RTW Adventures

Adventurous Destinations for Travelers of All Age

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How do you define adventure? You can call it as an undertaking or enterprise of a hazardous nature. And when this adventure is added to traveling it becomes adventure travel. It is a trip to a natural environment or remote location wherein the travelers get involved in active physical activity or participate and explore a new experience. It gives you a wonderful time and at the same time helps you to spiritually stimulate your body and mind.

Adventurous trips are those vacations that change you, mesmerize you and guarantees memories for a lifetime. People of all ages can experience adventure. But some of them are not suitable for everyone because they involve extreme physical exhaustion. There are various destinations in this world meant for adventure and some of them are appropriate and convenient for travelers of all ages.

Floating above the world in a hot air balloon:

It gives you a bird’s eye view of scenery. Seeing the world from the sky is a breathtaking experience. You can float over an African veld and experience the view of lions roaming below. You can get a glimpse of the exclusive landscape of Cappadocia, Turkey. Balloon festivals are held annually at various places in the U.S.A. like Albuquerque in the state of New Mexico, Snowmass in Colorado and many other resort towns.

In Europe, hot air balloon ride is available in Barcelona, Catalonia, Madrid and Segovia, Alic ante, Costa Blanca, Southern Central England and various other places.

Down Under, go ballooning majestically and effortlessly over the picturesque countryside of South East Queensland. You will greatly enjoy the beauty of the heritage city of Ipswich and the Scenic Rim region which is a part of the Greater Brisbane region and the Great Sunshine Way, Southern Queensland as they gently unfold before your eyes.

Hiking, trekking or backpacking:

This is another adventure activity meant for people of all ages. It is a recreation walk that can be done almost everywhere. Hiking brings you close to the land and its people and helps in expanding your cultural horizon.

You can hike along some of the famous places in Asia like the Angkor Extension (Cambodia); the Chomolhari Trek in the Land of the Thunder Dragon, Bhutan; from the green mountains and grassy steppes to the dunes of the Gobi Desert, Mongolia; journey from Lhasa to Everest (Tibet); the Great Wall and the terracotta warriors of Xi’an in China and the list goes on and on.

Europe boasts of some marvelous hiking destinations like Cinque Terre hiking in Italy which will take you across the tiny, color fishing villages perched on cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean to sun washed jet set resorts. Another wonderful hiking journey is through the most stunning areas in all of the Scottish highlands. From Florence to Siena, you will see the finest expressions of Renaissance culture, and hike in beautiful areas of countryside beloved by local Tuscans.

In America, hiking can be done in Nicaragua. Nicaragua is considered one of Central America’s hottest adventure destinations. Again, traveling from the high Andes to the lush rainforest of the Amazon Basin you can hike along Ecuador’s Avenue of the Volcanoes, enjoying comfortable stays in Haciendas.

A special way to enter Machu Picchu is by hiking along tiny ledges weaving up and down 13,000-foot-high Mountains, as you follow the ancient Inca trails in Peru. Another wonderful experience of hiking is in Colca Canyon, believed to be the deepest canyon in the world. There you get a chance to see the giant condors fly.

Dog sledding:

This adventure sport is a great way to enjoy the winter wilderness. A dog, such as a husky is used to pull a dogsled, especially in Arctic regions. The surroundings of Ratece, close to the ski area of Kranjska Gora, Slovenia provide some incredible professionally guided dog sledding adventures. You can experience some magical moments in Sweden’s Wolverine territory as well.

An awesome trip across the wilds of Spitsbergen cannot be missed. Spitsbergen is one of the Svalbard Islands located halfway between Norway and The North Pole. Of the total land mass, about 60 percent is made up of glaciers and a meager 6-7 percent is covered with vegetation. The islands offer fresh and untouched, Arctic wilderness with vast mountain areas and magnificent glaciers.

Adventure has no boundaries. It is endless and limitless. Age actually has nothing to do if you are adventurous at heart. The thing which matters the most is that you get to see the world in a new way, make friends and gives you a chance explore foreign places.

Destination Details

My Trip To Bali

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Growing up in Sydney certainly made me love the city that I was in and and I definitely did not have the idea that I wanted to go out and explore. For years people have been telling me to travel to different parts of the world and for some reason it was not until recently when I realized that I should listen to their advice. I looked through the internet and tried to find a country that I have never heard of and I planned to take a trip to that place right away. The first country that I saw was Bali and I knew right away that this was my first destination on my travels. Since I was able to get cheap flights to Bali, the Bali holiday packages were certainly making me excited to go on my trip.

