Grand Adventures

The beauty of solitude and peace is sublime.

Whilst the advantages of going with someone else include…

You do not have to make all the decisions, although compromise is required.

There’s someone else to help keep you safe, and having someone to focus on in times of need is a positive thing for me.

If I had to choose… Alone is your journey, in your style, and your pace and you can be totally open to the magic that will happen. Together can be magical, too. For me, it depends on the journey and goal and what’s needed to make it happen.

BEN SAUNDERS

SOLO TO THE NORTH POLE AND A 2-MAN RETURN JOURNEY TO THE SOUTH POLE

The hardest thing about solo expeditions – big, long ones – is the knowledge that no one else can ever, or will ever, know what it was like. In some ways, that’s very precious and very special, but in other ways, it’s frustrating when you try to explain the experience to others.

TOM ALLEN

LONG-DISTANCE CYCLIST AND FILM-MAKER

I think the benefits of travelling alone include…

Allowing your mind to unwind entirely from the utter lunacy of everyday life.

Whilst the advantages of going with someone else include… Having another person there to take photos of you looking heroic.

If I had to choose, I would go alone because an experience that is entirely your own will be a better teacher.

When we – I say ‘we’ because it was me and my best mate at the start – set off together it gave us the confidence to set off at all. That was definitely the biggest thing about planning it with a friend: we gave each other moral support, we enabled each other to get started. I can’t say if I would have done it if I’d been alone. I like to think that I would have done, because my life circumstances at the time were either to go travelling or suffer miserable, unfulfilling office jobs for the rest of my life.

But I did end up on my own as well and the experience couldn’t have been more different. Of all the things you could change about an experience, the difference between being alone and being with someone else is the biggest.

I think if someone’s too nervous to start something on their own, finding a friend to do it with will definitely help. I would just say be very careful about making sure that the friend has the same overall expectations for what the trip’s about, because it’s when people have differing expectations that things start getting difficult.

JASON LEWIS

FIRST HUMAN-POWERED CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE WORLD

Travelling alone is wonderful because you can do exactly what you want. If you want to travel or you want to ride your bike five miles and then stop and take the rest of the day off, you can. I’ve travelled alone for long periods, and I think I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m not very good on my own, I actually unbalance.

© Alastair Humphreys

I do prefer to be at least with one other person. Three is the ideal number, I think, because you get to share the experience. When you’re on your own, it can become quite morbid, but it’s a little too indulgent, I think. After about a month of being alone, you have no real way to appreciate, perhaps, what you’re seeing, what you’re experiencing, because you don’t have another mirror near to you to reflect some of what you may be taking for granted.

LEON MCCARRON

LONG-DISTANCE CYCLIST, WALKER, FILM-MAKER

I think the benefits of travelling alone include…

The vulnerability of a solo traveller often encourages more people to come and speak to you, while a pair or a group can look self-sufficient.

Whilst the advantages of going with someone else include…

Having a creative and decision-making sounding board, another perspective and opinion, and someone to see things you may be blind to.

If I had to choose, I would go with someone else because I like the company, and as someone who tries to film adventures, having a second person is invaluable logistically and creatively. I have no real desire to do very long trips on my own anymore. When I was young and wanted to prove myself (to myself and to the world) I needed to travel alone, but now I mostly find myself very dull.

© Alastair Humphreys

STEVE DEW-JONES

HITCH-HIKED THE AMERICAS

I think the benefits of travelling alone include: More space to think. Learning to be alone.

I find travelling solo quite lonely. Whenever I go somewhere new, I want to be able to share my thoughts with someone and to see if they feel the same way about the place. And I hate eating alone.

MATT PRIOR

ADVENTURER, FORMER FIGHTER PILOT

I think the benefits of travelling alone include:

Freedom to attach or detach yourself to or from groups without any ill-feeling. It’s easier to take risks.

Whilst the advantages of going with someone else include:

You don’t have to always introduce yourself and tell people the same story day in, day out: this gets old after a while.

