Adventure travel on the road less traveled
When an adventure trip comes to mind for those of you, images of mountaineering, water activities, skydiving and many other activities both for leisure and extreme sports often come to mind.
While these are certainly associated with adventure travel, they can even include something as leisurely as a horse and carriage ride through the cobbled streets of Bruges.
Your goal is to get out of your comfort zone and start looking for new encounters. For adventure or experiential travel, there might even be something close to home, or it could mean overseas or interstate travel.
Increasingly, these new and rewarding experiences are becoming popular and most of us need a break from work for a vacation or just to bring some excitement to their weekends.
Once upon a time, tropical island resorts were the only way to travel when it came to travel, but in these modern times, many of the world’s travelers are looking for something new. In this way, we have seen an increase in adventure trips that include popular places such as the Inca Trail, camping in the African Desert or climbing the top of one of the many mountain ranges in the world.
That said, even on tropical islands, many will book tours to incorporate into their sunbathing and relaxing trip, such as cultural island tours, scenic flights, snorkeling or diving trips and the like.
Adventure travel is not for everyone. It’s for that type of person who needs those new experiences and someone who wants to meet the unknown by exploring somewhere on the road less travelled.
Of course, there are elements of danger during adventure travel. Climbing Everest, for example, imposes a far greater amount of risk than, say, standing under a beach umbrella. Use your best judgment when doing business with reputable companies.
Adventure travel also does not necessarily have to be an organized tour or family setting and each individual will have their own style, thoughts and emotions associated with each adventure trip.
Some of my top examples of adventures I’ve experienced include shark diving with great whites in South Africa, a school of up to 30 Galapagos sharks in Hawaii, and even swimming cage-free with gray nurse sharks in my hometown of Sydney, Australia. I have always been fascinated by sharks throughout my life, so experiencing them up close was an adventure on the road less traveled that I had to take.
On another trip I took to a sleepy little town in the Scottish Highlands known as Braemar, which was the place of my ancestors, including a castle that once belonged to them.
These are just a few examples of adventure travel, but there are many more; sport fishing trips, caving or caving trips, diving vacations, whale watching experiences, mountain walks, safaris, wildlife tours and many more.
The destination really depends on you as an individual and the ideas that exist are limitless. So forget about those vacations where you don’t do anything all week, search and find your favorite adventure.