Adventures in Good Company

Helpful tips for the adventure traveler:
TIP 1: Understand what adventure travel really is
Adventure travel is an active, unique exploration of an exotic or remote destination with a small group of like-minded people, guided by full-time professional leaders. The typical object of your exploration is a beautiful landscape, unusual wildlife, or an intriguing foreign culture-often all three. You'll probably travel by foot, safari jeep or van, or even canoe or kayak and over rough roads or trails in all kinds of weather. Exceptional physical fitness usually isn't necessary; you can enjoy some adventure trips at a fitness level only a notch or two above that of a couch potato. But you'll almost certainly get sweaty, dusty, and tired at times, and you won't be eating much beef bourguignon but still expect excellent food.
TIP 2: Don't panic at the idea of camping
Accommodations on adventure trips range from two-person tents to small rustic inns to luxurious lodges. If you've never slept outdoors before, or if your previous camping experience wasn't much fun, remember that adventure-travel camping is ordinarily much easier than the usual do-it-yourself, backpack-style camping. Tented safaris in Africa can be downright luxurious, with huge stand-up tents, real beds, and hot showers. Even on more rugged camping-style trips, porters or pack animals usually carry the camp gear, your tent is often set up for you, and the camp staff does all the cooking and cleaning up. But if camping just isn't your cup of tea, there are plenty of trips that offer lodges, rustic inns, or local homesteads.
TIP 3: First pick a destination.
The vast number of adventure trips to choose from can be a bit bewildering. To narrow down the choices to a manageable number, decide early what part of the world you want to visit. If you're new at adventure travel and not quite sure where you want to go, pick a trip that has a track record of broad appeal over the years. Instead of, say, hang gliding with cannibals in Irian Jaya, stick to the classics: a safari in East Africa, a trek in the Himalayas, or a visit to the Amazonian rain forest.
TIP 4: Decide how much physical challenge you want.
There's an adventure trip for virtually every level of physical fitness, from Woody Allen's to Arnold Schwartzenegger's. Companies usually rate their trips as easy, moderate, or demanding. Study the trip ratings carefully; different companies use different rating criteria, based on physical activity, altitude, and terrain.Certain activities may be rated differently. For example, river-rafting trips are rated not by their physical demands (you just hang on) but by the difficulty of the most severe rapid. Class II and III rapids shouldn't scare anybody, but Class IV demand great confidence in your guides. Class V commercial trips are rare and require extensive rafting experience.Sea-kayaking trips in protected waters are physically easy but usually include camping, and they are generally rated moderate. Backpacking trips are more demanding than treks because you'll be carrying a heavy pack. Mountaineering trips, involving of ropes, ice axes, and high altitudes, call for the highest fitness level of all.
TIP 5: Decide how much variety you want.
Some people prefer to stay in one area so they can get to know it intimately, while others like to sample a wide variety of places and activities.
TIP 6: Talk to people who've already taken the trip.
Ask the company for a list of previous customers on the trip you're looking at. The long-distance phone bills will pay for themselves many times over in unbiased word-of-mouth information.
TIP 7: Check out the trip leader.The most important single factor on adventure journeys is the trip leader, who simultaneously fills the role of guide, interpreter, teacher, mother hen, drill sergeant, and group psychologist. A great leader can be an American expatriate or a well-qualified local citizen, but he or she should be a year-round resident of the country or region and speak both English and the local language well.
PRE-TRIP PAPERWORK
TIP 8: Check your passport.International convention says that passports must be valid for at least six months after the date of entry into a country and should contain a full blank page for the visa of each country to be visited. Don't put your passport in your check-in baggage for flights.
TIP 9: Check visas requirements.Unlike many European nations, countries visited by adventure travelers often require visitors to obtain a visa before arrival. Your travel company often will provide you with visa application forms, which you then send to the appropriate embassy or consulate.
TIP 10: Make photocopies of important documents.
Passport, visa's, tickets, credit cards, traveler's checks, drug prescriptions, and other critical documents should be photocopied, and the copies carried separately.
TIP 11: Read your pre-departure information carefully.
Adventure travel usually requires more advance preparation than you may be accustomed to. Your trip organizer should send you a detailed pre-departure info pack with advice on on visas, inoculations, special clothing, medical tips, local customs, and the like. It's not just fluff. Let it be your bible and study it carefully.
