JAN-MAR 2015
18 / Talk Travel
TALK TRAVEL
Tanveer Badal The Laid-back Local
Scott Alexander Young The Renaissance Man
Kelly Phillips Badal The Critic
What does the word adventure mean to you?
What does the word adventure mean to you?
What does the word adventure mean to you?
Being from the Western world (I call New York City and Los Angeles my homes), it sometimes feels like there’s very little wild adventure left on the planet. That’s why I really like to seek out off-the-beaten-path destinations. In 2014, my wife and I decided to travel for the entire year. Among the highlights; we’ve trekked to Everest Base Camp in the Himalayas, summited Mount Kilimanjaro, explored Eastern Indonesian islands way beyond Bali, trekked through thick jungles to observe mountain gorillas, and fallen asleep to the roar of lions and leopards in East Africa. This trip has made me realise that there are still tons of adventures out there.
The way I see it, if there’s no danger then it’s not an adventure. But I’m mellowing with age; my wild days are receding behind me in the rear view mirror.
It’s a leap outside your comfort zone and a journey into the unknown, and it can apply to anything, from your first time eating sour mohinga soup in Myanmar to driving a safari jeep within a few metres of a lion pride.
What is the most adventurous destination you have explored? Western Madagascar feels like it’s a 100 years back in time. We explored national parks that only receive a few hundreds visitors per year, and had the summit of the highest mountain in the country (Pic Boby) all to ourselves. We also travelled to villages with little to no cell reception, where canoes rather than cars, are the main mode of transportation. Why do you think there has been such a significant growth in the adventure travel market? I think the evolving workplace has something to do with it. Now, many jobs don’t require you to be in an office five days a week, so people are taking advantage of 'mobile workplaces'. Tell us about your favourite adventure activity and why you love it. I enjoy trekking. Exploring a destination step by step makes you appreciate the scale and your place in the world.
What is the most adventurous destination you have explored? Well, I was the Editor of Time Out Beirut for a few months, and reported on gangland Serbia in the wake of the NATO bombings. Both war zones. Years before, after reading PJ O’Rourke’s war correspondence and stuff like Hunter Thompson’s Hell’s Angels, I wanted to see if I could match their chutzpah. And while any personal danger I experienced was comparatively low level, I think it’d still have scared the Lycra pants off the average hand-gliding, rock climbing, kayaker.
What is the most adventurous destination you have explored?
Why do you think there has been such a significant growth in the adventure travel market?
Why do you think there has been such a significant growth in the adventure travel market? People are looking for deeper, more challenging, even life-changing, experiences: a bucket list trek to the summit of Kilimanjaro, a face-to-face encounter with rare mountain gorillas, a heartpounding drive down a remote band of coastline. There’s nothing wrong with lying on the beach sipping a margarita, but a holiday like that just doesn’t give you a no-holds-barred feeling of being alive that adventure travel delivers in spades.
I suppose sometimes people want real reality, not virtual. Tell us about your favourite adventure activity and why you love it. Pairing a red wine with fish. It makes me feel radical. (Told you I was mellowing...)
On a whim, my husband and I headed out to Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression – one of the lowest, hottest, and harshest places on Earth. The landscape is so bizarrely unique that it seems extra-terrestrial. There are yellow and green sulphurous mineral formations, noxious hot springs, massive salt basins...it left a searing impression, and not just due to the 45-55 degree Centigrade heat.
Tell us about your favourite adventure activity and why you love it. I’ll never tire of going on safari. It’s an addictive theatre with an ever-changing cast of wild animals, a place where life and death can play out before your eyes, and a nerve-tingling stakeout where absolutely anything can, and will, happen.