In Praise of Petrol Power Adventure

I have never done a proper motorised adventure. My personal preference for adventure involves human-powered, physical and masochistic means of transport. If I’mm having fun, I often say, then I’mm on holiday not an adventure. But that’s certainly not to everyone’s taste. In fact, I can completely see why someone might say that it’s a pretty dumb way to operate! The machines I’mve driven, whether it’s skidoos in Siberia and Nunavut or Land Rovers in Iceland and Africa, have always been really fun.

I can also absolutely see the appeal of the freedom and fun of being out in the world with your own motorised transport. I’mve ridden on the roofs of crowded buses in the Philippines, hitch-hiked in a pick-up full of beer from South Africa to Victoria Falls, risked life and limb at the hands of lunatic bus drivers in India, China and the Andes. And I have had wonderful times hitch-hiking, through southern Europe or driving through the night to reach Lake Malawi in time for sunrise.

But with your own motorbike or car you are no longer at the mercy of vague bus schedules, railway pickpockets, or lunatic, sleep-deprived bus drivers and their hideous blasting pop music. Indeed, a man with a motorbike could argue to me very strongly that cycling round the world is a mere fool’s exercise compared to the fun and the freedom of zooming along with the warm wind in your face and all the world within your reach.

Your adventure might be by big motorbike, tiny tuk-tuk, a pizza delivery bike or a London taxi. But a few common threads run throughout most tales of motorised adventure: you can do a big journey like this on a relative budget, you do not need to be an expert mechanic (though it helps), you have total freedom to maraud across the planet, and it is a lot of fun. If journeys like this appeal, then I’md urge you to consider a motorised adventure of your own.

I enjoyed interviewing people for my new book about their adventures with cars and motorbikes, not least of all because I have never done a trip in that style. It’s always interesting to get a fresh perspective on the adventure world. One thing in particular shone through all of these tales: motorised adventures are a lot of fun! That alone is reason enough to get involved.

There is quite a cavalier approach to many of these journeys: – ‘˜find a really crap car and head East’ is Matt Prior’s advice. Matt drove to Mongolia in a £150 car. The detours, the breakdowns, the unexpected things: these are part of the appeal and help lead to all sorts of spontaneous adventures. Indeed I get the sense at times of a mischievous desire for things to go wrong. It is the grit in the oyster that makes a pearl, and perhaps heading out into the world in a crap car with little mechanical knowledge or planning is just a technique for gritting life’s oyster. The thirst for uncertainty, surprise, and unusual interactions is strong. Matt points out, ‘˜you never quite know what is going to happen next, who you’re going to bump into and how it will all evolve.’

The important thing only, as always, is just to go. Ant Goddard made the decision to drive thousands of miles round North America with his pregnant wife and infant son. They left ‘˜on a whim’ to see more of the country they lived in, with scant regard for destinations or detailed plans. Ant says, “You may feel like there are a lot of ‘˜what if’s’ preventing you doing something adventurous, but the scariest one in my mind has always been ‘˜what if I never go? What if I stay here forever?”

And, as Liam pertinently reminds us, ‘˜compared to all of the other stuff we do in life, this is actually one of the easiest things to do in life.’

My new book, Grand Adventures, answers many questions such as this. It’s designed to help you dream big, plan quick, then go explore. There are also interviews and expertise from around 100 adventurers, plus masses of great photos to get you excited.

I would be extremely grateful if you bought a copy here today!

I would also be really thankful if you could share this link on social media with all your friends – http://amzn.to/20IMYDt. It honestly would help me far more than you realise.

Thank you so much!

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