What IS Adventure Travel, Exactly? (The Answer is Cooler Than You'd Think)
ADVENTURE TRAVEL!
Even the words sound exciting, but what exactly is it? While there’s a wide range of options to choose from the central element of adventure travel is a focus on an outdoor adventure experience that is the highlight of the trip. This may mean a multiday backpacking trip, an overnight kayak trip, or even a series of day hikes.
Whatever your experience or ability level there’s an adventure out there for you and I know from experience that the memories from adventure travel always last longer than those from a more traditional vacation.
You may be thinking: “That sounds great but I still want to see some traditional tourist sites!”
“Adventure Travel” doesn’t mean that you must avoid the more traditional highlights of a destination and spend all your time in the wilderness. On our trips for example, we always reserve time to show you around cities, villages, and ‘must see’ attractions. For example, on our Iceland Backpacking Adventure, we not only lead you on one of world’s best treks we also include a private tour of the Golden Circle, enjoy a puffin watching cruise, visit the Blue Lagoon, and share some of the secret spots we’ve found in Reykjavik over the years.
Your next question might be: “Do I have to sleep in a tent?”
While some adventures will require sleeping in a tent, others can be done from a hut or cabin, or even the luxury of a hotel room. Again, the focus is on an outdoor adventure and that means different things to different people. My general philosophy is to find the most comfortable accommodations that will allow us to reach our goal/destination. At International Adventure Guides (IAG) all of our trips include hotel stays before and after the adventure portion.
Next, the big question: How adventurous is Adventure Travel?
Here too there are a range of options form Soft to Extreme, and everything in between. Extreme would be an expedition to the climb Everest or K2, while soft would be a hotel-based trip that features day hikes, kayaking, or mountain biking.
In between you’ll find multiday backpacking trips and hut to hut treks. While extreme level trips are generally expensive and only suitable for a small segment of the population, soft adventures are perfect for any age and are generally family friendly.
A moderate backpacking adventure might be perfect for someone that has become an experienced day hiker and wants to jump to the next level and tackle a bucket list trek.
“Why go with a guide?”
It may be that you’re looking to experience a new type of adventure, a more complicated adventure, or simply that you’re busy and your time off is valuable so you’d rather leave the planning and logistics up to someone else. At IAG we take care of all the accommodations, often reserving hard to find huts and hotels over a year in advance.
We provide all the gear you need so you don’t have to spend thousands on gear you might only use once. To make it easy and enjoyable we even cook gourmet backcountry meals for you. Going with a guide is a great way to ensure that you have a safe, enjoyable, and rewarding adventure without the stress of doing the planning and organizing on your own.
Finally, since we travel in a small group, it’s almost always cheaper to go with us than to do it on your own so you’ll have more money to spend on souvenirs for family and friends.
“What sets IAG apart?”
At International Adventure Guides we focus on everything from soft adventures up to non-technical mountaineering expeditions. What sets us apart from other guide services and tour operators is that we concentrate on small groups, unique destinations, unique itineraries, and intimate local cultural experiences.
Finally, we lead the trips ourselves. You won’t sign up with one group of people only to find out the trip is led by someone you’ve never spoken with once you arrive at your destination.
We don’t hire college students on summer break to lead our trips and we have years of experience in the regions we operate in. Our staff of military veterans has decades of experience in the outdoors and we know how to plan for success.
For a soft adventure check out our Northern Lights Iceland Adventure. An example of a soft-moderate adventure would be our Norway Trekking Adventure.
Our most challenging option is our Greenland Trekking Adventure but even this trip is well within the capability of most folks from 15-60.
We’ve got an adventure for everyone so please check out our upcoming trips and give us a call at 833-MT-GUIDE if you’d like our assistance in finding the right trip for you!
We also offer private trips for groups as small as 4 people and can accommodate large corporate outings as well.