EA Radio Episode # 11 - Soft Adventure Travel

Scott Stein, the owner of and travel planner for Extraordinary Adventures (//www.myextraordinaryadventures.com/travel-podcast.html), explains what "Adventure Travel," "Hard Adventure Travel," and "Soft Adventure Travel" are and looks at whether or not you'll be a good fit for them.

Music: www.bensound.com

 

(The show transcript is being provided by YouTube's automatic transcriber. Please forgive any inaccuracies or errors.)

[Applause] [Music] hey everybody this is Scott from extraordinary adventures and you are listening to the eleventh episode of EA radio today I am not joined by my lovely better-half Laura she's got a lot of no plate so I'm gonna tackle this one by myself I thought today would be a good thing to talk about would be a topic I think that people are a little confused about it's uh adventure travel what is adventure travel what is a hard adventure travel over what is a soft adventure travel things like that so I think adventure travel you know it kind of brings to mind a thought when I say adventure travel you basically have a picture in your mind hiking biking camping snowboarding skiing scuba diving whitewater rafting etc there's an implication that to participate in adventure travel you have to be very physically fit like I know personally I wouldn't try climbing a straight face cliff I'm just not that fit but that's not all that adventure travel is adventure travel can include soft adventure travel as well I'm gonna give a little quote here that I loved it's as some of us take travel a little further we don't want to watch the world from afar we want to get up close and touch it for some that's embarking on heart racing African safari ziplining through Costa Rican rainforest we're meeting the multi-color inhabitants of the Great Barrier Reef for others it's simply transcending the daily routine to experience the sights and sounds tastes and smells of somewhere new from Close Encounters to distant wonders adventure is going beyond the typical vacation experience to become fully immersed in other cultures customs cuisine of our travels so let me repeat that one little blip adventure adventure is going beyond the typical vacation experience now that can be soft adventure that could be hard adventure here's where I'm here's where I'll tell you about Softimage sauce adventure so you have those those there's hiking's and and skiing's and all those things that we talked about but not quite that fit what if you're fit enough to mildly hike walk around you have no mobility challenges you're you're not disabled in any way and you want to get a little off the beaten path that is more about what soft adventure is than hiking less hard or cycling less hard so I'm not sure it can be about those but it just makes those things more approachable it's also not just out in nature I mean hiking through cities as opposed to taking a cab there's one way you can remain active while taking in the sights to get out of can you know get out of the bus get out and get out walk places when we went to Berlin we walked all over that city DC walked all over that city New Orleans okay normally as we took the look what was that like a streetcar thing that was fun no edit to it but that's you know that's what I mean get out there you know another one is cycle tours a lot of folks who go on river cruises through Germany and France and all the rest that's one of the things a lot of the river cruise ship companies have is cycles onboard for free that you can go out and take a cycle tour a lead cycle tour so you can get all over that town a heck a lot faster you get a little exercise obviously but you get to see all the sights in two hours instead of in four hours because you can get to each site faster another one is a Segway job yes even a Segway tour would be soft adventure I mean you're getting out there you're moving you're exploring you're not just sitting on a beach with a pina colada or or run a spa with a glass of champagne not that I don't love that too I'll be the first to you don't get on a cruise ship and have a pina colada and sit in hot tub but I think for the majority way we like to travel is we're more soft adventure people I could even mean riding in an ATV or yacht I mean getting on Katamari and you know in the Caribbean and getting to Pannell island off of say Martine Betts soft adventure travel sought not being such a venture would be to stay on the cruise ship getting out there you know jumping on that 4-wheel atv and going through the Belize and and seeing things that you could not see that that that goes back to you know this thing of some of us take travel a little further we don't want to watch the world from afar we want to get up close and touch it but unlike adventure travel I will say that for the most part soft adventure is more about the exploration then it is the physical exertion it's about like I said getting off the beaten path it's about not going to the tourist traps so if you go to Venice and you stay within that square over there it is designed to be a tourist trap I mean it's just you can't escape it you go a few blocks to left you lost it all right few bucks behind you've got a few blocks off the beaten path then you start seeing menus that are written in Italian and they're handwritten so now you've got a menu written in Italian