If you’re on a road trip, it’s definitely worth going with a friend. Saying that, this can make or break your trip, so choose carefully. Doing a trip with someone else can create a very strong bond for life, but I have also known of best friends return and never speak again. There are people all over the place who are keen for randomness, so don’t think if you can’t find someone straightaway that you’re going to be lonely!

TIM MOSS

MOUNTAINEER, ADVENTURER, CYCLIST

I think the benefits of travelling alone include:

For me, travelling solo is a much more powerful experience. That sounds a bit melodramatic but there’s something about being on your own all the time, making every little decision by yourself and living through all these experiences without anyone around with whom you can share them.

Whilst the advantages of going with someone else include…

The highs and lows are mellower by virtue of being shared and, generally, I’d say it is easier and a lot more fun.

If I had to choose… I don’t think recommending one over the other is illuminating. If you want to test yourself, push yourself and have a deeper experience, I’d suggest going solo. If you’d rather enjoy yourself (assuming you have a good partner) and have your problems halved, go with someone else.

OLLY WHITTLE

CANOED DOWN THE MEKONG

I do most of my adventures alone and I think it’s actually more of a challenge to do them in a group, so that’s what I might plan next. Also, I think a pair is completely different from alone and a group. A pair may fall out big time, which I think is less likely in a three or more.

I think the benefits of travelling alone include:

It’s easier to actually get started.

No responsibilty for others’ safety (if you mess up, it’s only you that’s in trouble).

You don’t have to worry whether everyone is enjoying themselves (adventures are rarely pure fun).

It’s scarier, there’s a bigger sense of stretching yourself.

If I had to choose for my next adventure, I would go in a group because I’ve already done loads alone so it will give me new challenges. I probably wouldn’t choose a pair.

DOM GILL

CYCLED THE AMERICAS ON A TANDEM, PICKING UP PASSENGERS EN ROUTE

I still love the idea of doing solo journeys. There is something very viscerally primeval about them. I like the introspection. And actually, I become a little addicted to the sort of low-level depression that I experience on those trips. You get very lonely, and when you’re lonely, you think very profoundly about all sorts of aspects of life. It may be depressing, but I’m able to think creatively and write and expand upon ideas. I love that aspect of solo travel. And there’s always the bravado aspect of getting through it, getting through to the other side and talking about the fact that you did it on your own. Especially as a male, I think that’s a little attractive. Doing stuff with companions, I think, is more conducive to learning life lessons. Having to mix with all these new people who moments ago were strangers gives me a very refreshing understanding of people. And I like to think that increases my ability to communicate with the world around me.

COLIN WILLOX

BACKPACKED ROUND EUROPE

There is an unwritten bond between lone travellers. It’s called ‘Holy shit, let’s be friends’, and its participants are not those who turn their head away when you walk in the door, but the ones who keep looking and maybe flash you a smile. You make friends so fast on the road. It’s unbelievable.

ANDREW FORSTHOEFEL

WALKED 4,000 MILES ACROSS THE USA

I felt less lonely than I thought I would. But there were times, of course, when I felt lonely, when you’re having these moments of, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m experiencing this’ and I don’t get to share it with anybody. I think maybe as human beings there’s this natural desire to communicate and tell our stories to each other and revel in these experiences together. Not being able to do that in the moment was hard sometimes. But I think it made those moments when you could share something with somebody much more special. I think the solitude and sometimes loneliness – but just that aloneness – really accentuated those times when I was hanging out with people.

© Alastair Humphreys

JESSICA WATSON

SAILED SOLO ROUND THE WORLD, AGED 16

Sharing adventures with friends is really amazing and a good way to get to know someone well, but there’s also something very special about having an adventure all to yourself. Maybe it’s a little selfish but there’s something wonderful about a special moment being all yours.

TIM HOBIN

PADDLED THE GANGES IN A £50 KAYAK

When I think back now, highlights include pushing off onto the river through the cool and fragrant early morning mist as the sun rose and the delicious solitude that solo travel brings.

