiences makes people happier than spending on things. Things get broken and go out of style. Experiences get better every time you talk about them.”Jean Chatzky
“Buy experiences, not things. Spending on experiences makes people happier than spending on things. Things get broken and go out of style. Experiences get better every time you talk about them.”
Until next time, have a happy day.
On the go? Listen to the podcast. Here’s the latest episode https://anchor.fm/jason-homan/episodes/Buy-the-Experience–Not-The-Souvenir—Eating-in-Lyon–France-e14n6k1/a-a57pj3