Grand Adventures

You don’t have to always introduce yourself and tell people the same story day in, day out: this gets old after a while.

If you’re on a road trip, it’s definitely worth going with a friend. Saying that, this can make or break your trip, so choose carefully. Doing a trip with someone else can create a very strong bond for life, but I have also known of best friends return and never speak again. There are people all over the place who are keen for randomness, so don’t think if you can’t find someone straightaway that you’re going to be lonely!

TIM MOSS

MOUNTAINEER, ADVENTURER, CYCLIST

I think the benefits of travelling alone include:

For me, travelling solo is a much more powerful experience. That sounds a bit melodramatic but there’s something about being on your own all the time, making every little decision by yourself and living through all these experiences without anyone around with whom you can share them.

Whilst the advantages of going with someone else include…

The highs and lows are mellower by virtue of being shared and, generally, I’d say it is easier and a lot more fun.

If I had to choose… I don’t think recommending one over the other is illuminating. If you want to test yourself, push yourself and have a deeper experience, I’d suggest going solo. If you’d rather enjoy yourself (assuming you have a good partner) and have your problems halved, go with someone else.

OLLY WHITTLE

CANOED DOWN THE MEKONG

I do most of my adventures alone and I think it’s actually more of a challenge to do them in a group, so that’s what I might plan next. Also, I think a pair is completely different from alone and a group. A pair may fall out big time, which I think is less likely in a three or more.

I think the benefits of travelling alone include:

It’s easier to actually get started.

No responsibilty for others’ safety (if you mess up, it’s only you that’s in trouble).

You don’t have to worry whether everyone is enjoying themselves (adventures are rarely pure fun).

It’s scarier, there’s a bigger sense of stretching yourself.

If I had to choose for my next adventure, I would go in a group because I’ve already done loads alone so it will give me new challenges. I probably wouldn’t choose a pair.

DOM GILL

CYCLED THE AMERICAS ON A TANDEM, PICKING UP PASSENGERS EN ROUTE

I still love the idea of doing solo journeys. There is something very viscerally primeval about them. I like the introspection. And actually, I become a little addicted to the sort of low-level depression that I experience on those trips. You get very lonely, and when you’re lonely, you think very profoundly about all sorts of aspects of life. It may be depressing, but I’m able to think creatively and write and expand upon ideas. I love that aspect of solo travel. And there’s always the bravado aspect of getting through it, getting through to the other side and talking about the fact that you did it on your own. Especially as a male, I think that’s a little attractive. Doing stuff with companions, I think, is more conducive to learning life lessons. Having to mix with all these new people who moments ago were strangers gives me a very refreshing understanding of people. And I like to think that increases my ability to communicate with the world around me.

COLIN WILLOX

BACKPACKED ROUND EUROPE

There is an unwritten bond between lone travellers. It’s called ‘Holy shit, let’s be friends’, and its participants are not those who turn their head away when you walk in the door, but the ones who keep looking and maybe flash you a smile. You make friends so fast on the road. It’s unbelievable.

ANDREW FORSTHOEFEL

WALKED 4,000 MILES ACROSS THE USA

I felt less lonely than I thought I would. But there were times, of course, when I felt lonely, when you’re having these moments of, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m experiencing this’ and I don’t get to share it with anybody. I think maybe as human beings there’s this natural desire to communicate and tell our stories to each other and revel in these experiences together. Not being able to do that in the moment was hard sometimes. But I think it made those moments when you could share something with somebody much more special. I think the solitude and sometimes loneliness – but just that aloneness – really accentuated those times when I was hanging out with people.

© Alastair Humphreys

JESSICA WATSON

SAILED SOLO ROUND THE WORLD, AGED 16

Sharing adventures with friends is really amazing and a good way to get to know someone well, but there’s also something very special about having an adventure all to yourself. Maybe it’s a little selfish but there’s something wonderful about a special moment being all yours.

TIM HOBIN

PADDLED THE GANGES IN A £50 KAYAK

When I think back now, highlights include pushing off onto the river through the cool and fragrant early morning mist as the sun rose and the delicious solitude that solo travel brings.

NIC CONNER

CYCLED FROM THE UK TO JAPAN FOR £1,000

My friend gave up in Russia. We’re still really good mates. It doesn’t really matter how fit you are, it’s the mental determination, and I think he wasn’t as committed as I was. He did well – he cycled to Russia and then he cycled home. In the time it took me to get from Moscow to Tokyo, he had cycled home via southern Europe, met a girl, moved in with her and started a business with her. John was an experienced cyclist and had done a lot of tours so it was great to have him around, especially in the first couple of months. But, if it was tomorrow, I’d start by myself.

JAMES CASTRISSION

KAYAKED THE TASMAN SEA

Some advice I got back when I was having a big difficult patch with [my expedition partner] Jonesy, a friend said to me, ‘Look, even if you are responsible for 80 per cent of the project, 80 per cent is not going to get you to the start line.’ And that’s with me operating 24 hours a day. So if Jonesy only did 20 per cent that was enough. But on the trip itself, that’s really where Jonesy’s strong point is. He more than made up for everything out on the trip itself.

KYLE HENNING

TRAVELLED FROM THE LOWEST POINT IN AFRICA TO THE HIGHEST

I called the trip a ‘solo’ expedition, but part of why I did it was to meet people whom I would end up depending on. Welders, mechanics, waiters, drivers and simply kind-spirited people along the way made the expedition possible. I didn’t realise it until afterwards, but I was seeking that connection in my life.’

© Alastair Humphreys

IT MIGHT BE EASY FOR YOU, BUT FOR ME…

‘It’s OK for you to go off on these big adventures,’ I sometimes hear people cry. ‘I’m not as male, fit, rich, young or handsome as you.’

OK, I made the last bit of that sentence up, but the rest I do regularly hear. And it’s probably not a coincidence that most of the people who do really big, really crazy adventures are male, fit, young, single and not poor.

But I do believe that anyone can do big and bold journeys. I know that you do not need to be athletic, brave or rich, for I am none of those things myself!

Women frequently ask my opinion on whether an expedition is suitable for a female to do. Here are reflections on that subject from some of the adventurers I interviewed who are more qualified than me to answer:

HANNAH ENGELKAMP