Articles tagged “adventure travel”

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Visiting Every Country On Earth

by Kraig Becker on

Most travelers have a “life list”. That is to say, a list of travel destinations that are amongst their “must see”, such as the Great Pyramids or Machu Picchu. Others set goals to visit certain countries, selecting ones that appeal to them on some level.

That’s exactly what Chris Guillebeau did when he was 22 and working in Africa for an international charity group. At the time, Guillebeau says, that he was traveling a lot within Africa itself, and making frequent trips back to Europe as well. He was visiting a lot of unique and interesting places, and remained fascinated with the cultures that he saw.

Then, in 2006, at the age of 28, he set a goal for himself to visit 100 countries before he turned 30, somehting he accomplished last year. But in this interview for the New York Times, he admits that about halfway through his quest to reach triple digits, he began to realize that he was setting his sights too low, and has now set a new goal for himself – to visit every country on the planet before he turns 35.
Guillebeau admits that things are starting to get tougher, as he is running out of countries that offer easy access. He mentions that he’ll have to start focusing on making arrangements to get to Chad, the South Pacific, or Central Asia soon, but he makes no mention of visiting such places as North Korea or Somalia, which aren’t exactly welcoming to foreigners.

Of course, with all of this travel, Guillebeau knows all the tricks to make things as easy as possible. He generally has upgrades to first class on domestic flights, many of which he trades away to other passengers, and he recently talked his way onto a flight to Karachi, without the proper paperwork or visas to enter the country. He also knows how to play the system to get as many frequent flier miles as possible, something he shared with us a few months back.

I have to hand it to Chris. When he creates a life list, he doesn’t think small. My question is, what do you do when you hit age 35 and you’ve already visited everywhere? He better hope Virgin Galactic expands its routes, and quickly.

In the Corner of the World – Cold and glowing vs. hot and bubbly

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Over the next few weeks here at Gadling, we’ll be bringing you updates from our recent travels across New Zealand – in the process, we hope to offer a range of perspectives about what visiting this truly unique and fascinating country is all about. You can read previous entries HERE.

You’re standing on the edge of a ledge. Covered head-to-toe in a neoprene wetsuit, purple short-shorts and giant white rubber galoshes, and holding a large inner tube. You’re contemplating a jump into the frigid waters that slosh noisily just below. It’s pitch black, but your headlamp punches temporary holes in the emptiness, providing glimpses of other victims shouting and flailing wildly beneath you. A man taps you on the arm and pushes you forward – you hesitate, but there’s nothing to do but turn around and jump, plummeting ass-first towards the numbingly cold water beneath you, awaiting the inevitability of a painful impact.

This certainly wasn’t how I had pictured my day unfolding when it began. We were headed 2 hours south from Auckland, driving towards Waitomo, a village that is home to one of the largest complexes of underground caves in New Zealand. Caving is highly popular attraction in New Zealand, and the underground spaces like those found at Waitomo boast almost 400,000 visitors each year.

We had also heard about a peculiar Waitomo Cave phenomenon known as “Glowworms” – a unique species of bioluminescent insect that emits an eerie light in order to attract its prey. Glowing insects and cave exploring? Our interest was piqued – we wanted to see these strange creatures up and close and personal for ourselves. But how exactly does one go from a casual curiosity in glowing cave bugs to standing shivering, wearing a wetsuit in a pitch black cave? And how did we plan to warm ourselves up afterwards? Keep clicking below to see what happened.
Visitors to Waitomo caves have a huge range of options for viewing these amazing natural wonders and the strange wildlife like glow worms that live within them. Trips to Waitomo Caves range from more casual walking tours along guided underground paths to full-on spelunking and cave rafting expeditions.

Though a leisurely cave walk sounded fun, this was New Zealand after all – frequently cited as the home of “extreme sports.” We wanted a more “hands-on” experience so we opted for an underwater tubing trip which would take us on water voyage through the inner workings of the one of the caves. After suiting up in what is perhaps the stupidest outfit I’ve ever worn in my entire life (pictured left), we were ready to enter the caves.

As we entered the first narrow tunnel, icy cold water up to our waists, I began to wonder what I had gotten my claustrophobic self into – but the scenery quickly changed. After jumping through a few small waterfall pools, the ceiling soon opened upwards, revealing a massive underground cavern big enough to hold a cathedral and a meandering underground stream. Above us lay a miniature Milky Way of twinkling lights – a constellation of glowworm insects silently advertising for victims. We hopped aboard our inner tubes and floated lazily down the cave’s river as we gazed up at the artificial light show performance above us. Still under the hypnotic visual spell of such a strange sight, we soon emerged back into the midday light, none the worse for the wear but soaking wet and exhilarated by our recent adventure.

After all the freezing water from the morning’s caving activities, it was time to warm up and relax. We headed 150 kilometers east towards Rotorua, a city that lies on the edge of one of New Zealand’s more active geothermal hotspots. In addition to geysers and mud pools, Rotorua is also an outdoor activities destination offering the chance to mountain bike, raft, fish and swim. But a morning of cave-exploring had just about done us in at this point – we were ready to just hang out. We stopped by the Polynesian Spa to take a soak in their naturally heated thermal waters, renting a private pool with a view of Lake Rotorua for 30 minutes.

As we immersed ourselves in the warm embrace of the nearly 100 degree water, the starry night sky above us punctuated by the Southern Cross, we had a chance to think back. Our day had taken us across two huge extremes in temperature. From a morning sloshing through knee-deep freezing water, looking up at ghostly glowworms to a heated hot-spring pool and starlit New Zealand sky. Going from cold to hot – it was just the kind of extreme transition we’d come to find down in New Zealand, the corner of the world.

