The two hottest trends in travel right now are adventure travel and eco-travel. These two subsets have seen a dramatic upsurge in traffic in recent years. Some combination of the two is the Holy Grail that many tour companies are actively pursuing and fine-tuning. The problem is that these tours are expensive. Going it alone is an even more difficult prospect. The majority of us sit in our cubicles and dream of doing something outrageous. We watch television programs about partaking in the Amundsen Omega 3 South Pole Race (skiing to the South Pole). We see travel programs about people bicycling across Africa, riding mopeds across Mongolia, or rowing across the Pacific. In response, we sit on our duffs and tell ourselves that we do not have the money, we do not have the time, and the destination is too far away. This, however, is not always true. There are a bunch of adventures you can undertake require just five days or so, and are located right in your own backyard!

If you live on the East Coast, you might want to think about driving up to Quebec and the Maritime provinces. This is not particularly adventurous, but it is especially beautiful. However, the driving can become significantly more interesting if you decide to hop on the ferry from Nova Scotia and head to Newfoundland. Depending on the time of year, this can become a true adventure very quickly. It is easy to get yourself lost in Central Newfoundland, in a whiteout blizzard, being in the middle of absolutely nowhere. The only creature that will hear your pleas for help will be the moose blocking your path, whose silhouette you can barely make out in the total whiteout. (more…)

Being experienced on the Bangkok to Malaysia Train heading to the Penang side, seemed mellower compared to the Perhentian islands side. The train was scheduled to leave Bangkok in the early afternoon and it is a good idea to be there on time, as my experience with Thai trains is that they run on schedule out of the main Bangkok station. A good bit of advice is to stock up on munchies before you get to the train station especially if you like fresh fruit. The train does have a restaurant car that serves mostly Thai dish’s that if you like Thai food are ok. The restaurant car can get a little rowdy at night as all of the train police, employees and regular riders all sit around and drink Mekong & Chang and unwind after a hard day at the office, which for many travelers is part of the charm and excitement of the trip, as you can be a fly on the wall and observe the locals with out feeling out of place or intruding.

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