TRAVEL | ACTION | ADVENTURE

The ‘Actions’ That Form Our Travel Experiences Change Over Time

But every day can still be an adventure.

This month at Globetrotters we are asking writers for their action stories. While writing my own post, and digging back through my archives, I have realized that the term ‘action’ can mean many different things.

As we move through life, the actions that once motivated me and inspired me, are now a bit too crazy for my liking. Well, at least some of them are.

Back in my teens, my action adventures were instigated by my parents. Two notable examples: When I was 16 my parents took me to Nepal and on a 3-week trek to Everest Base Camp, and when I was 17 they sent me on an around-the-world adventure on a tall ship.

Both of those experiences had a lot of action built into them, that is for sure!

I would do both of these adventures again without hesitation.

Back in my twenties ‘action’ meant going bungy jumping in Queenstown, New Zealand, riding down a river on a boogie board, and camping in a two-man tent with two other women in near-freezing temperatures at Mount Cook.

It also meant kayaking around the Florida Everglades for a month then shipping the kayak to the Bahamas where we lived off the islands for a few more months, occasionally taking bigger risks than we likely should have been.

I would only repeat carefully chosen parts of these adventures!

There is no doubt I am the wandering soul that I am these days because of my past. But I feel as though the ‘action’ part of my life has been somewhat curtailed a bit. Now in my mid-forties and living without health insurance means that we don’t get ourselves into too many situations where we face big risks of injury or worse.

Of course, we do know that anything can happen at any time, though.

As I age, I realize that I don’t need the excitement of adrenalin-pumping activities. Instead, I am happy to simply keep my feet on the ground, or in the water, as long as we are safely doing so. Sigh…….boring, I know.

But, it isn’t all bad. In our past five-plus years of full-time travel, we have still found a few occasions where we have had ‘action’ in our lives.

Snorkeling

While some may see snorkeling as the boring younger sister of diving, it is an activity that pleases me immensely. I had ear problems as a kid and never have been able to properly equalize my ears as I dive down. I don’t have a problem with that, though, because being far down underwater does not appeal to me. I’m happy just bobbing on the surface and taking breaths of fresh air whenever I need to.

In 2018 we had the good fortune to stay on a property in Anguilla for two weeks where we were housesitting. The house sat within 100 meters of a long and beautiful beach that had a constant current running along the shore. Most days we would walk to the furthest point of the beach, get in the water, then simply float our way back to the house, staying in the water for at least 2 hours.

We haven’t been snorkeling since this time, sadly, and we are long overdue!

Climbing Mayan Ruins

I recently wrote about some of our experiences at Tikal National Park in Guatemala. Tikal is largely accepted as the Mayan capital city and is filled with incredible temples and structures that cover 16 square kilometers of space. Climbing around in these ruins is an awe-inspiring activity and one could spend many days exploring the intricacies of the many structures in the park.

We visited the park on three occasions and could easily go back for more!

Hell, I would live there if they would let me!

Feeding Giraffes

In 2022 we had the amazing fortune to be painting murals at UWEC — Ugandan Wildlife Education Conservation Center. We stayed right on the property in an adorable bungalow that was just on the other side of the fence from the Giraffe enclosure. Each morning we would come out and greet our friendly neighbors, but we yearned to get closer.

One day our friend that worked there told us that we could go with him on a feeding run if we wanted to. Of course, we were ecstatic about this opportunity and jumped at the chance. Getting to be ‘zookeepers for a day’ was surely a highlight of our travels.

Hiking to Waterfalls

We have had a few different experiences hiking to waterfalls these past few years. Sometimes we are on nice and risk-free trails, others we would find ourselves suddenly in a death-defying situation where we wondered how we got there. You can imagine that the latter scenario goes against our better judgment to keep our feet on firm ground.

While in Costa Rica, our friend took us through a very unused jungle path that was cut into the side of a steep hillside. He assured us that no other tourists would ever know of this waterfall, and I definitely believe him. I don’t scare easily, but at one point I really had to calm my nerves as I slid across a slippery downed tree, dodged a small mudslide and held onto vines for dear life, as we shimmied across on (basically) all fours to get to this behemoth.

The hike was worth it as we took in the majesty of our surroundings, but we knew that we still had to get back out. With rain approaching, we made a dash for it and had a pretty easy time getting back except for the 6-foot-long (or more!) snake that we encountered on the trail. Thankfully it let us by after slithering above the path into some branches. But it stopped to keep a watchful eye on us, and was in striking distance, as we ducked, to go under it, A LOT!

We were all a bit freaked out by that encounter.

Crossing Borders

Action can also be found at many borders around the world. Most times, it is not the sort of action that makes our lives better or more fun. Here are a few notable experiences at borders:

• A supposed 24-hour bus ride that also had (unbeknownst to us) 14 hours spent overnight at the Egypt/Sudan border in freezing desert temperatures.
• Arriving to the Tanzania/Zambia border with one hour to spare on our visa, only to have the ATM eat our debit card at 11:00 at night.
• Being stuck at the Botswana border for 9 hours while the results of our Covid test were populated.
• Being denied entry to Bulgaria, at 5:00 am (and on an overnight bus), for unknowingly trying to get back in before our visa allowed us to.

Other activities

We have also done a couple of other exciting ‘action’-oriented activities in these past few years. In the Caribbean, we tried paddleboarding with little success, and in Costa Rica, we went ziplining. All fun and exciting enough for us old(er) folks!

And, of course, as you can see in my lead photo we also did a two-night trip into the Sahara Desert on camels back in 2020 just before covid hit.

One thing is for sure, with this traveling life, there is never a dull moment! Action and adventure are what keep life interesting and we will never shy away from either, as long as they are within reason.

To learn more about our July prompt, here is the introduction post from Anne Bonfert:

We look forward to hearing your stories!

Other stories from Globetrotters that I have enjoyed recently:

Tim Ward, Mature Flâneur is currently in New Zealand!

James Johnson shares some lessons learned while solo traveling.

Catherine Duchesne had an incredible experience in an ice cave in Iceland.

More from me:

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