TIP 12: Check to see if your regular health insurance policy covers illness or injury overseas.If not, a short-term policy for the duration of the trip will provide peace of mind
TIP 13: Consider medical evacuation insurance.An illness or accident in a remote area may require a very expensive helicopter evacuation. (An emergency airlift out of the Everest area in Nepal, for example, costs about $8000).
TIP 14: Learn the World Wildlife Fund's guidelines on importing wild-animal products.In keeping with the spirit of ethical, responsible travel, you should not plan to bring back ivory, marine-mammal products, furs, coral, tortoise shells, reptile skins, feathers, and certain other wildlife products, For specifics, call the public information office of the World Wildlife Fund at 202-293-4800 and ask for the "Buyer Beware" booklet. And bear in mind that the U.S. and most foreign countries have laws banning the import or export of most of these items.
FIT FOR THE ROAD: FITNESS AND HEALTH CONCERNS
TIP 15: Get in shape.Physical requirements vary greatly according to the trip, and you should follow the guidelines in the pre-trip information that your travel company supplies. But at a minimum, you should exercise at least 20 minutes, three times a week, for two months before departure. Walking or jogging is ideal, but an exercise bicycle or treadmill is a reasonable alternative. For hiking or trekking trips, stretch your walks to a couple of hours and spend extra time walking up hills, or join a health club and use the stairs machine. Wear your daypack, and fill it with 10-15 pounds to simulate a typical load on the trail.
Another good exercise idea is the roll-up, or crunch, which strengthens the stomach muscles and thereby reduces the risk of back problems. Lie on your back, with feet flat on the floor and knees angled at 90 degrees. Then, with hands behind the head, raise your torso as far as you can. Repeat until you feel a good "burn" in your stomach muscles (it won't take long).
TIP 16: If you haven't had a dental checkup recently, get one before you leave.A toothache caused by a cavity or a lost filling can turn into a painful ordeal when you're a five-day walk from the nearest town.
TIP 17: Thoroughly break in your hiking or walking shoes.
Many first-time adventure travelers buy new hiking boots for the trip. You must walk a minimum of 20 miles in them, up and down hills, before departure. This should be enough to get over the initial break-in blisters and to ensure that they fit properly. Wear your new boots or shoes during your get-in-shape hikes.
TIP 18: If you wear contact lenses, consider disposables.Removing and replacing contact lenses every day on a camping trip can be a very annoying chore. Extended-wear lenses can be worn overnight, which cuts back on the hassle factor. Disposables are even better for adventure travelers because you need not carry along cleaning or storage paraphernalia. Disposables have the additional advantage of being very cheap; it's no big deal if you lose one. All contact lens wearers, however, should be careful at high altitudes. The lower oxygen level can affect the cornea as well as the lungs. If you see hazy rings or halos around bright lights, take out the lenses for a while so that the corneas can reoxygenate themselves.
TIP 19: For advice on inoculations, consider visiting a travel clinic or a physician specializing in travel.Your family doctor probably isn't up to date on the various strains of malaria or on whether you really need a yellow-fever shot for Tanzania. Travel specialists should have the latest scoop from the Centers for Disease Control. You may also call the CDC International Travelers Hotline (404-332-4559) for computerized briefing. You may also have information faxed to you.
TIP 20: If you're traveling to a malaria-prone area, make sure to take the proper malaria medication.The classic malaria preventive is the cheap, well-proven drug chloroquine, a derivative of quinine. Unfortunately, the most dangerous strain of malaria parasite has become chloroquine-resistant. The CDC currently recommends mefloquin (trade name Lariam) for this strain. Both pills are taken weekly (veteran travelers traditionally pick Sunday as malaria-pill day) and should be started one or two weeks before departure.
Which drug you should take depends on where you're going; most malarious parts of Asia, Africa, and South America have the chloroquine-resistant strain. And in a few parts of Thailand, mefloquine resistance has developed, necessitating use of the antibiotic doxycycline. Check with your physician, travel company, or the CDC for current recommendations and possible side effects and contradications.
TIP 21: Take along medications for travelers' diarrhea.With the right precautions, many travelers can avoid diarrhea entirely. If these don't work 100 percent, Pepto Bismol tablets are usually very effective. But if symptoms, persist, switch to the prescription antibiotic Cipro. In some situations, you can seek temporary relief with Immodium. (Don't continue use for more than two days if blood is present, and avoid taking Lomotil.) Always check with your doctor for side effects and contraindications.
