WHAT is an ADVENTURE ?
 

1... IS IT GOING TO YOUR LOCAL SUPERMARKET ?
2.... IS IT SPENDING 4 WEEKS IN SAY .MOROCCO ?
3... OR DO YOU HAVE TO GO AROUND THE WORLD ?

:oops2:

Well it's certainly an adventure going to my local Waitrose. It's the whole world in miniature the moment you arrive in the car park. Aggressive, thrusting, out-of-my-way, important-person-coming-through individuals scattering pedestrians like confetti as they try to park their BMW X5s in spaces designed for 60's Minis, elderly couples arguing in the aisles over whether to buy the Merlot or the Chardonnay, children throwing tantrums because their sibling's pony is better than theirs and "nouveau pauvre" widow(er)s trying to keep up "standards" but who would be better off shopping in Lidl. The only thing I haven't seen is people turning up in their nightwear - you have to go to Tesco's for that.

Tongue in cheek (and class warfare) aside, the whole concept of "adventure" in the way it's used at present doesn't sit that well with me. It comes at it from the wrong end. Adventure now seems to have become something that can be packaged and sold, something marketed at people who want a bit more than the usual "fly and flop" two weeks in the sun but don't want to put the effort in themselves to arrange it. I don't particularly want an "adventure" when I head off somewhere on a bike (or any other form of transport), I want to broaden my horizons. I'll decide for myself whether what I do / did qualifies as adventurous or not.

What I have noticed is a kind of "grade inflation" that's crept into travel (and diy travel in particular) over the decades. Your fellow "adventurers" are harder to impress than they used to be. That's partly because expanding commercial travel has made it easier to access remote areas of the planet - you can get "there" now overnight with a glass of champagne in your hand whereas it would have taken months and a few tropical diseases on the way not that long ago. Dr Livingstone anyone? The barriers to going rtw on a bike (for example) these days are not so much the "there be dragons" worries about the unknown that people faced in the past as issues with finance, red tape, family, giving up career / job etc. You could argue that a good part of the adventure happens before you even start the engine.

Anyone going to the Adventure Travel Show in London this weekend? :rofl:

I have to agree that adventure is something that happens. Considering that adventure really is just a feeling of a new experience, then when setting off with the sole aim of having an adventure ... well, it might not happen.

A visit to your local market can become an adventure, if you are just open to new experiences and not in tunnel vision.

Backofbeyond, you are right that the whole trip experience (which may be adventure) really starts from the moment you start preparing for the trip. It's like a race, for spectators it starts the moment the race starts but for the participants it started in their own garage.

Adventure:

noun
1.an exciting or very unusual experience.
2.participation in exciting undertakings or enterprises: the spirit of adventure.
3.a bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome.
4.a commercial or financial speculation of any kind; venture.

Thing is when we all go on an "adventure" we usually go and do it in someone's back yard, I often wonder how adventurous the locals feel we really are? I think an adventure is in your own mind not in any "place"

The where is no longer an issue. As the previous posters noted, you can just buy a ticket, do some paperwork and go. You can also find a local guys web cam or blog. There are no new poles, mountains or continents and won't be until they sort space travel. In Ted Simons day the bits between post offices were not documented, paper didn't have the bandwidth.

The when and how is now probably the thing. This can be just finding an empty road by getting up early. It unfortunately also spawns the "First person to juggle chainsaws on Everest" thing. If you want excitement I know a pub in Leeds. Wear a red shirt on a Saturday afternoon.

Adventure is whats new to you.

Andy

An adventure is the oposit of a planed trip with a fall back insurance. An adventure is something were you dont know what will happen. An adventure is something, were most of the people are affraid of.

If you go to a supermarked without money thats an adventure. You might never return because you start to think that you never been to new york before...

The less you plan and the less money you spend, the bigger will beyour adventure: http://afrikamotorrad.eu/?report=en_westkueste


http://afrikamotorrad.de/small/haus.gif

An adventure is doing something where you can't predict the outcome because it's totally new to you and there's not much information available. A degree of trepidation, butterflies about whether you are doing the right thing.

