Look up Beau Miles on YouTube for more in this vein of unconventional adventures.
Personally, I am a fan of exploring local waterways in the smallest, simplest boat you can find. The smaller the boat, the bigger the adventure. I recently built a folding 6 foot sailboat that I can sail with my young kid to a “distant shore” and pack up and carry home via public transport or Uber when we get there. Learning to build a boat- and traveling all around to find the right wood and materials was itself a great adventure.
Ultimately, being the first to do something only matters for recognition, something people are too obsessed with nowadays. It is just as fun to do something you’ve never done before as something never at all done before- either way it’s new to you! Don’t tell anyone about it, don’t make it a social media spectacle, just do it for yourself.
Exactly! Except I can't escape the irony of people saying that online- implying/bragging that they have done so- and that includes my comment above as well.
I do a small version of this in my own town. We're surrounded by public land, and I find stuff in the lidar data that looks interesting. And then I head out cross country through the forest to try to figure out what it is. Stumble across all kinds of weird stuff along the way. I love it even though I think most people would find it boring.
I live in volcanic country so with the lidar data I can find things like old spatter cones hidden in the forest and sometimes lava tube entrances.
But it's also been logging country, historically, and the lidar data shows me old roads and old rail beds that used to wind through the area. Also Old logging camps and towns to become apparent.
In 2015, a friend and I resolved to ride our bicycles across Japan. I had felt the yearn to go on an adventure that engaged my whole body and encouraged exploration in an environment completely new to me. I deeply desired some version of crossing Middle Earth, and a bike ride with a start and end point but no plan in between felt like just the thing.
In April of 2016 we set off from Kagoshima, and a few weeks later we ended our trip in Osaka. We made it roughly a third as far as we had wanted, but it’s a trip we’ll never forget, and one that we desperately want to continue someday. It scratched an itch I didn’t know how else I could scratch.
I lived in Bangkok for two years. The most conventional things I did while there were Ayyuthaya (the buddha head in the roots of the bodhi tree), Hua Hin (beach town), Kanchanaburi (Bridge on the River Kwai), and Koh Samet (an island). That said:
I went to Ayyuthaya on the local train, which was more interesting than the destination. Same for Hua Hin, where I stayed in a little low-key hotel and I walked to and out on a nearly-abandoned pier. Same for Kanchanaburi where I got off a stop early and had to pay a local to drive me to the final stop, and I stayed in a low-key floating hotel in a fan room. I took a bus (and a boat) to Koh Samet and walked from one end of the island road to the other, and got to watch people playing Takraw at the police station.
Another trend that's on the rise is danger tourism. Visiting places with active travel advisories or seen as dangerous. E.g. going to Israel or eastern Ukraine right now. Trips to Somalia, Yemen, North Korea etc.
Can you elaborate a bit on what you saw as US-centric? At least a couple of parts of the essay were from people in the UK, but maybe there’s a non-US/UK perspective?
Look up Beau Miles on YouTube for more in this vein of unconventional adventures.
Personally, I am a fan of exploring local waterways in the smallest, simplest boat you can find. The smaller the boat, the bigger the adventure. I recently built a folding 6 foot sailboat that I can sail with my young kid to a “distant shore” and pack up and carry home via public transport or Uber when we get there. Learning to build a boat- and traveling all around to find the right wood and materials was itself a great adventure.
Ultimately, being the first to do something only matters for recognition, something people are too obsessed with nowadays. It is just as fun to do something you’ve never done before as something never at all done before- either way it’s new to you! Don’t tell anyone about it, don’t make it a social media spectacle, just do it for yourself.
“Climb a mountain, tell no one.”
My philosophy is climb a mountain with friends and family and reminisce about it in person. Then climb some more!
Exactly! Except I can't escape the irony of people saying that online- implying/bragging that they have done so- and that includes my comment above as well.
I do a small version of this in my own town. We're surrounded by public land, and I find stuff in the lidar data that looks interesting. And then I head out cross country through the forest to try to figure out what it is. Stumble across all kinds of weird stuff along the way. I love it even though I think most people would find it boring.
What is 'the lidar data?' What kind of weird stuff are you finding?
You'd better respond to this, you can't leave us hanging with what sounds like an awesome adventure idea, but without enough info to try it ourselves!
I live in volcanic country so with the lidar data I can find things like old spatter cones hidden in the forest and sometimes lava tube entrances.
But it's also been logging country, historically, and the lidar data shows me old roads and old rail beds that used to wind through the area. Also Old logging camps and towns to become apparent.
https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-lidar-data-and-where-can-i-do...
This speaks to me!
In 2015, a friend and I resolved to ride our bicycles across Japan. I had felt the yearn to go on an adventure that engaged my whole body and encouraged exploration in an environment completely new to me. I deeply desired some version of crossing Middle Earth, and a bike ride with a start and end point but no plan in between felt like just the thing.
In April of 2016 we set off from Kagoshima, and a few weeks later we ended our trip in Osaka. We made it roughly a third as far as we had wanted, but it’s a trip we’ll never forget, and one that we desperately want to continue someday. It scratched an itch I didn’t know how else I could scratch.
I lived in Bangkok for two years. The most conventional things I did while there were Ayyuthaya (the buddha head in the roots of the bodhi tree), Hua Hin (beach town), Kanchanaburi (Bridge on the River Kwai), and Koh Samet (an island). That said:
I went to Ayyuthaya on the local train, which was more interesting than the destination. Same for Hua Hin, where I stayed in a little low-key hotel and I walked to and out on a nearly-abandoned pier. Same for Kanchanaburi where I got off a stop early and had to pay a local to drive me to the final stop, and I stayed in a low-key floating hotel in a fan room. I took a bus (and a boat) to Koh Samet and walked from one end of the island road to the other, and got to watch people playing Takraw at the police station.
Wandering is a great way to see a place.
Another trend that's on the rise is danger tourism. Visiting places with active travel advisories or seen as dangerous. E.g. going to Israel or eastern Ukraine right now. Trips to Somalia, Yemen, North Korea etc.
rather US-centric train of thought from the author, but I guess that’s to be expected when the website’s name is quarter mile
Can you elaborate a bit on what you saw as US-centric? At least a couple of parts of the essay were from people in the UK, but maybe there’s a non-US/UK perspective?
I don't understand this...
Do you just get offended by anything American?