TIP 22: If you'll be traveling at high elevations, learn about altitude sickness and take along the prescription drug Diamox.Altitude sickness often strikes travelers who venture above 8,000 feet, and it affects almost everyone who goes higher than 14,000 feet. Symptoms include headache, nausea, and a general feeling of malaise; some people compare altitude sickness to a bad hangover. More severe but rare altitude problems include pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs) and cerebral edema (a swelling of the brain that can lead to confusion, hallucinations, and coma).
The key to avoiding altitude sickness is gradual, well-planned ascent, which allows the body time to acclimatize. Diamox may be taken prophylactically or for the relief of symptoms that appear in spite of a gradual ascent, but it must not be used to push beyond safe limits.
THE RIGHT STUFF: HOW AND WHAT TO PACK
TIP 23: Instead of a suitcase, carry a big, soft, rugged duffel bag.There aren't many bellhops on an adventure trip. Your bag will be in for some rough treatment strapped to a yak, tossed onto the roof of a jeep, squashed by tie-down ropes, or pelted by spray in the bottom of a canoe.
Make sure that it's pliable enough to easily be handled by porters, who may lash two or three duffels into their own large packs. Pack duffels within duffels.
Four smaller zipper duffels can be neatly nested within the giant main bag. Sort the smaller bags roughly according to function: one for everyday stuff, one for cold-weather gear, etc. Cotton "city" clothes can be wrapped in plastic shopping bags within their duffel. Books, maps, notebooks, etc., can be stored in Ziploc bags, inside their own smaller nylon duffel.
TIP 24: Pack Light.
On safari or on the trail, you want life to be as simple as possible, and you'll best accomplish this by packing less stuff. If the clothing list your travel company provides seems impossibly skimpy, don't worry. Almost all first-time adventure travelers quickly realize they've brought too much. Fashion doesn't count much out on the trail, and modern outdoor clothing is so versatile that one garment can perform a variety of functions. So don't take more than the packing list advises; if you do, you and the porters will have to lug that much more around.
TIP 25: Keep take-along trash to a minimum.This not only lightens and simplifies your pack; it is environmentally responsible, too. Throw out film boxes and take new clothing out of its package. Pack a couple of bandannas instead of a dozen packs of Kleenex.
TIP 26: Bring along a medium-size day pack.The right size is about 1,500 to 2,000 cubic inches, and it should have hip straps and several compartments. Use it on the airplane, as a carry-on bag for all your indispensable items (documents, toiletries, valuables, clothes to wear in case your checked luggage is lost or delayed, etc). It has the decided advantage of being easy to carry on long walks down airport corridors. Once you arrive and the trip begins, use it to carry all the things you'll need during the day-water bottle, snacks, camera, extra clothing. Your main duffel bag depends will most likely be inaccessible.
As you select clothing for a cool or cold-weather destination, your mantra should be: "Layers are good, cotton is bad."
Your choice of travel clothes obviously depends on your destination, but the general strategy is to dress in layers that can be quickly removed or replaced as the temperature and your activity level vary. The best basic combination: is an inner layer of polyester long underwear, such as Polartec, or Capilene, that will wick away perspiration; one or two middle layers of fleece, Polartec, or other quick-drying, warm-when-wet synthetic fabric (wool is okay, too); and an outer shell that is windproof and waterproof, preferable a breathable fabric such as Gore-Tex. Cotton (including jeans) should be avoided; it becomes instantly soggy from sweat or rain, loses virtually all of its insulating abilities, and takes forever to dry out.
TIP 27: Slip in some snapshots of your family, house, and hometown.
These are great icebreakers. Take along a Polaroid camera this allows you to present locals with instant pictures of themselves. If you have an artistic bent, take along a small sketch pad or water-color set.
TIP 28: If you'll be camping, take along a Therm-a-Rest inflatable air mattress.
These wonderful devices have in the past few years revolutionized sleeping on the ground, and are now virtually standard equipment among veteran campers. The reason is simple: they are much more comfortable than the old-style foam pads. Therm-a-Rests are self-inflating, come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and are durable. They're available at most outdoor stores and mail-order companies.
TIP 29: Take along a generous supply of Ziploc plastic bags.
