#solo-exploration

#solo-exploration

Traveling with friends after retirement promotes adventure and healthier aging. The journey started with feelings of regret, but evolved into a fulfilling exploration of life.

Guides poisoned trekkers' food with baking powder, uncooked chicken and even rat droppings to trigger altitude sickness symptoms, then terrified them into unnecessary evacuations.

Easter Monday in Lefkimmi was alive with families spilling from cafes, a marching band dazzling in the sun, and priests chanting beneath their hats. Men let off shotguns, filling the air with excitement.

San Sebastián, the capital of La Gomera, served as Christopher Columbus's provisioning point in 1492, with historical sites like the Columbus House Museum and Torre del Conde nearby.

When the person you're pretending to be gets too heavy to carry, you realize that the mask you've worn for so long has become your actual face.

The Million Dollar Highway is a narrow, two-lane road that runs above a deep gorge, with sheer rock walls on one side and an unguarded drop on the other. Drivers experience awe-inspiring views of 14,000-foot peaks as they navigate this perilous route.

The early morning sun is bursting around the dark corners of High Dodd and Sleet Fell, sending a flush of light across the golden bracken and on to the hammered silver of the lake.

Abiqua Falls is a stunning 92-foot waterfall that tumbles over a wall of columnar basalt into a wide pool, perfect for swimming. The surrounding area features a pebbled beach that provides breathtaking views of the falls and lush greenery.

On day five of an eight-day, 500-mile mountain bike race in Africa, Piers Constable found himself sprawled in the dirt for the second time. First he'd crashed on his left side, then on his right, until he was, in his own words, "muddied and bloodied," staring at a bike that was very much broken. He remembered a feed station a couple miles away and realized he had two choices: quit or run. He picked up the bike and ran.

Despite being alone, I say this loudly over and over and over again as I make my way up the brick walkway that leads to our house. That I had to go back seventeen years to find this reassurance for myself is troubling, back to when the dog was just a wish, albeit a persistent one coming from our daughter Meredith. That was when I voted no.

A sudden weather change, a mechanical, a missed turn, or a momentary lapse in judgment can all turn a "quick ride" into a surprisingly long day. The good news? While some of those problems are big, the solutions are often small. A last-second weather check. An extra granola bar. A quick link and a zip tie that's been living in the bottom of your bag for the last five years. Little things can often be the difference between a perfect ride and a problem ride.

Many glamping places are right off the highway. With Backland, we wanted an immersive nature experience-total comfort, with unobstructed views. The camp sits on an immense and grassy meadow ringed by an unnamed forest. Ten nature suites looked more like futuristic Quonset huts than white tents.

The body is a shifting landscape transformed by surfaces and sensations. Each look captures a different tactile world: the heat of blood, the cool weight of metal, the yielding drift of water. The result is a sculptural study of how the elements carve, shield, and release the self. The materials we embody become the emotions we carry, and the body becomes a materialised exhibition of our emotions, from the pulse of Blood to the discipline of Metal to the surrender of Water.

I had trained for a full year to complete a self-supported bicycle tour from San Diego to Las Cruces, New Mexico. It was meant to be the next-to-last chapter in my coast-to-coast cycling journey - one more long stretch of road before the final piece fell into place. Thirty-four miles into the ride, it was over. A microfiber towel caught in my derailleur. A fluke. One of those things you never plan for and still struggle to explain afterward.

AllTrails, a hiking app with trail maps and reviews, dug into insights from their 90 million-plus members and team of trail experts to spotlight lesser-known places where the trail alone is worth planning a trip around. Their guide, Travel-Worthy Trails for 2026, spotlights eight unexpected destinations around the world where the trail is the destination.

I trekked it in December 2023 with plans and a permit to camp at Bright Angel Campground, a scenic cottonwood-shaded hideaway just near the famed Phantom Ranch (the only lodging on the world wonder's floor). Then, two days before my trip, a miracle happened: One last-minute reservation became available for Phantom Ranch. The ranch digs typically book out over a year in advance, but if you're lucky, you can either get in via the lottery or a last-minute opening. This made the grueling but gorgeous hike down and up the steep South Kaibab Trail even more memorable.

The idea of living out of a single carry-on bag for an entire year sounds impossible to most people. We're taught from childhood to accumulate more clothes, more products, more backups "just in case." Yet, for thousands of digital nomads and minimalist travelers, fitting their entire life into one small suitcase is not only doable but liberating. It's a lifestyle shift that forces you to prioritize what truly matters and let go of the clutter that weighs you down.