tells you what they're not talking to the American tourists and they're handwritten what does that tell you it tells you that that menu changes so that's kind of a fresh restaurant for locals usually the prices are better almost always the food is better almost always the service is better so you don't want to definitely use that trick when you go to betters and that pretty much goes you know for any for anywhere I mean remember when in the Cotswolds and we went off the beaten path to some pubs and it was all bricks it was Brits and us and and that's I love that because then I'm I'm hanging out with the locals you know doing what the locals do I'm not going to the tourist traps but it's also about getting out of your comfort zone you know experiencing new sights sounds tastes smells and feelings not the plastic chain existence of our normal everyday lives here in America you know one one example that comes to mind is when we went to Germany went to a place called kokum and that's in the effect of River Harry the Mosul and Ryan area cochem castle is up on a hill as often is the case Heidelberg you know they're up on a hill and then the townspeople are down below so you're you know you're strolling you see this beautiful castle up there in one day we've decided we're gonna go up the castle apparently we went the hard way apparently there were two ways to go we went away that we had to have burned off three days worth of beer ah once we got up there then we learned uh you know there was an easier way to get up here oh well chalk it up to adventure but that was something that was great again you know when we went to DC and you're you're going Smithsonian hopping for lack of a better word oh my god you were gonna burn you're gonna burn calories you're gonna get out there and you're gonna you're gonna be exploring it's the best way to say again that st. Martin trip you know I remember when we went down to st. Martin we took not a okada man we took a guy named the suit Bob so illega I believe this his name it's soo early the tours forget the full name but it's suleka tours and you look at them on TripAdvisor and they have a bazillion reviews and they're like nearly perfectly five stars and when we went we realized why it was phenomenal they took you to all the spots around the island but they took you there via the boat it was a small little boat I think it held about ten to fifteen of us which is what we do here this company is my company certain adventures is very small private group tours no more than about 10 to 15 and it was perfect because you have a couple couples you know but by time you have four or five couples there's your ten two people you know and get to know each other you have lunch together and it was fun so that's you know that's a soft adventure so basically though what I guess what I'm really all I'm really saying is that if you take any ordinary vacation and you amp it up in the right ways you can have an extraordinary soft adventure travel so how do you do that how do you take that how do you get beyond the typical vacation experience to become fully immersed in cultures customs and cuisines of our tribe I'll tell you one way you give me a call you email me and I'll do it for you you know you just tell them to wife or your travel what you love if you love heart you love adventure you love reading do you love do you love nature do you love history do you love war do the things that you want to see and do that makes it extraordinary for you because extraordinary is a very subjective experience the things that make it extraordinary for you you tell me and I'll make it happen for you that's what we specialize in is isn't if you're a discerning traveler did you just don't have the time the desire or the know-how to book a trip but you want that trip to be extraordinary that's what we do so I apologize for the plug here at the end but that's what soft adventure travel is and then what we basically specialize in here we do do some river cruises and we do some other stuff as well some luxury stuff but for the most part we focus our efforts on the people who want to get out there and experience the world in a deeper broader way well that's you give me a shout and and we'll get you we'll get you a plan so that's it I mean it's a short show for the day when they're 10 minutes which is you know kind of what my original vision was to be was to present one topic quick but when we get Lauren here we banter and goes a little long I apologize for that but but that is the show for today so I hope you enjoyed that episode if so definitely email me Scott at my extraordinary ventures calm that's Scott at my extraordinary adventures calm tell me your name first first name you can tell me your first name or last name but I'm only gonna say your first name on the air and I'll give you a shout-out and and that's it so until next time this is again is Scott it's from extraordinary extraordinary ventures thank you for tuning in reminding you to share this show on Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest LinkedIn anywhere that you have the do you spend your time social media wise and then also please give us a thumbs up and subscribe to our YouTube channel that'll help spread the word okay I said guys thank you very much and we'll catch you on the next episode of EA radio stay tuned bye [Music]