Challenge travel is a niche within the travel industry. This type of travel offers challenging experiences that provide opportunities for personal growth and development. Challenge travel is an example of Type 2 fun. Type 1 fun describes enjoyable life moments. These pleasant moments are generally not difficult to achieve. You can look back on them and remember happy events.
You may look back on Type 2 fun experiences with gratitude as well. However, this gratitude is for the insights that these experiences have prompted. Type 2 fun is challenging fun. You may not fully enjoy Type 2 fun while participating in it. The payoff is in making it through and learning from the experience.
Black Tomato is one company that offers this type of travel. This company provides extended problem-solving travel challenges. The Mongolian steppes offer one setting for Black Tomato experiences. The Peruvian Andes provide another. Aurora Expeditions is another travel company offering opportunities for learning through challenges. This company prioritizes environmental sustainability. One trip Aurora Expeditions organizes is to Antarctica for a scuba diving excursion.
Challenge Travel Offering Type 2 Fun
Challenge travel is a type of travel that focuses on getting through difficult circumstances. Tom Marchant is a co-founder of Black Tomato, a company that offers such travel experiences. Marchant states in Travel + Leisure: “People want bold and challenging travel experiences.” One descriptor given for this sort of travel is Type 2 fun. Travel + Leisure states that Type 2 fun provides adversity and is “enriching in hindsight.” The challenges of Type 2 fun lead to learning and realization.
Gossamer Gear states: “Type 2 fun is not always noticeably fun.” Difficulty is built into the Type 2 fun experience. The reward of Type 2 fun may not be apparent until after the experience is over. Type 2 fun differs from Type 1 fun, which is enjoyable without being challenging. A Type 1 fun activity offers pleasant experiences that turn into happy memories. A Type 2 fun activity may also leave you with appreciative memories. However, according to Gossamer Gear, these memories are connected to “a sense of accomplishment.”
Companies Offering Challenging Experiences
Challenge travel is provided by companies specializing in delivering engaging yet trying experiences. Black Tomato is one company to choose from. Travel + Leisure states: “The company debuted its Get Lost itineraries in 2017.” These itineraries provide travel-related problem-solving scenarios. Travel + Leisure explains: “Travelers on these journeys get dropped in the wilderness.” Participants must devise ways to escape from remote locations. The Mongolian steppes and the Peruvian Andes are two backdrops for these challenging activities.
Another company, Aurora Expeditions, also offers challenging travel opportunities. Aurora Expeditions invites: “Go where few have gone. Come back changed.” The company assures you that, after your trip, you will have a story to share with enthusiasm. Antarctica and the Arctic are destinations where Aurora Expeditions leads trips.
The company prioritizes sustainable and responsible travel. The Aurora Expeditions website states that the company is “proudly Carbon Neutral.” The travel experiences Aurora Expeditions provides aim to be as environmentally unobtrusive as possible. The website states that the company’s journeys “explore the world while helping to protect it.”
A Challenge Travel Example
One of the travel offerings of Aurora Expeditions is going to Antarctica for scuba diving. Visiting the continent of Antarctica is already an epic travel project. Travel + Leisure states that Aurora Expeditions provides the opportunity to “also go under it.” With Aurora Expeditions, you can scuba dive in the water near this continent.
Aurora Expeditions is the first mainstream travel company to offer this activity. Edwin Sargeant is an ice diver who works as a guide with Aurora Expeditions. According to Travel + Leisure, Sargeant most enjoys seeing “the undersides of icebergs.” He also states that seals and penguins can be seen with this travel experience. People on this trip can also look for giant kelp, soft corals, and spider crabs.
