Guest Adventures

Our Mission: To inspire people to embrace their fears and turn their dreams into reality. (We’ve been featuring adventurers since 1999, before “blog” was even a word, and long before “social media”.) To contribute your inspirational story contact us. We like to showcase all kinds of adventurers, whether you are on the cutting edge frontier or doing a backyard adventure.

Alastair Humphreys Tom Allen

How to add purpose to your adventures

What if your next adventure could change more than just you? Alastair Humphreys offers 20 thought-provoking questions to help adventurers add purpose, responsibility, and lasting impact to their journeys.
Crew of pirates

The pirates of Zanzibar

In this story, Cat & Pat accept a half-joking offer: a pirate boat to Zanzibar. With no ferry running, little money and no stamps in their passports, they accept. They depart at 4 AM as "illegal cargo" on a dhow (a traditional sailing vessel with a design that dates back thousands of years) with no safety gear, no radio and no engine.
Pat posing next to Russian tank

Cycling the heart of Africa

Pat & Cat Patterson share five intense days from their around-the-world bicycle journey. They pedaled deep into the West African jungle, navigating broken bridges, river crossings, border guards, firestorms, and moments of generosity that turned strangers into friends. A raw look at adventure at its most human and unpredictable.
Night market chiang mai

Choosing your destination

Guest adventurer, Chad Turner, aka Traveling Chad, returns with his tips on how to travel the world on pennies while maximizing your cultural experience. If you like this, you can download his free ebook for more.
Chad sitting atop a mountain overlooking the green farmlands of Tanzania

Responsible Travel

Guest adventurer, Chad Turner, aka Traveling Chad, shares a chapter from his book "Zero to Adventure" about how to be socially responsible while traveling.
Dennis Snader and Alicia kissing in front of a mural of giant faces.

What happened to Dennis after cycling the world?

If you've read Falling Uphill, you know that Dennis accompanied me halfway around the world on a bicycle. Many of you have wondered what happened to Dennis and if he found what he was looking for when he returned home. I'm honored that for the 25th anniversary of my website — a website Dennis helped build — he has written this wonderful story complete with important life lessons.
Over The Hills by David Lamb. Book resting on a wooden table.

Over the hills

Middle-aged reminiscing by some guys who rode a bicycle across the country.
Before and after picture of Tim and Sharyn with their loaded touring bicycles in the snow of Canada and in the sun of the United States.

From backpacks to panniers to housesits

Tim and Sharyn have spent nearly two decades redefining adventure, going from backpackers to bicycle tourists to housesitters in the world’s most beautiful and expensive cities. Read on to discover their inspiring midlife journey, lessons learned on the road, and how they’re teaching others how to housesit and save thousands while traveling the world.
A brown park wayfinder sign.

The spirit of adventure

A wayfinder sign presents the classic choices and tests the spirit of adventure — keep going or go home?

An inspirational story to celebrate our 25th-anniversary issue. Thanks to guest adventurer Mark Loftin.
Ethan Keister in Norway

Travel: The reset button

Travel is an excellent way to hit the reset button. Our guest adventurer, Ethan Kiester, is currently in Scotland during his European travels. He discusses how he has done a few hard resets, and how you might want to be ready to push that reset button when the opportunity presents itself.
Exploring a moulin at Root Glacier Alaska

Glacier exploring at Wrangell-St. Elias National Park 

Adventurer Mark Loftin explores the glaciers of Alaska, including climbing ice walls, rappelling down and sitting before the beauty of an ever-changing, surreal ice wonderland. It turned out to be an antidote to the information overload of daily life.
Rachel and Patrick's first day on the bikes

Another one for the bikes

After hunkering down for a year during the pandemic, at 71-years-old, Rachel begins her fourth bicycle tour with partner Patrick.