NIC CONNER

CYCLED FROM THE UK TO JAPAN FOR £1,000

My friend gave up in Russia. We’re still really good mates. It doesn’t really matter how fit you are, it’s the mental determination, and I think he wasn’t as committed as I was. He did well – he cycled to Russia and then he cycled home. In the time it took me to get from Moscow to Tokyo, he had cycled home via southern Europe, met a girl, moved in with her and started a business with her. John was an experienced cyclist and had done a lot of tours so it was great to have him around, especially in the first couple of months. But, if it was tomorrow, I’d start by myself.

JAMES CASTRISSION

KAYAKED THE TASMAN SEA

Some advice I got back when I was having a big difficult patch with [my expedition partner] Jonesy, a friend said to me, ‘Look, even if you are responsible for 80 per cent of the project, 80 per cent is not going to get you to the start line.’ And that’s with me operating 24 hours a day. So if Jonesy only did 20 per cent that was enough. But on the trip itself, that’s really where Jonesy’s strong point is. He more than made up for everything out on the trip itself.

KYLE HENNING

TRAVELLED FROM THE LOWEST POINT IN AFRICA TO THE HIGHEST

I called the trip a ‘solo’ expedition, but part of why I did it was to meet people whom I would end up depending on. Welders, mechanics, waiters, drivers and simply kind-spirited people along the way made the expedition possible. I didn’t realise it until afterwards, but I was seeking that connection in my life.’

© Alastair Humphreys

IT MIGHT BE EASY FOR YOU, BUT FOR ME…

‘It’s OK for you to go off on these big adventures,’ I sometimes hear people cry. ‘I’m not as male, fit, rich, young or handsome as you.’

OK, I made the last bit of that sentence up, but the rest I do regularly hear. And it’s probably not a coincidence that most of the people who do really big, really crazy adventures are male, fit, young, single and not poor.

But I do believe that anyone can do big and bold journeys. I know that you do not need to be athletic, brave or rich, for I am none of those things myself!

Women frequently ask my opinion on whether an expedition is suitable for a female to do. Here are reflections on that subject from some of the adventurers I interviewed who are more qualified than me to answer:

HANNAH ENGELKAMP

WALKED ROUND WALES WITH A DONKEY

Partly, I think that if you go out into the world wide-eyed and enthusiastic and smiley, people respond in that way. Nothing bad happened to me but, you know, I was in Wales and there are much scarier places that one could adventure.

CANDACE ROSE RARDON

DROVE AN AUTO-RICKSHAW 1,900 MILES ACROSS INDIA

What I say to other women who are thinking about going travelling on their own is, ‘The concerns never go away. You never stop thinking about things that could go wrong.’ You know, I really enjoy it. I think being on my own is an invitation for people to connect with me. I think when they see a woman on their own, people generally want to help you and protect you.

SHIRINE TAYLOR

TWO-YEAR CYCLE TOUR THROUGH ASIA AND SOUTH AMERICA

As a woman you may be afraid to embark alone, either camping or to a foreign country, but once you begin you realise just how much easier it is for us girls. The reason I have been taken in by countless families in every country is because the women in those countries don’t see me as a threat, but as a friend. I absolutely love adventure, and being a female will only spur me on, not stop me.

KERRY O’NEILL

RODE THE ‘GRAND TOUR’ FOR A GRAND

I am quite a wuss but because I did this one thing one time, now people think I am some kind of intrepid explorer, and I am truly not. I thought I would be scared camping on my own. That was my main fear, but it turns out that I wasn’t at all. It was always somewhere gorgeous. Food was basic because I was on a budget, but having some peace and quiet at the end of a night in a tent was absolute bliss and I didn’t worry about kidnap or anything.

