5 Principles for Turning Vacations Into Adventures
Published by The Art of Manliness in January 2011
According to contemporary accounts, there were few things Teddy Roosevelt would rather do after a good dinner party than sit around and tell stories. Guests to his White House were amazed by the absolute breadth of tales he could tell about his past adventures—chasing horse thieves across the Dakotas, leading calvary charges, and hunting bears, just to name a few standbys. People who spoke with him report that his charm was so captivating, one had to “wring the personality of your clothes” after being around him.
Now I have always thought there’s something undeniably awesome about being able to tell good stories. In a sense, they are a sign of a life well-lived. And while day-to-day existence can be a salient source of yarn, it seems to me that travelling is perhaps the great mother lode of the stuff of stories.
So that raises the question: how can one travel so as to be able to tell as many awesome stories about their trip afterwards? Or, simply, how can one turn vacations into adventures? I’ve been thinking about this concept for a while, and after having done some field-testing of my own, I’d like to share what I’ve found. This is by no means a comprehensive list, so I invite you to add your own comments below for turning conventional vacations into swashbuckling escapades.
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