My Water Adventures

When I finally got to Bali, I realized that this is one of the most beautiful places that I have ever seen. This was certainly something that I have never seen in the United States and for years I was so used to the Australian lifestyle that I was so blown away as to how beautiful Bali was. The first thing that I knew I had to do in Bali was to do all the adventurous things and so I asked the locals where I can find the best place for white water rafting. They told me where to go and I was sure to somehow find my way to the place. After finally finding my way to the area, I realized that there was so much more than just white water rafting as there water skiing, fly fishing and even a water park. I was so amazed and still can’t believe how much fun I had in the water.

Food Was Amazing

After that crazy first day of adventures, I was starving and knew that I needed to explore and find some food that I have never tried before. I searched and asked around for the best place in the area and they led me to a small restaurant near the resort and to this day I cannot believe how great that food was. For years people have raved about the food in Bali but it was not until I finally tried where I realized that they were right.

Golf Courses In Bali

As an avid golfer, it was also nice to be able to play golf the next day and golf in Bali was somewhat different because the golf courses were not as straightforward as my golf course in San Francisco. These courses were actually very difficult and I was enjoying the fact that they were challenging me to play better even though I was on vacation. After the golf round, I then found my way to learn more about the culture and habitat as I found my way to the local zoo and looked at all the amazing animals and species that they had. I have never seen most of the animals that I saw and I was amazed that there were so many things that I have never seen simply because I have never been able to really travel.

If you are serious about getting out of Australia and finally exploring the world, the first place you must really go to is Bali simply because of the fact that it is a place that not a lot of Australians go to and so you must really give it a shot. My trip to Bali was certainly something that I will never forget.

Travel Tools

Hitting the Road? 4 Inspiring Books for the Ultimate Traveler

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As noted in an earlier Oh Hey World article, there will be various times throughout your travels when you’ll have to beat the boredom of being in transit. While lately, iPhones and other such devices have come to fill that void, there is nothing more traveler-esque than taking a few good paperbacks with you on the go. Even if you haven’t yet left for your next destination, the following books will get you pumped for your next adventure.

1.      On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Kerouac classic book that followed the lives of young vagabonds that would later be known as the Beat Generation is a must-have on every traveler’s list. It captures a moment in a time when traveling across the United States, from the East Coast to the West Coast and back again, was a veritable way of life. You’ll meet the unforgettable Dean Moriarity, the zany adventurer whose antics are captured by Sal Paradise, the novel’s narrator, as you follow them on their free-spirited, sometimes neurotic quest for poetry, jazz, love, and freedom.

2.      A Cook’s Tour: Adventures in Extreme Cuisines by Anthony Bourdain

More than likely you are well-acquainted with the Travel Channel’s Anthony Bourdain, host of the eminently watchable No Reservations. Aside from being a charming television personality, Bourdain is also an incisive and poignant writer. In A Cook’s Tour, Bourdain retells his travels around the globe as he searches for the perfect meal in various exotic locations. Despite the unusual fare that Bourdain samples—from cobra heart in Vietnam to sheep testicles in Morocco—his love for food and overseas adventure  saturates each page, reminding all backpackers the joys of seeing and tasting new things.

3.      Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara

Just like On the Road, Guevara’s Motorcycle Diaries has become a travelogue classic. That it is written by one of the most widely recognized political figures of our time, long before he became famous, makes this journal a fascinating read, especially for history buffs. Guevara, then a twenty-three-year-old medical student, plans an epic trip throughout South America with his best friend on motorcycle. The two set off to discover the continent they know only from books, and along the way the discover much more than that, including atrocities from which we are sheltered living in modern, developed parts of the world. This book perfectly demonstrates the eye-opening potential of traveling.

4.      Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe by Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson, American journalist most widely known for his general science book, A Short History of Nearly Everything, gives readers this wonderfully charming book about his backpacking journey throughout Europe as he retraces his steps based on a similar trip he took as a young college dropout. Unlike many travelogues, Bryson engages with his candor, which may come off as distasteful for some. He is frank when he doesn’t like something, and he avoids most tourist hotspots to regale with strange encounters off the beaten path. It’s a definite must-read if you are heading off to Europe.

Exploring the Wild Blue Yonder