What does the term adventure travel mean to you? It can mean many different things to different people and for those that are uninitiated into the world of adventure travel it often involves Indiana Jones types of images. Things like Man against nature, struggling to cross a scorching desert, or a stormy sea. Possible risking their life in some far flung region of the world that is torn apart by war and strife. Or it might bring up images of crawling deep into a pitch black cave or dangling from the site of a mountain on a rope.

Do all of these images equate to adventure travel? Well, not really, some people that are into adventure travel might seek out some of these more extreme types of activities but not everyone. Adventure travel is really whatever you want it to be. It might or might not involve physical risk this is not a requirement. It might or might not mean traveling to an exotic far flung place. It might or might not cost a small fortune it really depends on you. Any time you travel somewhere, anywhere if you have a new experience that you have never had before or some type of new experience that you don’t do everyday then you have had an adventure.

Of course there are as many different types of adventure travel as there are people in the world. So often you can find something that is exciting to you and based on your own interests. For example a history buff might not be the least interested in a vacation in Las Vegas or a visit to Disney World. But he or she might be thrilled to tour the Tower of London, visit the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, or stand at the Irish graveside of some long dead ancestor. The discovery of some previously unknown ancestors name in the archival records of a small town can be as exciting for the history lover as catching a trophy rainbow trout is to an ardent fisherman.

While most people would agree that adventure travel that involves activities like sky diving, mountain climbing, kayaking the rapids or caving is an exciting adventure indeed. But adventure travel can also include a leisurely trip on the Mississippi River in a paddle wheeler, a saunter across the English landscape in search of a certain species of bird, a tour of the wineries of southern France, or a shell-collecting outing on an out-of-the-way Caribbean beach.

Adventure travel does not have to be to a far away place. You do not have to go by plane, train or bus to experience some adventure travel. There are many opportunities well within driving distance of your house. They are not as well revealed as major sites or operations, so people have to look for them. They can include small local museums, houses of special interest (the birthplace of a famous person), small sanctuaries for wildlife and flora, restored buildings or even communities dating back to historic times, and so on. Even if one does not own a car, there are sometimes local bus tours to this site, or excursions organized by social groups.

Sure adventure travel might take you to that far flung place on a crazy intense adventure and test of wills but it can just as easily be a trip to somewhere close to your home and local. Adventure travel is wherever you can find it and on whatever scale you are ready for.

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Book Review:
“These stories are like potato chips; one is never enough, and they’re all but impossible not to devour in rapid succession. Moreover, they lend themselves to repeat reading…” —Library Journal

“Suiting the armchair as well as they did as long as a century ago, these articles will be popular indeed.” —Booklist

Worlds to Explore evokes that bygone era in which the pages of National Geographic were as close as most people could get to high adventure and faraway lands. The 54 tales reproduced here immerse today’s readers in wonder and thrill of exploration before the age of mass tourism. Along with notable explorers such as Edmund Hillary, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, and Teddy Roosevelt, other less famous travelers take us to places few Americans had ventured before. We follow as “An Unbeliever Joins the Hadj,” trek “Across Tibet from India to China,” and take “A Round Trip to Davy Jones’s Locker.”

Introduced by brief essays that provide context and perspective, these engaging selections speak for themselves—and trace the National Geographic Society’s growth as it explored the unknown and brought it home to readers eager for knowledge of “the world and all that is in it.”

Worlds to Explore: Classic Tales of Travel and Adventure from National Geographic

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