Understanding Adventure Travel

"What, exactly, is Adventure Travel ?" In many ways, coming up with an adequate answer to that question is like trying to explain the concept of infinity. But I have reached several conclusions that should lead you down the right track even though you may find the answer rather elementary. If we follow the dictionary, the two keywords involved - adventure and travel - are easily defined. The term travel is a concept that needs no introduction to anyone, but adventure, alas, is not as straight forward and hence involves some cognitive elements of perception. In other words, the term adventure can mean different things to different people depending on their very own perceptions and taste. A trek in the country side might be a form of adventure travel to some, but to a mountain climber, it is nothing more than a walk in the country side! As poet Ralph Waldo Emerson put it, "It is not length of life, but depth of life (that counts)...". So life is as you make it and see it really. You can choose to keep is simple, or become repetitive, boring and common, or you can make life and see it as a grand adventure in itself. Applying this same concept to travel, we can keep it simple, repetitive and common, by following the masses and going to the usual big cities such as London, Paris or New York - or we can make something which for us is extra ordinary, and have an Adventure Travel. The choice, as always, is ours to make. Are we getting anywhere? For some, Adventure Travel equates to grabbing the whitewater kayak and heading down to the river, or securing a bungee cord to your ankle and jumping off the bridge. To others, mixing with the local culture up the amazon river in the tiny villages there. If you ask a punter at the Rio Carnival why they are there, chances are they will tell you, for the Adventure of it. Ask a diver why they choose to dive and you will get a similar answer. Ask someone following the Inca Trail and again they will most likely tell you for the Adventure or it. If you asked me when I was about 10 why I climbed the hill and climbed over the fields, knowing I shouldn't have, while my mum sunbathed unknowingly at the beach, I would have told you "for the adventure" Floating in the clouds in a hot air balloon is an adventure. So is a cruise to the exotic Galapagos. But even whisking the family away to a nearby theme park can be an Adventure to some. To some, a truly grand adventure involves viewing wildlife or spending time camping under the stars. To others, an escape to gambling world Las Vegas makes their adrenaline flow, and brings the Adventure demon inside them to life. Adventures come in all shapes and sizes. Big and small. Soft or hard. There is no limit, no rule. Hopefully by now you are getting it. An adventure, whether passive or active, is the difference between common and uncommon; between normal and beyond normal. Try camping out in a spooky cemetery at night and tell me afterwards that, that was not an adventure! Or go visit the Pyramids of Giza, and tell me you havn't been fantasizing about our ancient past. Simply put, an Adventure Travel is really discovering what turns you on the most far within your soal. Adventure Travel is only limited to your very own imagination and physical constraints. It doesn't matter if your sense of adventure is walking through an unexplored path between the fields behind your house, or if you climb Mount Everest. Adventure travel is what you make it - nothing more and nothing less. WishToTravel.com - Experience the Adventure! http://www.wishtotravel.com