New web tool helps you “find the best” adventures

by Kraig Becker on

A new web tool from Find The Best, a website designed to help consumers quickly compare a wide variety of products and services, may help you decide on your next exotic destination. The site, which joins a growing number of adventure travel aggregators on the Internet, looks to make the process of finding tour operators fast and simple.

The Adventure Travel & Tours search tool lists more than 1000 tours worldwide and can be sorted by region, country, cost, and duration. The rather basic interface allows you to apply a variety of filters quickly and easily, so you can find the perfect adventure in no time at all. For instance, you can look for trips in Africa, then narrow the search further by selecting specific countries, trip lengths, and a price range. You can even search by desired activities, level of difficulty, and the months that the trip is available. That last option is especially nice for those who can only get away during certain times of the year.

Once you have your search results, you’ll be able to click on links to get further information about the trip, the company that provides it, and how it can be booked. There is even a place for travelers to post reviews of the various tours, although I didn’t come across any in my searches. This is most likely a result of Find The Best still being in Beta and not having a large community yet.

If you’re looking for new ideas for your next trip, you may want to give this tool a shot – or at the very least, bookmark it for future use. It’ll definitely come in handy when seeking out new destinations for upcoming adventures.

Las Pampas, Bolivia: 3 days on South America’s most dangerous tour

by Kyle Ellison on

I think it’s when we started hand feeding piranhas to wild black caimans that the reality of the situation really set in. Although this was part of a 4-day “guided tour”, I sat there and watched an overzealous Israeli man nearly get his right hand bitten off.

Slightly nervous, I jokingly asked a local guide from an adjacent tour if anyone has ever actually lost their hand. Without breaking his gaze from an even larger predator lurking in the muddy waters behind us, he claimed that last year there had only been 5. Not sure what to make of his blunt response, I couldn’t help but remind myself that this is Bolivia, and here, there are no such things as rules. Two days later, this same guide would temporarily remove some alligator eggs from the toothy mother just to get a rise out of her.

The 40-minute flight from the capital city of La Paz to the jungle outpost of Rurrenabaque should have been an indicator of what we were getting ourselves into. Even now I’m still not sure which element of the flight was more disconcerting: landing on a dirt runway that’s covered in livestock, cramming 8 people into an aircraft where you sit directly behind the pilot, or passing through the clouds in the Cordillera Real section of the Andes-the first time in my life I’ve actually been looking up at mountain peaks from the window of an airplane.

Oh, and I’m sharing the aircraft with my wife. Who’s afraid of flying. And if that’s not enough, this is our honeymoon.

%Gallery-133097%Set on the muddy banks of the Beni River, the town of Rurrenabaque is the jumping off point for Madidi National Park and the expansive Bolivian savannah known locally as Las Pampas. Although Madidi is reputedly home to the largest amount of biodiversity found anywhere on the planet, the rumble on the South American backpacker circuit is that you actually get to see more wildlife while out in the grasslands.

Motoring up a tributary of the Beni after a four hour jeep ride (which broke down), I was completely convinced we had made the right decision. Families of furry capybaras splashed in the shallow waters as clans of river alligators stood statue-still on the soggy riverbanks–their dangerously strong jaws affixed open for cooling as opposed to killing. It would still be a three hour motor upriver to the “eco-lodge”, and after the harrowing ordeal to make it this far I was more than content to sit back in the canoe and take in nature’s show happening all around me.
That was, until we had to get out and push.

“Dry season, no water” chimed our local guide, Jaime, from his perch at the motor. “You push. We move”.

Pushing a canoe off of a sandbar in piranha infested waters is a thrill you don’t plan on
repeating more than once. After the 18th sandbar, however, with the multiple pairs of googly eyes in the water starting to approach uncomfortably close, it was safe to say that the novelty had faded.

I initially thought Jaime was crazy for suggesting such an option. As it turns out, 14 hours later I would watch him pull a seven foot anaconda out of a tree.

The eco-lodge itself was a standard jungle compound of elevated wooden walkways and smoldering piles of leaves to help fend off the malarial mosquitos. In the cramped kitchen, a diminutive, black haired woman by the name of Isabella methodically prepared us our first night’s meal. For us it was our first meal at the lodge, though for Isabella, it was just another meal at her home.

After all, it was Isabella who warned us about the dive bombing nocturnal bats; she knew which trees to walk under and which ones were best to avoid.

“Gracias por la cena Isabella” offered the group as a whole. She smiled a weak response, knowing that she would have to tend to her 2, 3, or 4 children before rising early to prepare yet another breakfast of white bread and bad coffee.

While I wish I could claim that I slept like a child beneath my tapered white mosquito net, the dense tropical humidity replaced the blanket I had once planned to sleep under. Plus, it’s hard to drift off to sleep when there’s a howler monkey dancing on your tin roof, though such is life in the Bolivian pampas.