TEGAN PHILLIPS

CYCLED THROUGH SPAIN AND AFRICA

Being female was sometimes helpful and sometimes infuriating. People were definitely more willing to let me into their homes and help me when I needed help – I think if I had been a guy people would have been a little more suspicious. This is the upside of gender stereotypes. At the beginning there were times when I felt like there were certain things that I couldn’t or shouldn’t do because I was a girl travelling alone and that feeling was incredibly frustrating. I had one really terrible harassment experience and I was a bit shaken after that, but as I grew more confident in terms of figuring out how touring and camping actually worked it became much less of an issue. Otherwise, being female had nothing to do with anything – it turns out adventuring has no gender.

© Shirine Taylor

ROSIE SWALE-POPE

RAN ROUND THE WORLD

It’s rubbish! For any age, any gender, some things are more doable than others. But I believe that a woman travelling alone is safer. You have to obey the laws of the wild, certainly – to be polite and tidy, to pay your own way, to act unafraid. I’ve had murderers in Siberia teach me how to light fires. I’ve been to places far too dangerous for men to travel to – they’d have been shot. But I’m not a threat, so again and again I have been OK. And I’m happy, too, and that radiates to people. There are lots of great lady travellers – Freya Stark and so on – it’s not a man’s game. Life is anybody’s game. Whatever you choose to do, you just need to start. I met a man recently; he was longing to travel and I just said, ‘Go on then! Get going!’

SARAH OUTEN

CYCLED, KAYAKED AND ROWED ROUND THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE

I guess I do meet women, quite a lot of women, who ask, ‘Is it safe? Did you feel safe? I can’t do it’, and I think, compared to guys, women are often held back by the negative chatter. Mostly people are very friendly and keen to help you. There are no hurdles to stop people having adventures, apart from being dead, really. I think that’s true of anything in life, isn’t it?

PAULA CONSTANT

WALKED THE SAHARA WITH CAMELS

Being a woman is an advantage. In many, many cultures around the world it will help, so don’t be afraid to be a woman. Don’t get me going on this! But one thing that many women do in adventure is try to compete with the boys. Well, we’re women. We travel differently. Embrace it. In most parts of the world, it works to your advantage to be not only a woman, but a beautiful woman, as feminine as you like. Don’t play on that. Don’t be a victim, but rather, stand in your magnificence, I would say. Nomadic cultures have nothing but the greatest of respect for strong women. If you can remain smiling and gentle, but strong at the same time, you are at a distinct advantage to your male equivalent, whom the local men will see as a threat. They’ll see you as something to be fascinated by. And that can usually be an advantage. Yes, occasionally you’re going to be sexually harassed, like every other day. But it all comes down to how you deal with that. And dealing with it, the biggest piece of advice I would give you is the same the world over. You’re polite and civil, but you’re much like a Jane Austen novel, with Mr Collins, you know, you’re polite but firm.

HELEN LLOYD

CYCLED THE LENGTH OF AFRICA

I find it amazing that in today’s society we still make such a differentiation between the sexes. What I do is no more dangerous than if I were a man. Mostly, the risks are the same and as long as you take sensible precautions (as anyone would when travelling) then there shouldn’t be any problems. Of course, you may get unlucky and end up in the wrong place at the wrong time, but being a woman shouldn’t make any difference. The only additional risk as a woman, is that of ‘unwanted advances’ from men, but that isn’t necessarily a problem confined to the realms of travel. Actually, in many ways, I think being a woman is an advantage. Most people in this world are good and want to help. Perhaps they see me as a woman and think I may need help, or protecting. As a woman, I am sure I appear more approachable, less intimidating, than a man. And in some cultures, being a woman means you’ll be invited into all kinds of situations that a man never would.

JESSICA WATSON

AROUND THE WORLD SOLO SAILOR

I like to think of myself as first a person and second a girl. Maybe it’s because I’m young and grew up in a family that never treated my sisters and me any differently to my brother. But I struggle to understand why women shouldn’t go on as many adventures as men.