Going on an organised tour with a leader who knows the ropes and where all the hotels are booked in advance (!) is not an adventure. Doing a similar trip solo with a bivvy bag in case you have to sleep beside the bike would be an adventure.

^^Totally agree. I'd be more impressed if someone headed off solo to Dartmoor for the weekend than on an organised fly/ride trip.

You could argue Morocco is not an adventure for me because I've been so many times, but then I am always striving to get to unexplored places in the most remote areas. When I do it becomes an adventure.

Why does it matter.

I know the archives here are littered with "what's an adventure" discussions but, like oil threads, they're good for a laugh as long as enough time has passed to let everyone recover.

As you can probably guess I'm not a great fan of the term "adventure" but that doesn't change the nature of what a lot of people here enjoy doing, it simply begs the question what am I going to call it instead? Instead of going on an adventure what will I be doing when I load up the bike and head off into Canada in a few months time. I've heard it said (in these hallowed pages iirc) that you can't, by definition, have an adventure in North America or Europe as it's all too easy. The infrastructure minimises the risk element and that's what separates adventure biking from touring. Strangely enough though I don't see football crowd sized groups of people pointing their Touratech laden GSs south in the summer (although they'll quite happily head for Moto GPs / IOM TT etc). If it was that easy you'd think everyone would be doing it.

My local free newspaper (just shoved through the door a few minutes ago) has (coincidently) an article on "codger adventure" (an age group that I now, sadly, fit firmly into). The gist of it is that "we" are spending the kids inheritance on "adventure travel" instead of stuffing it under the bed for the kids to find when, post demise, they're clearing the house out. Instead of sticking to "conservative short breaks" the market for "adventurous long haul" trips is (the article says) rapidly growing. Not only that but participants are described as "intrepid", "exotic", "spontaneous" and "carefree". Yup, that's me exactly. I associate myself with all those positive attributes. Gonna wander the world on my bike, taking wimmin as I need them. No responsibilities, no stress, a life lived by my rules. (last couple of sentences mostly courtesy of a 70's Ogri cartoon about a wanabe RTW biker).

Moral of the story - 1st rule of marketing: don't believe your own (or anyone else's) publicity. Find your own adventure in your own way.

A motorcycle adventure is the result of a decision to ride somewhere where the outcome could easily become a bad decision, but it didn't.

adventure [ad-ven-cher]
noun
1. an exciting or very unusual experience.
2. participation in exciting undertakings or enterprises:
the spirit of adventure.
3. a bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome.
4. a commercial or financial speculation of any kind; venture.
5. Obsolete.
peril; danger; risk.
chance; fortune; luck.

verb (used with object), adventured, adventuring.
6. to risk or hazard.
7. to take the chance of; dare.
8.to venture to say or utter:
to adventure an opinion.

verb (used without object), adventured, adventuring.
9. to take the risk involved.
10. to venture; hazard.

badou24

I'll just keep it simple.
No matter what you're doing, if it feels like an adventure to you then it probably is. :clap:

Every day and everything we do no matter how hum drum we or others think it is, CAN be an adventure if we want it to be.

The fact is that all that we do has been done before, and doing it should be a personal "ADVENTURE" even if it means riding in a group ride just for one day if its not what is the norm, or going solo RTW its still just DOING it.

As already been stated an Adventure is what you make of it because its new to you.

And for organised trips, that only takes care of the business side of things one still has to attend and take part in what has been planned and anything can still happen.
The world is too small now for what some want to call Adventure but I suggest that those are really talking about Exploration not Adventure.

Go have fun and travel, open your eyes to the world you see before you and make your own mind up on the diversity and beauty not what the media wants you to believe, just to suit the Arms race or Corporation expansion into making us all in "Yes men"

Amen

Exactly. I love exploring, new places and more familiar ones too. Sometimes they turn into adventures but not always and usually I'd rather they didn't.

Some guys say that it's not an adventure unless you almost died or spent time in a foreign prison. No thanks.


...............shu

Is it only an adventure the first time you do it? Can you not have the same adventure more than once???