When Intrepid Express subscriber Daryl Baker was asked to recall his most memorable travel moment, his mind wandered back to one strange but special day in Texas, United States…
“On the advice of three Texan girls, whom I met by chance at a paella cooking class in Barcelona some 12 months earlier, I was on the search for the best tubing river in America. The search had led me into the scorching Texan sun; walking along the side of a melting ring road that encircles the small town of New Braunfels, between Austin and San Antonio, trying to find the turnoff (that seemed much closer on the map at the bus stop) that would lead me to one of the many camping grounds that have sprung up along the Guadalupe River.
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World-renowned travel photographer and author Steve Davey knows better than anyone, that when it comes to photography, there are no limits to your creativity. With camera in hand he loves pushing the boundaries to see what can be achieved, but in this article he talks about setting yourself guidelines to enjoy a whole new perspective on your adventures…
“Sometimes it can be good to set yourself projects on your travels. It will help to keep your pictures fresh, give you some motivation to search out pictures and will also give you a theme to show your pictures afterwards. Themes can work well whether you are creating a gallery of online images, or even creating a print-on-demand photo-book on a service like Blurb.
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When Charlie Grosso decided to challenge her own own boundaries, boy did she do it big and Intrepid was along for the ride! After 13,025 kilometres (8095 miles) across 14 countries in 38 days, she shares her incredible Mongol Rally experiences…
“The eighteenth-century Swiss author Madame de Stael once said, “travel is one of the saddest pleasures in life.” If travel is a lovely single malt Scotch, The Mongol Rally is akin to crack. It has been 3 months since I arrived at the finish line and yet not a day goes by where I don’t think about those 6 weeks spent driving across the world. I am beyond addicted and I constantly wonder how to get another fix.
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Adventures don’t come much more remote and dramatic than Antarctica, but for a landlubber like Geoff ‘Manch’ Manchester, would this Intrepid co-founder cope with being cooped up on an ocean voyage…
“Backpacking and Intrepid-travelling is my thing. Cruising? Hardly! I get cabin fever being on an island, let alone in the confines of a small ship. And I’m used to groups of 12 travellers, not 100!
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Did you know that the Turkish word for turkey is hindi? The big gobbler is originally from the Americas or Indies, which caused the naming confusion with India. But in English we call the birds turkeys because they were introduced to Europeans by the Turks! If you think that’s confusing, then spare a thought for Kate Drummond when she tried to talk Turkey…
“You step foot in a new country eager to learn the local language – it’s simple right? Well, arriving in Turkey and trying to get the hang of the food, the customs and the history (wow, there were 3 great empires here and heaps of important sub cultures)… my language learning took a back seat! But then I started travelling and realised that a handful of Turkish words was very necessary!
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Even if a language is tricky to learn, you’ve got nothing to lose by trying. In John Kirk’s case his cocky attempt at Vietnamese did lead him down the wrong path initially, but it was smiles all round when he discovered that pho doesn’t always mean noodle soup…
“If you’ve ever tried to speak Vietnamese, then you’d know it is not an easy language to learn. It is a tonal language and there are six tones for each syllable. Change the tone and the meaning of the word changes. I found this out with hilarious results on my second trip to Hanoi.
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A simple Ni Hao, Hola, Namaste or Mehaba could change your trip. Learning a little of a country’s local language before you visit is one of Intrepid’s Top 12 Responsible Travel Tips. Even an easy hello or thank you in the local lingo will open up a whole new world and as Intrepid’s Amy Bolger explains, people will appreciate that you’ve taken the time to learn about their culture…
“Whilst attempts to pronounce something in another language can often leave the locals giggling, it is always well received and quite often has its advantages. A little smile and Ni Hao to a family on a 14-hour train ride across China opened up a whole new world of Chinese food for me – I was offered (quite insistently) an array of local cuisine they had packed for the long journey – they were obviously seasoned train travellers and I tasted delicacies that I would have otherwise never discovered. No 2-minute noodles in sight in our cabin!
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While the Shackleton Epic team are waiting for a break in the weather so they can embark on their extraordinary re-enactment of the legendary expedition, the group of sponsors lucky enough to be taking part on the support vessel Australis have been loving their taste of Antarctica. Intrepid’s Jane Crouch has been on board and lets us in on the wonders of this great white continent but also its very real threat…
“Awesome, magnificent, gob-smacking Antarctica. There just doesn’t seem to be enough adjectives – whether taking in the minutiae of ice-crystals or the water repellence of seal fur, or the grand vistas of snow-laden jagged peaks and icy waters – Antarctica is extraordinarily beautiful and any words don’t seem to do adequate justice to the incredible majesty of the place.
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Some adventures are many years in the making, but as Lee Bethune discovered, coming up with the idea to visit the Galapagos archipelago was one of her best travel decisions yet…
“Why hadn’t I thought of doing this trip sooner? As soon as I arrived in the Galapagos Islands I wondered why it had taken me so long to explore this incredible place. I felt like I was stepping onto a movie set of Jurassic Park, but it was real and I had to constantly pinch myself!
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