Luckily for us, a day involving fishing for piranhas and swimming with pink river dolphins is a good way to swap adrenaline for sleep. When fishing for piranhas, the main goal is to not be eaten by a piranha; when swimming with pink river dolphins, the main goal is to not be eaten by an alligator.

Using Macgyver’d fishing rods comprised of sticks, string, and rusty shards of metal, Jaime deftly navigated the dugout canoe to a bend in the river that offered just the slightest bit of shade. Removing a block of what appeared to be raw meat, his nimble hands proceeded to cut candy-sized chunks with his remaining 9 ½ fingers.

“¿Que occurió a tu dedo?” I inquired of his missing pinkie tip.

“Piranha“.

Tossing a chunk of bloody beef in to test the waters, it only took about two seconds for it to completely disappear.

Video of the Day – Mexican Holiday

by Stephen Greenwood on

Sometimes, choosing the right song to cut your travel videos to makes all the difference. Exhibit A – today’s Video of the Day, shot by Argentinian motion graphics designer Molokoso.

The footage was shot entirely on a pocket camera (Lumix TZ10) equipped with an underwater housing and edited to “Bombay” by Spanish musician El Guincho. The song lends it an irresistible upbeat tone which brings all of the fun & adventure that Mexico has to offer alive.

Did you capture any of your summer adventures on video? Edit them, pick a fun song, and share it with us – it could be our next Video of the Day!

Coping with a fear of flying: the secret rituals of aviophobics

by Laurel Miller on

My name is Laurel, and I have aviophobia. I, like millions of Americans, am scared shitless of flying. Aviophobia can manifest for a variety of reasons: a traumatic experience on a previous flight; claustrophobia; fear of heights; fear of loss of control (ding, ding, ding!), even a fear of motion sickness. After years of researching the subject, I’ve learned that I fit the classic profile of an aviophobic: female, with sudden onset in my early twenties.

In my situation, there was nothing to precipitate my phobia; I actually loved to fly as a kid. But over a period of 10 years, it progressed until I was not only having anxiety attacks on flights, but suffering frequent nightmares about crashes in the weeks before a trip, no matter how anticipated. The final straw came when, in December of 1999, I was about to embark on a five-week solo backpacking trip of Southeast Asia. It was days before my departure, and I was so terrified by the thought of 21 hours in the air, I was ready to bail on the entire thing.

Fortunately, I got a grip, called my doctor, and explained the situation. He immediately wrote me a prescription for Xanax and my life as a traveler has been the better for it ever since. Why it took me so long is a mystery, but Xanax quells (but not eliminates) my anxiety and enables me to fall into slumber that renders me drooling and pleasantly out of it during flight, but alert enough to awaken should it be necessary.

I know Xanax is a crutch, and that’s okay. I’m not advocating taking drugs to solve all of one’s problems, but in this instance, it’s what worked for me after other methods (including therapy) failed. I know people who no longer fly because of their phobia, and to me, that’s sad. The world becomes a smaller place–literally and figuratively–when you let fear control you.

I still don’t enjoy flying, although my phobia has lessened. There are even the rare flights where I don’t take Xanax. But there’s one thing I must always do before departure that’s far more important than popping a pharmaceutical. I must perform My Ritual.

[Photo credit: Flickr user runningclouds]

Every aviophobic I’ve talked to (for some reason, most of my friends suffer from it) has a secret mantra they utter, or small ceremony they perform before flight that, in their minds, assures them the Gods of Aviation or whoever will ensure safe passage.

Admittedly, most of my friends are depraved lushes who drink themselves senseless before they fly (another used to rely upon “bong hits,”) but that’s not what I’m referring to. And, for the record, I strongly recommend you not get hammered before departure, especially if you’re taking sleeping pills or other prescription drugs related to your flight. I also recommend you see your doctor and get a prescription, rather than take meds or sleep aids from friends or purchase them in a foreign pharmacy.

For those of you who grapple with a fear of flying, I know you have your little pre-flight ritual. Whenever I board an aircraft I have to touch the outside of the plane with my right hand, and utter a specific phrase to myself. I’m not going to say what it is, because I don’t want to doom my next flight.

I asked my fellow Gadling contributors, AOL Huffington Post Media Group editors, and flight-phobic friends what they do for solace before taking to the skies, and they were very forthcoming. Touching the outside of the plane while boarding was by far the most common response. What a bunch of freaks.

Rebecca Dolan: “I won’t fly without a St. Christopher medal.”

Laurel’s friend L: “Despite not being religious, the act of saying the words to the Hail Mary and Lord’s Prayer before take-off is just something I have to do. I also can’t step on any metal on the jetway. This means I have to take a big, stretched-out step while boarding the plane.”

