Adventure Not Leisure Travel

I just wrote a A Simple Guide to Financial Freedom based on my experiences with Financial Freedom. Consider giving it a read if you are interested in this topic.

I love a good adventure.

A few weeks ago I completed my biggest one to date: hiking the SignaTUR MASSIV in Norway in 14 days.

Now I’m back to my daily life and routines. Feels good but I’m also eager for my next trip. Summer is still here and I don’t want to waste it.

One thing I struggle a bit with is the distinction between leisure travel and adventure. Sounds like it should be an easy split. Sometimes it is. But often it isn’t and I find myself arguing I should spend money on travel as it is a great adventure and worth the expense.

But I already know I can do adventures on the cheap. Big adventures will cost something. And they are often worth the time and money. But smaller adventures can be quite good as well — and much cheaper.

I just had a big adventure. And now that I’m planning my next one already I feel myself leaning more towards easy travel: maybe I’ll book a car? Stay in hotels/apartments and just day hike? What about going somewhere warm and nice? Take it a bit easy?

This isn’t adventure. It is leisure travel. And nothing wrong with that — as long as I know what I am doing.

Not every minute spent away from work needs to be a big adventure. I need some relaxed vacation as well (and smaller adventures). But I’m not entirely sure I need leisure travel right now. I’m not sure I can afford it yet.

Leisure travel¹ is a luxury.

My financial freedom project is going well but I still struggle from time to time with luxuries. This is one of them. I can’t afford luxuries like leisure travel yet as I would rather have more free time. I want to spend my money investing in free time rather than luxury experiences and items.

If I need some vacation, fine. But I can relax at home and take it easy here.

If I need adventure, I can find cheaper alternatives rather than just defaulting to “travel to exciting places”. I have plenty of smaller adventures I want to try out close to home: bikepacking, hiking, camping, improving my bushcraft skills, …

If I want a bigger adventure that is also fine. But I need to be clear about the goal and reduce expenses instead of trying to take it easy. If I’m looking for easy it means I’m not ready for another adventure just yet (which is completely fine as well).

And finally: travel can be an adventure in itself. But for sure not if I pay for everything to be easy.