Tips for adventure travel
Adventure travel plans gives everyone alike that adrenalin rush. Just the thought of it makes one want to embark on a fun-filled journey without forgetting the risk factors involved. A few tips on how this travel can be made memorable. First and foremost, one needs to understand the concept in the true sense of the word. Adventure travelling is a unique experience where the normal tour packages and tourist guides don’t come in the picture. It involves exploring a rather remote location, less known, even lesser frequented and travelled by individuals with similar interests and knowledge. It involves more of travelling on foot or in safari jeeps or camping by a river side or putting up tents in a desert. It very rarely turns out to be a family vacation unless all the members are regular trekkers or backpackers!
Even if you are a first-timer, there is no need to panic at the very idea of adventure travelling. Decide on how many and who are travelling. It is advisable to have a sizeable number of like-minded fellow travellers for security and to avoid clashes, when under risky circumstances. A group of 8-10 people is a good start. You can even go for a smaller group if you have professional guides or local trekkers accompanying you through out. Once that is done, check how much of a physical challenge are you wanting to bear. How good are you at activities related to mountaineering, how comfortable are you exploring the seas, the deep rain forests or the sordid desert lands. This will help you in closing in on one destination before you launch a thorough research on what to do and how to go about it! There are companies offering a degree of difficulty-package tours. Safaris and nature-oriented cultural tours around Africa and Latin America can be taken even by family members. However, they need to be game for a little activity nevertheless! Where the degree of challenge is more, like scaling heights of over 20,000 feet or exploring crevices in ice-capped Polar Regions of our planet, you need to be in a regular exercise routine so that your body is better prepared for that kind of a hardship.
Don’t worry about staying in touch with your family back home. There are a few ways in which this can be done even if you are running on pocket string budgets. Calling cards are available at all places and getting a local number is the best deal to cut costs. Plus, your folks will be at peace knowing that you are just a call away. Make international calls too at dearth cheap rates, what with operators offering reasonable rates for international calling.
You could look at the variety of activities that you would like to indulge in, before embarking upon such an adventure. People sometimes prefer staying at one place and exploring it thoroughly while others prefer to get a sample of a wide variety of places and activities. Lonely planet and other travel guides online give you a detailed insight into what to look and look out for! If you are literally crossing seas and travelling miles and miles away to reach a destination, it is better that you check the price ranges first. Last minute unpleasant surprises can throw your travel finances off the hook and create trouble. Online forums and discussion groups give you a fair idea of what the place is all about. You could speak to people who have already been around and take tips. If you are looking at mountaineering for example, you need to know what equipment and other gear to carry. Look for a good trip leader who plays multiple roles as a group counsellor, guide, teacher, interpreter and who will ensure your safety much better that you yourself would have, had you been alone otherwise.
Lastly, once your group, your destination and allied research is undertaken, all your paperwork needs to be put in place. Get photocopies of your passport, all your documents and some copies of all the relevant information and contact numbers related to travel and destination. Ensure that every single member has all these details. Emergency contacts need to be made known to everyone. Get a medical check-up done. Carry personal medicines and other items like disposable contact lenses on you. Check if any locality close to your destination is disease-prone and get medication or shots accordingly. Packing light and dressing conservatively will only help. And of course, whilst packing all of this, do not forget a good camera. Thought don’t carry all the apparatus as you will have to lug it around all the time and might pose difficulty while travelling. Having done of all this, you are more than good to set off on a journey a bit hard, albeit worth it!
