Often as adventure travellers we take the smallest of opportunities to pack our outdoor gear and dash away to enjoy whatever outdoor adventure activity is available to us, sometimes even travelling halfway around the world just so that you can perhaps take part in some prestigious canoeing event, scuba diving, cycling, etc. Make no mistake about it – there are indeed plenty of opportunities for any opportunistic adventure traveller to enjoy just another one of these events, but that comes with some tight margins to work with by way of your travel arrangements.
For example, international flights are usually nowhere near full midweek and in the middle of the month, so if you can get two days off of work then you pretty much have about five days (Wednesday to Sunday) to dash off and enjoy doing what you love. International flights are cheap, provided you book well in advance and I mean you can point to considerations such as the weather not being particularly good during these off-peak seasons, but even in places that are known for monsoon seasons the locals will often tell you that all that really means is that it rains moderately to heavily for about an hour and then the weather clears up again.
That’s certainly the case with some of the islands over in Thailand, so too the west/ south west part of Mauritius, where those 7-hour boat cruises inclusive of snorkelling are up to 50% cheaper due it being “the rainy season”. You even get warned as part of the terms and conditions while booking the tour that should it be raining heavily, the excursion will be cancelled and you’ll get your refund, but if it actually rains on the day the organisers often encourage you to just wait it out with them for about an hour and then it’s all systems go.
Now, schedule and book your escapades through travel agencies dedicated to adventure travel and your inbox will be flooded with ideas for you to spontaneously jump on the plane and head off to some faraway place just so that you can get your outdoor adventure fix, but you have to be prepared to work with very tight margins by way of stopovers between flights and the likes. There was one occasion when we literally went all the way to Caribbean just to enjoy four hours of scuba diving in one of the best scuba diving spots in the world (if not THE best), but we didn’t sleep at all and jumped on the plane straight after that to be back in time for the start of the work week.
We’ve since had to file a travel delay compensation claim because the unthinkable happened and we found ourselves delayed for more than three hours, so I have it on good authority that our claim has a very good chance of being successful.
Otherwise just planning one’s impulsive and intermittent adventure getaways is an adventure in itself and there’s definitely quite the thrill to be had between flights when you’re chasing those tight margins during your stopovers and transfers.
