What’s the point of an adventure holiday

Adventure travel is much more than just drinking the tap water in Asia or trying to cross the road in Italy! Real adventure travel is about stepping out of your comfort zone and getting your heart pumping with a range of pulsating activities like mountain climbing, bungee jumping, white water rafting and even sky diving. If you think that travelling is more than just an in-flight movie followed by a cocktail in the hotel bar, then you may be an adventure traveller without even knowing it!

Adventure travellers were the first to colonise the Himalayas in the late 70s and early 80s and are now doing the same thing all over the world. From camel treks in Algeria to overland tours of Afghanistan, adventure travel made its name by daring to go to the places no-one else had even considered. Adventure travellers can still be found jumping, climbing, diving and flying in all the most exciting places. Here are a few reasons to throw away your bikini and sandals, slip into something a little less comfortable and becoming an adventurer.

Building confidence

Once you’ve spent two weeks helping cowboys drive cattle in the Wild West, interviews and first dates will be a breeze; as long as you remember to take off the hat. Getting a bit more belief in yourself is hugely beneficial in everyday life but when you’re on an adventure holiday it’s crucial. Trusting your own decisions in a potentially dangerous situation helps reinforce the faith you have in your own ability.

Getting the grey cells working and developing the mental strength to overcome challenges is the basis of team-building weekends up and down the country, but it’s a fair argument that doing it on a zip wire above the Amazon is much more fun than under a scramble net on a muddy assault course.

Beat the rush

As the world gets smaller and ever more familiar, adventure travellers are pushing back the boundaries of conventional travel and seeking out new and exciting ways to get a thrilling holiday. When a country welcomes in travellers it’s the adventurers that are first in the queue. Recently, they’ve been the first to plant the flag in newly-opened Bhutan and Cambodia. Before mass tourism dampens down the fun in order to appeal to more people, explore these places the right way; upside down in a harness.

Trying something new

In the age of the jet engine, the energy it used to take just getting to places has been channelled into finding more and more original ways to explore them once you get there. These days it’s possible to follow in the snow prints of the world's most famous climbers, set sail on the high seas with our own hand on the tiller and ski the world’s steepest slopes. The range of travel destinations may not be as vast, but they are getting more exciting! On what other sort of holiday could you help gauchos herd cattle in South America or steer your own team of huskies across Alaska