We’ve conquered some pretty epic feats in our day, from trekking for 8 days across the Mongolian Steppe to flying over the Pamir Mountains in a helicopter, but we still have many adventures that we have not yet completed. These experiences lay dormant in the recesses of our travel obsessed minds, waiting to one day be surmounted. The world is full of so many incredible adventures, but these are a few that we feel we MUST DO before we kick the bucket!
1. The Rickshaw Run: This is one that we’ve wanted to do ever since we saw this video of it on YouTube. Imagine buying a piece-of-crap tuk-tuk (gas powered rickshaw), with a sputtering 145cc engine, packing a few friends into it and trying to drive across the entire country of India!
The traffic is insane, some hills are so high that the tuk-tuk can barely make it up, but the views are spectacular. The entire journey is between 2,500 – 3,500 kms long and takes up to 3 weeks (depending on the which run you take). For us, the most amazing part would be seeing the incredible Indian countryside from a tiny, motorcycle-like vehicle.
It would allow us to take in the cool mountain breeze and the complete serenity of the rural areas, but surely we’d be slapped by the stark contrast of the hot sticky air and the absolute mayhem that only an Indian city can provide. The Rickshaw Rally is truly one of the greatest adventures on Earth. Click here if you want to sign up now!
2. The Trek to Machu Picchu: This one isn’t quite as off-track as the Rickshaw Rally, but it’s still an epic travel experience that we’re just dying to have. Machu Picchu has been around for approximately 565 years, so it’s not going anywhere, but we’re still anxious to get there. We hope to tick this one off our travel bucket list sometime next year.
The entire trek takes about 4 days and reaches a maximum height of 4,200 meters, before descending down to where the incredible ancient city lies perched on the hillside at 2,400 meters above sea level.
Recently, the rules have changed on this trek and now all tourists are forced to trek with a local guide. While we love to help the local economy by hiring guides and porters, we would prefer to do the trek on our own. Friends of ours have told us about an alternative route that can take a few more days, but it’s more off the beaten path… which is exactly what we’re into. We also have a 7 Wonders Of The World list, so by doing the Machu Picchu trek we’d actually be killing two birds with one stone.
3. The Mongol Rally: Another crazy race you say? We’ll this one is just as epic as the Rickshaw Run, but it takes us through all of Europe and nearly all of Asia. In July of every year, hundreds of “racers” meet in London to embark on the road trip of a lifetime. This long, rugged, crazy, multi-country journey goes all the way from London, England to Ulan Bator in Mongolia.
The beauty of it is that you can take as long as you want to complete the run. Some people have completed it in as little as 10 days, while others have taken nearly 2 years to reach the finish line. There are just a few rules to The Mongol Rally.
- The car must have an engine no larger than 1000cc
- You must raise £1,000 for charity
- You should get lost…
We nearly signed up for the Mongol Rally in 2015, but we’re just not sure if we’ll want to head over to Europe again next year, so we’re holding off. We want to do it with our friend Jason, whom we met in Kyrgyzstan last year, so we’ll wait until the three of us are ready to join the race. Our plan is to deck out our car to look like a massive goat.
It may not be in 2015, but someday, possibly very soon, you’ll see pictures, videos and articles of our incredible Mongol Rally journey here on Goats On The Road.
4. Drive from Alaska to the tip of South America: This drive may just be so epic that it will be nearly impossible to complete, but we will definitely make the effort. We’ve always wanted to drive the Oregon coast trail and this really is the main reason for taking on this journey. But I’m sure that the west coast of Canada would be just as, if not more, beautiful. We’d definitely want to pick up a camper van or an old Volkswagen Type 2 to make this trip.
5. Geocaching Around The World: I actually got this idea from Subaru’s Adventure Page, and it’s something I’m really interested in. Thanks to the availability of handheld GPS devices, the world can now be one big treasure hunt! People bury treasure, or save coordinates of a special place online, and anyone can follow the clues, the trail or the directions straight to an amazing travel experience.
From beautiful forests to stark deserts, there are now 6 million geocachers hunting down treasure across the world. Apparently there are many “treasures” in Grenada as well to be found, but we didn’t come across any when we were living there!
6. Camino de Santiago: Completely inspired by one of our favourite travel movies: “The Way”, this holy pilgrimage from Paris, France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain transverses over 200 kms through some of Spain’s most spectacular scenery. We love the idea of staying in tiny villages on the way, meeting many trekkers who are walking for many different reasons, and most of all, seeing Spain by foot.
We wouldn’t be doing the pilgrimage for religious reasons, we’d be doing it to get a deeper understanding of Spain, it’s landscapes and it’s people. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, download it or stream it now because it features some breathtaking montages of Spain’s evocative countryside.
“The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams”
-Oprah Winfrey
This is really just a small portion of the adventures that we have swimming around in our brains. The more travelling we do, the more amazing experiences we hear about. We’re always inspired by other peoples’ journeys and we’re constantly adding to our travel bucket list. There might just have to be a part two of this article!
