Alastair Humphreys - Grand Adventures

Through my blog, I decided to ask what it was that stood between people and the adventures they dreamed of. From around 2,000 responses, here are the most common issues:

— Time

— Money

— Family / partners / commitments

— Fear

— Society pressure

— No companion to go with

— Getting time off work

— Getting work afterwards

And these were mentioned, too:

— Solo female travel / safety

— Lazy / procrastination

— School holiday system

— Lack of knowledge

— Ideas

— The unknown

— Kit / logistics

— Lonely

— Fitness / health

I found it fascinating that not one person mentioned the worry of falling down a crevasse or getting eaten by a tiger. The greatest obstacles to people’s adventures all lie before the journey even begins . In other words, getting to the start line is the hardest part!

Wrestling snakes, paddling rapids, tying a bowline with your teeth, pitching a tent in a typhoon: all this stuff is so much easier than getting off the sofa, committing to action and beginning.

© Alastair Humphreys

A similar example sometimes happens out on an expedition: leaving the tent when a blizzard is howling outside and your sleeping bag is snug can feel nigh on impossible. But when you do get out (it’s usually a weak bladder rather than a strong will that eventually forces you into action), the world is never as grim as you’d imagined it to be from the safe cocoon of your sleeping bag. The raging blizzard you’d pictured is often just a bit of windy snow. Feeling sheepish, you pack away the tent and get on with the journey.

What’s more, the practical preparations for launching a journey are also far easier than mustering the cojones to commit in the first place, to do something difficult and daunting and daring with your life.

There is a lovely Norwegian phrase that translates into ‘the Doorstep Mile’. It refers to how hard it is to begin something, how hard it is to get out your front door and commit to action. This book helps tackle the Doorstep Mile.

‘Do you dream of having a massive adventure but can’t see how you will ever get the chance to do it? If so, this book is for you!’

The first half of the book tackles the barriers that make it hard to begin. The second half helps you choose which adventure is right for you.

Do you dream of having a massive adventure but can’t see how you will ever get the chance to do it? Do you long to explore but don’t know how to begin? Do you look enviously at other people’s trips but think it’s not what ‘people like you’ do? If so, this book is for you!

My aim is to help you commit to begin planning your dream adventure, to get you in motion. That’s all. After that, the rest is easy – and up to you.

© Leon McCarron

© Alastair Humphreys

This book helps you shine a spotlight on what is getting in the way of the most amazing, life-changing, career-enhancing, personality-forging, memory-making adventure of your life. If you really, truly want to experience a big adventure, you can do it. You can do it. You can. Grand Adventures looks at the obstacles stopping you and shows that there are ways round them, if you choose to do it. Will you?

I spent an absorbing year interviewing many adventurers for this book, seeking hard-won wisdom from people who have been there and done the kind of trips we all dream of. I’m only sorry there was not space to include them all. (The in-depth interviews are all available to read on www.alastairhumphreys.com/GrandAdventures .) They’ve done it all: Everest, the North and South Poles, the Amazon and Sahara, all seven continents, the oceans – even going up to Space! All of them once took that huge step of committing to their very first adventure. I hope that you will take inspiration from them because they were once just like you: itching to hit the road but nervous about how to make it happen.

There are stories and photographs from men and women who have travelled by boat and boot, car and kayak, bike and motorbike, home-made raft and hi-tech spaceship. People who had one great trip then returned to normal life. Those bitten so badly by the bug that they devoted their life to the pursuit of adventure. There’s youngsters and old folks; men and women; mates, couples and families; fit, fat or disabled. Extraordinary, inspiring people. People like you.

The only thing that stands between you dreaming of adventure and you being an adventurer is committing to it. Together, we’ll show you that, whether it’s cycling to the Sahara, walking across Australia or rafting the Amazon, the longest journeys really do all begin with a single step. They are, in fact, nothing more than lots of tiny, easy steps. Tiny, yes; easy, yes, but you’ve still gotta take ’em.

© Alastair Humphreys CONTENTS COVER TITLE PAGE COPYRIGHT DEDICATION For my parents, Who taught me to save up, work hard and make stuff happen. INTRODUCTION Part 1 PLAN MONEY TIME COMMITMENTS AND RELATIONSHIPS HATCH A PLAN KIT LIST Part 2 CHOOSE BICYCLE FOOT ANIMAL WATER MOTOR TRAVEL CLIMB EVERYDAY GRANDER BIOGRAPHIES INDEX ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABOUT THE PUBLISHER Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес. Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

© Alastair Humphreys CONTENTS COVER TITLE PAGE COPYRIGHT DEDICATION For my parents, Who taught me to save up, work hard and make stuff happen. INTRODUCTION Part 1 PLAN MONEY TIME COMMITMENTS AND RELATIONSHIPS HATCH A PLAN KIT LIST Part 2 CHOOSE BICYCLE FOOT ANIMAL WATER MOTOR TRAVEL CLIMB EVERYDAY GRANDER BIOGRAPHIES INDEX ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABOUT THE PUBLISHER Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес. Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

Most people cite money as one of their big worries in life. It’s certainly seen as the largest obstacle to adventure. When people say to me ‘I’d love to do a big adventure, but…’ it is usually money that appears to be stopping them.