Fool's Path to Adventure

“We need a new kind of explorer, a new kind of pathfinder, human beings who, now that the physical world is spread out before us like an open book with the latest geographical mystery solved and the highest mountain climbed, are ready to turn and explore in a new dimension”.

Laurens Van Der Post (author)

Travel and the external quest for Adventure

The word ‘adventure’ conjures up images of intrepid explorers in far-off lands. Traditionally, adventure was the privilege of a select few. Only the very wealthy could afford overseas travel. Cheap airfares, the internet and social media have opened the world in ways that people, other than in science-fiction, could not have previously imagined. There were also incredible risks involved for pioneer explorers. While getting ‘Delhi-belly’ during a backpacking trip in North India was a nuisance, some traditional adventures cost explorers their health and their lives.

In an increasingly interconnected world, exciting new places are being discovered at a furious pace. It’s like time and space have become compressed. Recently, I was part of a webinar with people from around the world including a Hindi- speaking woman from Colorado and an Egyptian man who lives in Cairo. Speaking with people of different nationalities from all over the globe has become a routine part of my life. The exhilarating rate of discovery comes with the loss of the old definition of adventure. There are fewer, untouched areas of the planet that have been left unexplored and untouched by tourists and explorers.

The age of mass travel opens the world.

As airline travel began to emerge in the fifties and sixties, the possibility of mass travel around the world became a reality. In the 1960’s, Sean Connery as fictional spy, James Bond, catalysed the imagination of the public as he fought with operatives from SPECTRE. Spy themed movies have long drawn on their audiences’ desire for escapism, exotic locations, and danger. In the sixties, overseas travel was still a novelty for most people. If airline travel was too expensive, movie-goers could relax and enter the imaginary world of agent 007 as he jetted around the world on assignment.

James Bond saves the world.

James Bond (and other fictional heroes) encouraged us to discover many of these locations for ourselves. Bond’s ‘license to kill’ became a license to travel for anyone seeking adventure in locations that have become iconic and interesting to thrill seekers. On my first backpacking trip to Udaipur, (South India) in 1999, I stayed in a hostel. I was exploring the possibility of doing community development work in India. From the balcony, I could see the famed Lake Taj Palace.  The Taj Palace was one of the locations for the 1983 Bond film ‘Octopussy’. Every evening, the hostel owners played a very well-worn VHS copy of the movie, Octopussy in the video machine to the delight of tourists. The age of mass travel has transformed the world into a playground for adventurers.

The threshold for adventure increases.

In an age of overseas travel, audiences are more sophisticated and have a higher threshold for adventure. Our thirst and craving for new and original experiences is becoming harder to satisfy. Bond movies had to adapt to meet the growing expectations of moviegoers for exotic and unusual locations. James Bond would travel upwards and into space. In ‘Moonraker’, James Bond (played by Roger Moore), and his companion, Dr Holly Goodhead, sneak aboard a space shuttle to transport them to a space station that is run by the villain, Hugo Drax. The most recent Bond movie, ‘No Time to Die’, reflected this trend as the movie was set in multiple countries around the world. Finding exotic locations is a real challenge. There are fewer unknown areas or lands that have not been exposed to the influences of Western culture or tourists.

During the 1980s, I went to see the movie ‘The Last Emperor’, with a friend. The movie is based on the story of the last monarch of the Qing dynasty in China during the Japanese occupation in World War 2. I looked around to see my friend, Emily sobbing quietly. After the movie was over, I asked Emily why she was crying. A normally chatty and vivacious person, Emily paused to gather her thoughts. She looked at me and said: “I was crying over the end of an era”.  Emily explained that she felt the loss of old-age traditions and unexplored locations. In a similar vein, a musician told me: “If you want to get a taste of traditional music …you’ll have better luck in the diaspora as people cling to their traditional culture more when in a new country”.

The end of adventure or the beginning of something new?

The absence of undiscovered or novel locations is not the only challenge to the traditional notion of adventure. There is also the risk of over-exposure and familiarity. I remember an informal conversation with another backpacker in North India.  “I saw another Hindu Temple…must be the hundredth so far” she sighed. Our innate restlessness, yearning for adventure, and thirst for new experiences can never be completely satisfied. Travel alone, is not likely to fulfill our deepest desires. We have “eternity in our hearts,” an author once said. I had many interesting and unusual experience while travelling through India. As I travelled, I had the realisation, that my quest for adventure was really a quest for self-identity. The ‘Holy Grail’ of identity and sense of purpose would not become clearer until I returned home. I would journey into the landscape of the unconscious to find the treasure that eluded me while travelling through India.