Some of the most inspiring people I spoke to were elderly. Granted, their physical fitness may be beyond the norm for ‘old-age pensioners’, but their enthusiasm and spirit are inspirational for anyone who fears that their adventuring years may be behind them:

KU KING

EXPLORING THE PLANET WITH A PROGRESSIVELY SMALL BACKPACK

One of the things that we have noticed in many years of travel is the increasing number of older independent travellers on the road. Travel is no longer the domain of gap-year students. There are people of all ages out there creating their own unique adventures all around the planet. Nowadays, the economic situation means that redundancy (often with an attractive financial package) is an option for many. Instead of investing in a new kitchen or adding a conservatory, some people are grabbing life by the throat and booking year-long round-the-world tickets. When you are in your twenties, the years stretch ahead of you like a blank canvas. You have all the time in the world. When you hit your forties, and more so your fifties, you become aware that time is limited. We still have an abundance of travel dreams to realise, and we are determined to make them come true before arthritis sets in!

ROSIE SWALE-POPE

RAN ROUND THE WORLD IN HER SIXTIES

Age is one of the worst things. Most of my friends now are younger than my daughter. But as people get older they need to ask themselves ‘who am I?’ and ‘what do I want?’ Life is not a rehearsal! People just give up. There are so many real barriers in life that we should stop making false ones. Don’t make yourself get stuck. It’s a well-off people’s problem: poor people in the world just get on with life when they are older. We give up. Of course, people are different biologically and there’s a reality to ageing. When Paula Radcliffe is old she won’t be able to run as fast, but she can do something different and amazing instead. I’m 68, but I’m overjoyed to be the age I am, to be who I am. You can be 21 and 68. I haven’t grown up yet!’

SVEN YRVIND

75-YEAR-OLD SAILOR, ONCE SAILED ROUND CAPE HORN IN A 20-FOOT BOAT

When I was young I worked 8am to 10pm on my projects. But I’m getting older now, so I am slower. But that’s OK: I am enjoying building the boat. It’s interesting. I’m more knowledgeable now, more patient as well. The mind wanders. I try new things [design details for the boat]. They often don’t succeed. I try again, I try something else.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, young people often worry that they are too inexperienced to set out on a big journey. Everyone needs to begin somewhere, though, and these adventurers demonstrate that age is no barrier to accomplishing extraordinary feats:

TEGAN PHILLIPS

CARTOONIST AND CYCLIST

I am 21. I think my age actually worked to my advantage because, for me anyway, one of the biggest parts of adventuring is unlearning a lot of things that you didn’t even realise you had been taught. A lot of the time I would think things like, ‘Oh no, I can’t wash my hair in a restaurant bathroom, it just isn’t done’. And then I would think, ‘why the hell not?’ Where did I even get all of these silly ideas from in the first place?

ANDY WARD

WALKED ACROSS EUROPE, FROM THE UK TO ISTANBUL

You’ve got to start somewhere. You don’t need experience. Everyone has walked a certain distance, chatted to random people they meet along the way and set up a tent in the ditch, or asked a farmer to camp in their field. It’s just a case of getting up and getting on with it. I’d been a little worried about getting a job afterwards until I was halfway through my walk and I got two emails from two different investment banks in London. Both asked me to come and work for them. I’ve never applied for a job with a bank before. They had just heard about the walk and the blog, and they got in touch. I spoke to them and said, ‘Why on Earth would you want me? You don’t even know my CV or anything else.’ They said, ‘We’ve got enough Cambridge students. We want interesting people. We want people who can talk to clients and talk about interesting things.’

SARAH OUTEN

ROWED THE INDIAN OCEAN

I guess there’s a bit of naivety that comes in at the age of 21. You think you can take on the world, all of these things. I saw it very simplistically. I can’t think what the right word is, but I looked at other big expeditions and I thought, ‘Well, this isn’t rocket science. It’s just a big project and if I chopped that project down then I can make it happen.’

JESSICA WATSON

SAILED SOLO ROUND THE WORLD

It’s incredible how low our expectations of young people can sometimes be. As I was preparing to sail around the world I constantly came up against people who just assumed that a young girl couldn’t do such a thing. I don’t know why we automatically think something’s not possible rather than looking at how it might be achieved.