Adventure Travel on a Budget

If you’re like me, when you think of adventure travel, the first thing you think of is how expensive it will be. It’s true, if you are thinking of climbing Mt. Everest or taking a solo sailing adventure across an ocean, the chances are that you are going to need some high end gear, spend a lot on logistics, and probably have lots of expenses you never expected too. But, it doesn’t have to be that way.

If you are helicopter skiing or doing any gear intensive travel, there really isn’t an easy way around the expense unless you are good enough or charismatic enough to get sponsors. Let’s face it, the vast majority of us aren’t either of those things. We’re just people who like to get high from the sense that comes with having a great adventure.

Adventure travel comes in many flavors- from the gear intensive to the gear free, though, there is one thing all adventures have in common. A sense of risking life and limb. Right?

The degree to which you are willing to take risks is really a bit of a factor in how much money you will have to spend. When I hitched across Canada with $4 and no gear, that was an adventure.

I was risking life and limb by accepting rides with strangers and by the possibility that I would be stuck on the prairies with no blanket or get attacked by a bear in the Rockies if no rides got me to the next point. How much did it cost me? …