Jaunted - Tag: Adventure Travel

Port Lincoln : 'An Idiot Abroad' Confronts Sharks and Learns to 'Be Careful What You Wish For'

cmb — 2012-02-06T15:12:21-05:00

On the latest episode of An Idiot Abroad 2: The Bucket List, Karl was sent off to swim with dolphins in Australia, but we know it's never that easy.

Before getting to Australia, Karl had an extended layover in Bangkok, Thailand, where he unknowingly walked into the traditional New Year Water Festival on his way to the hotel. Surprising, Karl doesn't seem completely miserable to be in Bangkok and played along nicely with local "Ladyboys", even as they outfitted him with a bedazzled gown, make-up and wig at the Mambo Cabaret. Has Karl grown fond of international travel or is it getting more difficult to keep up the ruse?

Portland: Zombie Survival Camp: Yes, It Exists and Yes, You Can Go

cmb — 2012-01-26T14:33:17-05:00

Do you want to be prepared for the coming zombie apocalypse? Maybe you need to polish your zombie-fighting or shelter-building skills? Then TrackersPDX in Portland, OR is offering a survival training camp just for you.

The outdoor and adventure specialist have created an intensive 2-day course—taught by seasoned experts who have fought on the frontlines of the zombie epidemic—where you will learn all of the essential skills you'll need in the event of a zombie takeover.

Over the River and Through the Woods, to Costa Rica's Massive Arenal Volcano

kai macmahon — 2012-01-17T11:05:01-05:00

You know Kai. Last week he detailed how he made his surfing adventure happen. Today, he drops some intel on the famous Arenal volcano in Costa Rica...

Volcanoes are cool—giant mountain things with a hole that goes to the bottom of the earth, full of boiling hot lava and belching smoke and soot into the air. There's something very prehistoric and intimidating about them. Oh, and every now and then they explode and turn lethal. Both cool and a bit scary then.

My typical vacations are usually by the water (not many volcanos there) or at ski hills (likewise), so I'd never had the opportunity to see a volcano up close and personal. Then, on my recent surf trip to Costa Rica, I decided to take a couple of days away from the water and go check out the volcano Arenal, one of the ten most active in the world. It last erupted as recently as 1968, when it destroyed three small villages, killing 87 people in the process. Arenal is the real deal; it's most definitely not a Disney volcano.

And Now, Your Moment of Zen (from the Wilds of Costa Rica)

JetSetCD — 2011-12-02T12:40:15-05:00

Deep breaths. It's Friday. The day after today is Saturday. Are you traveling this weekend? That's awesome. Are you doing something more local? Equally awesome, because you're out there doing, discovering, deciding to be anything but stagnant.

Let's have a moment, hmm? Recently we found ourselves sitting in knee-high, naturally heated water at the Rio Negro hot springs in Costa Rica's Rinc�n de la Vieja Volcano National Park. Above us was a swinging rope bridge we had crossed to reach this spot. Below us, the rushing crystal clear waters of the Rio Negro, and all around a saturation of green. Ahh nature.

That is a happy place, the type you sometimes come across in the world and which you attempt to burn into your memory to mentally escape from future stressful situation far, far away.

A video:

Liberia: Forget Ziplining; Costa Rica is All About Canyoneering Next to a Volcano

JetSetCD — 2011-11-30T11:25:12-05:00

Canopying goes hand-in-hand with Costa Rica. Maybe it's the allure of the seven volcanoes and the lush flora and fauna they support or the desire to get down and dirty, but visitors to the country often have communing with nature on their minds and we're no different.

Instead of ziplining through the trees and crossing swing bridges on the Caribbean/rainforesty side of the country, however, we were able to go whole hog on the Pacific/dry forest side in the Rinc�n de la Vieja Volcano National Park of the Guanacaste region, where canopying combines with ziplining, rappeling, rock climbing, canyoneering and—yes, swing bridges—to make an experience simultaneously exhilarating and exhausting. There's no one word to describe it, but for now "adventure" will just have to do.

It begins easily enough. The lower half of your body is jimmied into harnesses and a helmet buckled onto your head, where nervous sweat is already starting to bead. From base at the Hacienda Guachipelin's Adventure Tours HQ, it's only a 2-minute walk to the first platform, from which you will take the plunge to zoom the longest of 12 ziplines.

Akaroa: Where to See (and Swim With) the Worlds Smallest Dolphins and Penguins

EricRosen — 2011-11-29T12:39:50-05:00

Jaunted special contributor Eric Rosen drops us a line from way, way down under...

There’s nothing new about swimming with dolphins these days; it seems like you can hang out with the aquatic mammals pretty much anywhere from Australia to the Bahamas. But during a recent visit to check out post-quake Christchurch, I drove an hour outside the city to the Frenchified hamlet of Akaroa on the craggy Banks Peninsula to swim with some pretty special aquatic life: the world’s tiniest marine dolphins and wild penguins.

Akaroa is a winding hour-long drive southeast of Christchurch through the hills of the Banks Peninsula, where some of the earliest settlements on New Zealand’s South Island were founded. Akaroa actually lies quite near the center of this bulbous landmass, but it’s on the water because its harbor was formed by the collapse of an enormous mega-volcano eons ago.

Hertfordshire: An Up-Close, Exclusive Look at London's Olympic White Water Rafting Course

JetSetCD — 2011-07-26T12:14:15-05:00

It's almost exactly one year before the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics and what am I doing? Well, squeezing my butt into a wetsuit is the short answer, but the long answer is heading out on the manmade rapids that comprise the Lee Valley White Water Centre just outside of London, for a sampling of what the Olympians will be going through this time next year, and what the adventurous public can experience now.

Did you ever go to an amusement park with little rides for kids that involved a blue track of shallow water with a slow current that lazily propelled round floating rafts until time was up? The Lee Valley White Water Centre is that, for adults, times a zillion, with the addition of major adrenaline rush.