Visit Yellowstone Offseason

by Kraig Becker on

Yellowstone National Park is one of the most popular destinations in the U.S., welcoming nearly 3 million visitors per year. Most of those come during the summer months, when the weather is consistently beautiful, and the travel season is in full swing. But this article suggests that we should go now, to beat the crowds, and enjoy springtime in the Northern Rockies, where no matter what time of the year it is, Old Faithful erupts, whether anyone is watching or not.

The Park covers more than 2.2 million acres, spreading out across Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. It was first established back in 1872, and is home to hundreds of species of birds and animals, including sixty distinct species of mammals, such as elk, moose, bison, wolves, and bear. Yellowstone also contains diverse terrain, with rivers, lakes, canyons, and mountains dominating the landcsape.

Of course, all of these natural wonders are also what attracts the large summer crowds, which makes visiting the park in the offseason such a popular idea for outdoor enthusiasts. For instance, even though it is spring, and temperatures are on the rise, there is still plenty of snow in the high country, allowing for some late season skiing or snow shoeing. At lower altitudes, the trails are now open, granting access to much of the park, and since the crowds haven’t arrived yet, there is plenty of solitude as well.

The article offers some excellent links to websites that cover Yellowstone from top to bottom and have plenty of great tips on how to maximize your visit, including the best places to stay, both inside and out of the park. Beat the rush in Yellowstone. Go before Memorial Day weekend, to have the park mostly to yourself.

Gadling Gear Review: Keen Redmond hiking shoes

by Grant Martin on

I won’t deny that I’m a city boy when it comes to travel. Though my voyages have taken me far and wide on this great earth I usually don’t get too far outside of the city limits, and even then, it’s on a high speed train bound for the next city.

Things on my most recent vacation, however, I knew would be different. New Zealand just isn’t the sort of place where you land on the tarmac, take the subway to a few wine bars and sleep until noon. The vast, varying landscapes require – nay, plea to be tread upon, with sprawling lakes, huge mountains and cavernous canyons. For a trip like this, I would need something with traction. I would need a pair of hiking shoes.

Recommended by a colleague at Gadling, I was able to track down a pair of Keen Redmonds before I left the United States, a simple, low cut pair of shoes with all of the features found in a normal pair of hiking boots and only a fraction of the weight. Despite never having tried a pair of Keens on in my life, I faithfully ordered my size, crossed my fingers and waited until two days prior to departure before they showed up. And to my delight, they worked out fantastically.Now, before I get into the deep details of how the Redmonds worked out on the trail I’ll give you some insight into my needs as a city boy in the woods. They’re pretty basic: my shoes need to be comfortable, stay dry, grip the trail and not smell. Whether the shoes are made out of Gortex PCB297 bulletproof material, polymethyl-methacrylate or cotton candy doesn’t matter to me, as long as my needs are kept.

And how the Redmonds hold these virtues. The first thing I noticed when I put on my new shoes (two days before I left) was how comfortable they were. With a wider footprint, my feet had plenty of room to breathe while still snugly tied into the backbone of the shoe. While I figured a small nick or corner would eventually start to bother me while trekking across an entire country, these faults never arose.

Indeed, throughout the entire trip my Redmond’s performed well, staying dry after dunking them in the water in Tongariro National Park, smelling fine after tromping through the natural springs in Rotorua and keeping traction when heeling on a SailNZ yacht.

Now, long past my return from Oceania I understand why Keen has a cult following among outdoor enthusiasts. It fits well, it’s always comfortable and it performs damn well on the road. What more could you ask for?

New Zealand – Welcome to the corner of the world

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Starting this week, Gadling will be bringing you updates from our recent travels across New Zealand, the “corner of the world.” Make sure to check out all the entries in our ongoing series HERE.

Upon stepping off the plane in New Zealand, I found myself staring intently at a large map of the world in the airport lobby. Everything looked about normal: there was Central America, snaking its way north and south to meet the two other Americas; India, pointy as ever, stuck its nose gently out into the surrounding ocean; meanwhile, Antarctica unraveled its bulk along the edge of the imaginary map border like giant piece of thawing fish.

As I continued to stare at the map, my eyes locked upon my current location, New Zealand – what exactly was it doing way out there? On most maps, New Zealand is waaaay down in the bottom right, just about the spot on ancient explorer maps inhabited by mermaids and sea monsters. It looked so isolated…tucked away in the corner like a misbehaving child at the International School of Countries, sitting on timeout for hurling a spitball at Great Britain.

As I came to discover New Zealand in more detail over the coming days, I found myself returning to this idea of “the corner” of the map frequently. Sure, there’s plenty of places worldwide like Hawaii or Ireland that, by virtue of their geography, have a culture and landscape like nowhere else on earth – New Zealand has that too. But there’s something about that strange sense of being forgotten – hidden down in the corner of the world map, that gives New Zealand its peculiar charm, feisty attitude and particular appeal.

Whether it’s your halting attempts to describe the country’s jaw-dropping scenery, the conflicted history of its indigenous Maori culture or the laid-back, friendly and pragmatic attitudes of its citizens, New Zealand seems to be a place that has something to prove. This urge to please is certainly evident among those tried-and-true traits that made New Zealand famous: its status as “an extreme sports” paradise, a virtual eden of fresh food and great wine and its unique wildlife. It makes it easy to enjoy the wealth of riches the country has to offer. But it also comes through just as strongly when you look at some of the unexpected aspects of this exceptional place, and come to realize like any other eden it’s not without its flaws.

Over the next few weeks here at Gadling, we’ll be bringing you updates from our recent travels across New Zealand – in the process, we hope to offer a range of perspectives about what visiting this truly unique and fascinating country is all about. Welcome to the corner of the world.