Unforgettable Travel Isn’t About Pushing Your Limits

The power of embracing your comfort zone

Skydiving. Cliff diving. Cave diving. Eating scorpions. Sketchy ziplines. Swimming with sharks. Getting a “discounted” tattoo from a guy in a van. Bungee jumping. Freaking heli-bungee jumping.

When did taking a vacation turn into a Fear Factor audition?

Thanks to the rise of “adventure travel” (and dreams of Instagram fame) these and hundreds of other fringe activities have become must-do staples for today’s travelers.

But…why?

I’m all for injecting a little adventure into your next trip, but for a lot of people, it’s not “real travel” unless there’s a decent risk of food poisoning or a trip to the ER.

Traveling the world comes with a certain amount of risk and uncertainty baked in. No matter where you go, things can (and often do) go wrong. It happens.

But needlessly adding danger and risk to your trip with half-baked adventure activities doesn’t somehow make travel more adventurous or impactful. It just makes it less safe.

What is it about travel that makes otherwise smart, competent people abandon their judgment, common sense, and a lifetime of lived experience all in the name of “pushing boundaries?”

And more importantly, how can you let your friends know that you just want chill by the pool with a good book instead of doing a backflip off a poorly constructed platform?

You only live once (so be careful!)

Y.O.L.O.

Just reading that word makes my skin crawl with the ghost of a thousand frat bros making bad decisions. Thankfully, Y.O.L.O. has faded from our everyday vocabulary. However, the sentiment behind it — that your life is a waste of time unless you seize every moment regardless of the consequences — still pollutes how a lot of people travel.

The problem with YOLO-ing all over the place isn’t just that it’s annoying and often disrespectful to the local culture and other travelers—it super is by the way. No, the real issue is that constantly pushing past your limits to “experience” life can have serious consequences.

Danger and adventure aren’t the same thing

11 tourists died this year trying to summit Everest.

According to accounts from several experienced mountaineers and sherpas, many of the people that climb Everest each summer have no business being up there. But they “have to” tick Everest off their bucket list, even if it might kill them.

And you don’t have to go to the Roof of the World to see the deadly effects of tourists traveling way beyond their limits just to cross something off their bucket list and snap an “epic” photo. Reckless travel is everywhere.

Jumping off a cliff doesn’t make you adventurous

For nearly a decade, dozens of young travelers in Laos died each year just tubing down a shallow river. Excessive drug and alcohol abuse are largely to blame, but so are the popularity of the dangerous zip lines and slides, as well as rickety platforms built to entice diving into the river.

But here’s the thing:

Recklessly leaping off a platform or a cliff doesn’t make you an adventurous. It just makes you a lemming. Literally.

Luckily, there’s another way to travel that comes with (hopefully) fewer trips to the hospital, and just maybe a little insight into what you want out of life.

Explore your comfort zone

When did your “comfort zone” become a bad thing? No, really. I don’t get it.

My comfort zone rules because, after years of experimenting with my favorite things, I’ve finally figured exactly what it looks like:

A shifting blend of late mornings, good coffee, comfy hammocks, acoustic guitar, sci-fi and fantasy novels stacked by a rocking chair, and catching glassy waves around sunset.

Cliche, I know, but it works just fine for me. And the best part is that I have days like that all the time when I travel. It’s why I spend months on the road every year.

The biggest appeal of travel is how it lets you step away from the day-to-day pressures, stress, and expectations of your friends, family, and responsibilities.

If you want to read spy novels in a hammock on your vacation, you can. If you sleep in ’til 10 am, no one is going to tell you to be more productive. And if you want to write that zombie/werewolf love story even though everyone back home thinks is a terrible idea, start punching those keys, you beautiful weirdo.

Traveling provides you with a rare shard of free time when you can really be yourself because no one cares—or even notices—what you’re up to.

Peer pressure and travel don’t mix

The point is, travel is freedom. Freedom to spend your time however you like because the only opinion that matters when you’re on the road is yours.

And that’s amazing.

Why would you waste that precious freedom trying to impress others—or worse—trying to live up to some made-up expectations of what “real travel” looks like?

Dangerous “once-in-a-lifetime” experiences aren’t what makes you a more interesting person. Sorry. It doesn’t work that way.

What makes you interesting or brave or kind or thoughtful is how you spend all of your days. Even the boring ones. If you’re only happy when you’re pushing your limits, or “living life to the max” you’re going to be really unhappy most of the time. But hey, maybe that’s just me.

Travel is a rare opportunity to take time away from others and think about what you want in life. And funnily enough, embracing your comfort zone—not pushing your limits—can show you a lot about who you want to be.

That’s a lot more powerful than jumping into the ocean from a short cliff, don’t you think?

Risk vs. Reward

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve done tons of reckless stuff over the years (especially in my 20's). However, I can honestly say that none of those risks were truly transformative.

A decade of travel hasn’t taught me to embrace danger better than anyone else. But I think it has taught me how to find some fulfillment. Or at least better define what I want.

I’m happiest when I have free time without work or debts breathing down my neck. So I keep expenses down and work remotely.

When I travel I can surf, play guitar, take a nap, write about things that matter to me, and maybe squeeze in some time with a book in a rocking chair/hammock. So I go places where I can do all of those things.

That’s a lot better than risking broken bones for a cool story.

If you want to push yourself, do you. Downhill mountain biking looks rad even though I have zero desire to try it.

The problem with “traveling to push your limits” happens when you let other people—or worse, the opinions and expectations of people online — set your bar for what counts as “real travel.”

Never let anyone make you feel like you can’t enjoy the simple, even boring things that make you happy, no matter where you are. And don’t ever make someone feel like they’re not “really traveling” just because they don’t want to risk their lives on an active volcano hike. At dawn.

Moments of transition are rare. Self-awareness is even rarer. Don’t waste your precious time on the road bending to peer pressure. You’ll regret it.