Is it a walk in the park? A booked 2 week vacation to a foreign country? A ferocious unclimbed peak? What does an adventure mean?
The word is thrown around in every day life, willy-nilly like some sort of badge. You see it in commercials for a certain beer, a new scent of deodorant, a half-off return ticket to Hawaii. But what adventure really is is inexplicable, in the sense that it isn't adventure until you have no idea of what it might actually be.
Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk sit down with some new acquaintances at a restaurant. The conversation goes around until they regale the party with their tale of Meru.
Johnathan and Cristine Applebottom go to a dinner party with their coworkers. They've just returned from a 6 month trip to South East Asia, visiting the countries of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.
Mr. Mr. (an online alias) meets a man giving him a ride from Reno into Las Vegas, and upon being asked, responds with his life of hitch-hiking around several continents.
All these stories have to do with foreign countries, new experiences and a change in the regular pace of life. Are they all filled with adventure? Let's examine them.
For the climbers, Meru Peak was a goal, a mission, a passion. They had met with failure upon its slopes in the past, and the risk of going back was high. They had very large resources to bring together to make this climb a success, and there is no doubt that without this it would not be possible, but there was a very high level of skill necessary, as well as, well, balls.
The Applebottoms had saved for their trip for ages. It was something they looked forward to and anticipated with both fear and excitement for months beforehand. It was planned perfectly, just as for the climbers. Shelter and lodging, food and restaurants, fuel and gear and the right backpack and the best shoes. Sure, courage was there as well.
Mr. Mr. had planned nothing. His budget was basically nonexistent, he had no itinerary, and no set goal.
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Sitting down to write this I had a thesis. Like anything that's written truly, however, things evolve. I can see examples of adventure in all three examples given, where previously I only did in one. But the point of this "piece" is to hone in on the definition of "adventure".
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The Applebottoms went nowhere unknown. Maybe directly, to them, it was unknown. But the flight they booked, the hotels or the hostels they stayed in (depending on their budget), the restaurants or the occasional hostel-cooked meal of pasta and tomato sauce they made, and the attractions and popular, recommended hikes they went on were all very easy and already experienced packaged goods and services that they might have seen in a magazine, and probably could have ordered in one. At some point, they had a free day and decided to just say fuck it - they rented a motorcycle, and just wandered around the city they happened to be in at the time. They would remember this as the best day of the trip. Why? Because it was the only one that involved any adventure. Their listeners said, "Ahh, I've always wanted to do that (the packaged part)".
The climbers planned extensively because without it, failure and worse would be more than likely. Their plans weren't perfect. They aren't really mean't to be - they are a way of structuring a physical and mental endeavour so tough that the only way to mitigate the risk (or try to) was to overcompensate with logistics. Their adventure was when things went a little off plan. Renan having a stroke possibly? The success and summit of their expedition wasn't the peak, as it were. It was a side-plot. The listeners said, "Damn. You guys are crazy."
Mr. Mr. never stopped having adventures. Every country, every day, every ride was made up of them. His listener said, "Woah. I never even imagined that kind of life was possible."
So what constitutes an adventure? Going to an unfamiliar place, in an unfamiliar way. In a word, the unknown.
Look at the lineup of people paying to climb Everest. Is it an adventure anymore? Is it even impressive in the slightest?
How many 20ish-year olds have gone to bus from hostel to hostel in South East Asia, or India, or South America? Do they even learn a single thing, other than how to say cheers in a different language?
Adventure is a vastly overused word. Almost every time I hear it I shudder, because now it represents a false, fake, empty thing - it means a story to impress your friends with at home, or a way to boast to your coworkers of how you are so very different, or a fucking selfie taken with a very necessary gopro on the zipline. It is meaningless, and bastardized.
I'm not trying to bash people's ideas or desires. Whatever you want to do, do it and that's awesome, as long as you aren't hurting someone else. It's pretty simple. Let's just call it what it is - anything but adventure. You could replace that word with exploration.
To get back around to the main point, go for what you want to do. If you have a certain mountain you want to climb or an area of the world to visit, go climb it and go see it. I'm not saying you won't have fun, and I'm sure you will learn a thing or two. But don't use the word adventure, because you don't have a clue what that is.
You're probably asking yourself who the fuck am I? Well, for the last 5 years I haven't had a plan that worked out the way I'd envisioned more than a month in advance, and I've been on the move without a significant stop. The unknown is my best friend. Mr. Mr. is a made up name for some of my other best friends who live similar lives. If this sounds like a raging rant, you are taking it the wrong way. I'm just trying to establish some facts, even if a little emotion might be involved.