They are invaluable for storing items that must stay dry, for isolating wet and/or dirty clothes, and for organizing luggage. For the compulsive organizer, the sorting possibilities are endless: emergency pills-Immodium, Diamox, etc.-in one bag, daily vitamin pills in another. Or socks in one bag, underwear in another. A bag just for spare batteries. These see-through bags make it easy to locate items.
TIP 30: Take along a batch of trail mix.
Here's a recipe for an extraordinary tasty high-carbo concoction that provides instant energy and staying power along the trail. Simply mix dry-roasted peanuts and chocolate-covered raisins.
TIP 31: Remember the heavy-duty anti-sunburn gear for high-altitude trips.Severe sunburn is possible at high elevations, because the thin air lets through more ultraviolet radiation. At only 7,000 feet, UV radiation is about 35 percent more intense than at sea level. At 15,000 feet, it is nearly twice as intense. And many adventure-travel destinations are in tropical latitudes, where the sun is higher in the sky than Americans are accustomed to. This intensifies UV radiation even more. Large areas of snow or water, which reflect UV rays, increase exposure still more. Be sure to take along a wide-brimmed hat, UV-blocking sunglasses with side panels ("glacier glasses"), and lots of sunscreen (SPF 15 or higher).
TIP32: Take along skin moisturizer, even if you don't normally use it.
High altitudes, dry air, and hot sun can combine to really dry out skin.
TIP 33: Bring a pair of compact lightweight binoculars.Even if you're not a bird-watcher, you'll get a whole new perspective on your trip. In addition to the obvious benefits for a safari or animal-oriented trip, it's fun to watch the snow blow off the summit of a 25,999-foot Himalayan peak, check out the porters' progress behind you, or just people-watch from afar. A 9x25 model is a good compromise among magnification, lightgathering power, weight, and size.
TIP 34: If photography is a major goal of your trip, bring along a spare camera.You simply can't count on being able to repair or replace a malfunctioning camera on an adventure trip. A good combination would be a high-quality single-lens reflex (SLR) camera as your primary equipment and a small, lightweight automatic point-and-shoot camera as a backup. But don't bring a huge assortment of camera bodies, lenses and tripods; you'll find all that equipment a burden to carry and disruptive to operate. In fact, you may find, to your surprise, that you end up preferring the small, unobtrusive point-and-shoot to the fancy SLR.
TIP 35: For wildlife photography, use a 70-210 mm zoom lens.Your best shots usually develop very suddenly and you won't want to be changing lenses constantly. Lenses longer than 210 mm are rarely necessary and difficult to hold still without a tripod, which you'll rarely have time to set up.
TIP 36: Take extra batteries for your cameraCold weather takes a heavy toll on camera batteries, and you may be a week's walk from the nearest replacement.
TIP 37: Put a haze or sky filter on your camera lens.In addition to improving the picture quality slightly, the filter will protect the lens from dirt, moisture, and dings. This is particularly important in Africa, where conditions are sometimes very dusty and where often you'll be scrambling madly for your camera after sighting animals.
TIP 38: Buy a lead-lined storage bag for your film.
Despite those reassuring signs, airport X-ray machines can damage film, particularly machines at small remote airports that may have old equipment. Even security people in "advanced" nations, like England, have been known to refuse to hand-check films and cameras, putting them through the X-ray machines despite pleas to the contrary.
JUST BEFORE YOU GO
TIP 39: Arrange your flight schedule to minimize jet lag.If your traveling eastbound, schedule your arrival for morning, destination time. Westbound, shoot for a late afternoon arrival. This will help your body's internal clock get "in sync" more quickly.
TIP 40: Budget for tips to your trip leader, guides, and porters.
Like waiters and ski instructors, adventure travel company field staff traditionally rely on tips for a portion of their income. The amount is strictly up to you, but if you feel the staff did a good job, 5 percent of your land cost is a good ballpark figure. Keep in mind that what appears to be a trivial amount of money to you can be a big help to a local staff member. On treks, local guides and porters also appreciate surplus items of clothing, like T-shirts, fleece jackets, boots, and baseball caps.
TIP 41: Get used to the idea that you will be out of touch with the rest of the world.Where you're going, there probably won't be telephones. If there are phones, they probably won't work. If they do, it will be 3 a.m. at home when you want to call.
TIP 42: HAVE FUN!! THAT’S WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT!
---Dale Bowers