Annemarie Dooling: “This is all the Catholic school that was beaten into me as a child: I pray the rosary. I recite the Hail Mary and Our Father on succession; this way if I die, I’ll go to heaven, right? Right?”

Melanie Renzulli: “When I lived in India, I got into this habit of praying to Ganesha when taking off. Now I do a quick little prayer to Buddha, Ganesha, Allah, and Jesus just to cover most of my bases. Cheesy, I know. I mentioned this to a flying enthusiast friend of mine and he said, “I pray to the gods of certification, engineering, manufacturing, and most importantly physics.”

Laurel’s friend J: “I have no rituals except vigilance. Every time I try to nod off, that’s when the Captain comes on to tell us we’ve blown a tire, or that little dip was one of the engines going out, or we’re about to encounter some strong turbulence and the attendants had better strap in….so no distractions for me, just watching and waiting.” [I should add that this particular friend–a strapping fellow–has endured two emergency landings, so I applaud him for flying at all].

Kyle Ellison: “My wife has to take Xanax, pee twice, and snap her hand with a rubber band to calm down. Why? Who knows. I always touch the side of the aircraft with my right palm when walking through the front door. Done it since I was five.”

Laurel’s friend A: Her ritual is taking the train.

[Photo credits: pills, Flickr user Keturah Stickann; rosary, Flickr user miqui]

Five uses for carabiners (besides climbing)

by Laurel Miller on


I’m a big multi-tasker. I’m also tiny, cheap, and a “lite” traveler. Even when I’m going on the road for a couple of months, I somehow manage to cram it all in my backpack. I use a daypack for carrying my essentials (passport, credit cards, cash, documents, sunblock, sunglasses, water, etc..), but it’s only so big. At 5’2″ I don’t like to haul around something the size of a parasitic twin.

This is why I love carabiners. These oval, pear-, or D-shaped metal clips–of the style used by rock and mountain climbers–are handy and versatile, and come in a variety of sizes, gauges, and prices. I never use professional carabiners, which are more weighty and costly than my intended uses (they also have screw, auto-, or triple-locks, rather than straight gates, which I find more handy for light use). I do, however, purchase heavier, stainless carabiners of the sort found at REI or other outdoor stores.

I seem to find a new use on every trip, and admittedly, I sometimes resemble either a pack mule or a bag lady after a day of exploring, shopping, or hiking. But who cares? It’s better than wrecking my back by using a bigger pack or traveling with shoulder bags that don’t don’t compress well (I do, however, keep a canvas tote rolled into the bottom of my big backpack so I can haul souvenirs home).

So what exactly can you do with ‘biners? Read on.

1. Carry your baseball hat or shoes on your backpack
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done this, both on my daypack and large pack. Sometimes I don’t have enough room to pack my running shoes, Chaco’s, or hiking boots, or maybe I need a spare pair of shoes for a day trip (apologies to former seatmates who have endured the stench of my sweaty shoes during flights). I also wear a baseball hat for sun protection if I’m doing any kind of outdoor recreational activity, but once I’m done with it, snap.

2. Clip on some shopping bags
I travel with a nylon shopping bag in a stuff sack (I recommend ChicoBags) so I can cut down on plastic if my daypack is full. But it’s a pain to carry multiple shopping bags, regardless of material–especially if, like me, you’re easily distracted and tend to leave them behind at every stop. Clip ’em on to your day bag and they’ll make it back to your accommodation. I also carry my travel coffee mug this way (obviously, you want to purchase one with a full handle, which can be tough to find for some reason).

[Photo credit: Flickr user chriscom]3. Air-dry your bathing suit
Knot the straps or, if you’re a guy, use that little waistband tie (many boardshorts also have key rings in their pockets). Um, don’t forget a change of clothes.

4. Key ring
I love travel-size tubes of sunblock that come with carabiners on them. Not only does it provide me with an accessible way to reapply when I’m paddling, hiking, riding, or skiing, but I get a free key ring out of it once I’ve refilled the tube to death. When I’m traveling, I snap my hotel keys (card keys are few and far between on the budget traveler trail) to a carabiner, and attach them to my body or within my daypack. Some people prefer to leave keys at the front desk, but the control freak in me likes to hang on to them.

5. Makeshift/emergency zipper
I discovered this one last week when I acquired a few too many ponchos and woolen hats in Chile. My tote bag was overflowing, so I snapped a large ‘biner onto the handles. It helped contain the alpaca within, and kept my souvenirs from scattering throughout the overhead bin on the plane. The same concept applies if you have a zipper break on a bag. It won’t solve things if it’s an item that requires checking, but at least it will help keep your belongings together until you find a replacement.

Got any cool travel uses for carabiners? We want to hear about them!