On the last Saturday of January, I visited the Adventure Travel Live 2010 exhibition in London. Adventure travel is not my type of travel, in fact the thought of soaking myself while white water rafting, exhausting myself while hiking or lying down with insects while camping in the wilderness fills me with dread. By now you are probably wondering why I bothered to go to the Adventure Travel Live Exhibition?
Adventure travel appeals to women
Adventure recreation is a specific form of leisure that tends to be physically and intellectually challenging and predominantly accessed in natural environments.
Traditionally it has been perceived to be a male dominated arena, however today women now account for over 60% of all adventure travellers are women. More and more women now want to hike, canoe rivers, fish, view wildlife, scuba dive, bicycle, sail, mountain climb, ride horses and learn about other communities worldwide.
According to Lisa Johnson (lisa@reachwomen.com) CEO of ReachWomen ...
"The adventure-seeking woman is surprisingly hard to define with traditional demographics. She may be a single woman—of any age—who has extra time and disposable income. Or, she could be an empty-nest Boomer or a woman with kids in high school and beyond. New moms also often have a thirst for adventure, but they may need to scale it down to accommodate their extra-busy lives and additional demands."
I was attending the show to see if my view of Adventure travel was now an outdated one, and to find out what was causing so many other women to become more adventurous.
Like many other travel show, there were many familiar names, companies such as STA Travel, Journey Latin America, Bradt Travel Guides, Dragoman Overseas Travel, Nomad travel store, and Wanderlust magazine. I decided to give these companies a miss as I can find out what they are offering online. Instead I was looking for companies that appeared more intriguing.
My show guide told me that throughout the day, talks would be held in the six theatres. Talks by intrepid travellers such as Simon Calder who chaired a panel on adventurous journeys: Trains; plans and automobiles. Panelists included Mark Smith otherwise known as The man in seat 61. Unfortunately, I missed this and one I had hoped to attend, 'Run around the world' by Rosie Swale-Pope, and 'living the dream - rowing and capsizing in the Atlantic' by Rachel Smith.
My show favourites:
1. My first stop was at the stand of Beyond the blue: safe gap year travel where I had a long chat with managing director, Peter Mayhew.
Peter told me that safe gap year travel is not your run of the mill
travel safety tips company. His company runs two day workshops, £185 inc. VAT per
candidate, to deal with
the realistic problems independent travellers might encounter, problems
which could cut short and ruin a trip.
The first workshop deals with personal safety, something I said would be of interest to Diverse Travellers, particularly the section on low-impact physical break-away and disengagement techniques, which he stated are effective without force or strength. Day two is about planning for safe travel. Where attendees examine the practicalities of travel as well as general travel safety issues. Website: www.safegapyear.com
2. I was delighted to stop at inventor, Isla McLean's stand, Isla has invented the travel accessory for the traveller
who has everything - uloop.
Isla, currently a charity worker with Marie Currie Cancer Care,
has travelled the world with backpacks and suitcases, with safekeeping of her luggage a high
priority. Worrying about her luggage led her to invent the uloop.
Uloop is an anti-theft device designed to be attached to a traveller or a fixed object. So, if someone tries to steal your luggage that is attached to the uloop an alarm will be triggered.
Explaining why she invented uloop, Isla said, "We have all experienced that dreaded moment when we are travelling and want to catch some sleep, but are too afraid to even blink through fear of our luggage being stolen by opportunistic thieves. So we end up coming up with innovative ways to protect our belongings, usually sleeping on our suitcases which is not always practical, or comfortable."
Isla has agreed to do an interview about her travels and uloop for Diverse Traveller's regular feature 'Woman's World.' Until then, find out more about uloop, £19.99, at www.uloop.it
3. Kootch Adventures. I enjoyed
my chat with Ali Hendessi of Kootch Adventure Travel. On stopping at
his stand, I asked, "Why Iran?". To which he replied with a smile, "Why
not?" he went on to share his insights from numerous trips, over the last ten years, to Iran. To read Ali's response to my question visit the Kootch Adventure Travel website.
4. Last year a new word entered the travel
dictionary, "Glamping" i.e glamorous camping. With one in five
of us staying in the UK last year, there has been a rise in the
number of people choosing camping holidays. But these days we are turning
away from traditional caravans, and choosing trendier alternatives such as my next stop Spaceships.
Spaceships are a cross between a car and a campervan. From £20 per day, these vehicles offer the independent traveller the flexibility of a car with the accommodation and mini facilities of a campervan. Already popular in Australia and New Zealand the Spaceship landed in the UK in July 2009. To find out more visit the spaceship website www.spaceshipsrentals.co.uk
5. According to Britt Das and her business partner James, via their tour company Untamed Borders claim "it's time to visit Afghanistan". And Britt should know, she travelled to Afghanistan in 2008, while on a walking trip from Amsterdam to Nepal.
I was intrigued about both Britt's walk
and why she thinks this is the time to visit Afghanistan. Britt said in spite of the on-going turmoil in the country she found the people welcoming and peaceful. She wants travellers to visit Afghanistan in order to change the perception of the country and help grow local businesses.
Brett has agreed to be interviewed for Diverse Traveller's regular feature 'woman's world' , where she will share more about her epic journey on foot and her experience of travelling in Afghanistan. Visit www.untamedborders.com to learn more about tours to and through Afghanistan.
Other stands of interest:
1. Tick Alert - Tick Borne Encephalitis affects 10,000
people every year and they are not in some far off tropical land they
are in mainland Europe. Just writing about this is making me itch.
These ticks are found in the countryside, hills, mountains and other rural areas. And don't think if you are visiting a city you won't be affected as they can be found in cities like Prague. To learn more and find out if you could be at risk visit www.tickalert.org
2. Oz-Bus: After the success of their bus trip
from London to sydney the Oz Bus have added a new itinerary London to
New York. Yes London to New York by bus, well mainly bus, the itinerary also includes travel by train and ferry. Covering 16
countries, 3 continents and 12 U.S. states, the trip takes 95 days
and costs £5999.
I asked Steve, from the company, who takes these trips. He told me travellers were very diverse from young people on a gap year to retired couples. And in line with the research the gender split was 60:40 women. he said women tended to travel this way as they felt secure. To find out more visit www.oz-bus.com or call them on 01480 810080.
Overall impressionDue to my poor time keeping and long chats I missed most of the talks. But I had no regrets as the time spent learning about the different types of adventure travel on offer showed me that I had a very outdated view of adventure travel. No longer do I have to embark on strenuous activity making myself uncomfortable in order to call myself an "adventure traveller"; instead I can indulge myself by taking leisurely tours, camp in a modern vehicle, or sit back and enjoy the view from a bus. I hope to experience at least one adventure holiday this year, but if not, I'll visit the show next year to see the new adventures on offer.
