Xem mẫu

MoreAdventure Travel 11 more stories of worldwide adventure to further inspire you towards your own travel goals. by Ian Usher (Please Note: these stories are based on personal experience only, and do not constitute any form of advice. Please make your own decisions, and take responsibility for yourself. I take no responsibility for any travel “adventures” that may result from trying any similar activities.) All material in this book is adapted from the book “A Life Sold” by Ian Usher or from the website www.100goals 100weeks.com More Adventure Travel Ian Usher Copyright 2012 by Ian Usher Smashwords Edition Smashwords Edition, License Notes Thank you for downloading this free eBook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to Smashwords.com to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support. Contents Introduction Worthing Birdman 7 peaks in 7 days Whitewater rafting Great Wall of China Deep sea fishing Icebergs Ostrich riding Bungee jump #2 Machu Picchu Carnival in Rio Everest Base Camp A Life Sold Submit your own travel stories for publication…? More adventure travel books Excerpt from “A Life Sold” Introduction Hi there. My name is Ian Usher In June 2008 I put my life in Perth, Australia, up for sale on eBay! “What will you do after you sell your life?” was one of the commonly-asked questions in many of the interviews I did in the run-up to the auction. My eventual answer was to create a list of all the things I had ever wanted to do, places I wanted to see, and experiences I wanted to enjoy. Between August 2008 and July 2010 I travelled the world, with a list of 100 goals, and a self-imposed timeframe of 100 weeks in which to attempt to achieve them. This collection of stories and events is adapted from the second half of that journey, and gives an account of some of the adventures found along the way. My hope is that these tales serve in some small way to provide a little inspiration for you, if you have things that you would like to get out there and see or do. My best single piece of advice for those looking for adventure, and in need of inspiration? Take the first step. Book your flight, order a book to research you plans, or invite a friend to join you. Whatever it takes to get you started. Because once you take that first step, it is a little easier to take the next step, whatever that may be. The third step is a little easier again, and so on. Just make a start, no matter how small. There is much more detail on my travels and adventures, as well as a more personal insight into the joys and challenges of travelling for an extended period, in my book, available in both paperback and digital format for the Kindle and other mobile devices. More details and links here:- “A Life Sold – What ever happened to that guy who sold his whole life on eBay?” There are also some other links at the end of this book, including an invite to submit your own tales of travel and adventure for potential inclusion in future similar publications, as well as details of other adventure travel books available from Wider Vision Publishing. In return for this (hopefully!!) interesting, inspiring and informative content, I would ask one small favour. When you have finished reading I would be extremely grateful if you could take just a minute to provide a short, honest review for it at whatever location you downloaded it from. Your support is much appreciated. Happy travels, Ian Worthing Birdman Weekend in Worthing. Saturday, August 22, 2009 After writing my blog at 5 am yesterday morning I got up and had some breakfast, but as nobody else was up and about, I went back upstairs to read for a while, and wait for the rest of the household to catch up with me. The next thing I knew, it was about 12.30 in the afternoon, Martin had gone to work hours before, and Rachel had been working all morning at home! For me it was still only the equivalent of 5.30am Denver-time. I had a quick shower and packed Martin’s car, and headed for the south coast, keen to miss the worst of the traffic that would be streaming out of the capital on a Friday afternoon later on. I made my way to Bognor Regis, the original home of the Bognor Birdman Competition. The pier there was damaged by fire a couple of years ago, and was drastically shortened, and the water at the new end of the pier is no longer deep enough for jumping/flying off! Bognor is a typical English seaside town, it’s glory years now long behind it. Despite the fact that it is still summer holidays, the windy beach was deserted, and the whole place had a faded, run-down atmosphere about it. I took some pictures of the forlorn pier and empty beach, and then drove ten miles along the coast to Worthing, the new home of the Birdman Competition. Worthing is a lot cleaner, and seems to have a bit more life about it. Although all of the concerts advertised at the Pier Theatre had a distinctly oldies flavour about them! The pier itself has a huge scaffold construction at the end, and I wandered along to take some pictures. It looked quite alarming, as the tide was right out, and the drop from the platform must be at least 50 feet, onto the sands below. I imagine that the event itself later today, and on Sunday afternoon too, are timed to coincide with high tide. Even so, the top of the platform is impressively high. At around 6pm, Michelle called me, letting me know that she had finished work and arrived back at home. Michelle lives in Worthing, a short walk from the pier, and had contacted me through the website, and offered to accommodate me for the weekend. I eventually found the house, and we headed out for a fantastic Mexican meal in town. Once again it is now around 2am, and I am still wide awake. I will try to sleep as long as possible tomorrow morning, and then am keen to go and see the serious flyers launch themselves off the platform in the afternoon. Worthing Birdman - day 1. Sunday, August 23, 2009 Saturday was a beautiful sunny day, and Michelle and I wandered down to the seafront for day one of the Worthing Birdman Competition. There are three classes of flyer, the most serious being the Condor class, who usually have hangliders, sometimes specially modified for the competition. The second group is the Leonardo Da Vinci class, who have more homemade contraptions, but still with the potential to fly a significant distance. Both of these classes would be competing on Saturday, but the third class, in which I had entered, the Kingfishers, would not be “flying” until Sunday. So I could happily enjoy the day as a spectator. And what a lovely day it was. The sun was out, the beach was packed, big screens were set up for viewing the action, and the whole place had a great carnival atmosphere. We watched a couple of flights from the beach, and then wandered out along the pier. We were surprised at how close we could get to the action, and eventually headed up the stairs to the bar on the second floor in the pavilion at the end of the pier, where the balcony offered an excellent vantage point. The wind was in the right direction for the flyers, blowing straight onto the platform, and there were some spectacular flights. The most amazing was by Steve Elkins, who flew an incredible 99.87 metres, easily beating the previous record. He must have been very disappointed to fall 13cm short of the target distance of 100m, which would have won the £30,000 prize that is on offer! Later on in the evening, Michelle dropped me in Brighton, and I met up with Martin and Rachel, who had come down to show support for my flight the next afternoon, and were out and about on the town with friends Rob and Suzanne. A great evening, although I went steady with the beer - a big day the next day! The flyers’ platform certainly looked unnervingly high, but I am looking forward to my own “flight” from it. You can read a BBC news article about the day here:-http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/8215701.stm Goal 55 - Fly like an ostrich! Monday, August 24, 2009 I had to drop my “craft” off at the pier before 11am, and then had to be dressed in costume by noon for the judging of the Kingfisher class. The theatre on the pier where the mayor and others came to judge us was filled with a variety of entertaining costumes, including a guy in a huge crocodile outfit, Laurel and Hardy, naughty nurses, and many others. At 12.30, there was a mandatory safety briefing for all of the “flyers”, which included the 18 serious flyers from the day before, who would be making a second attempt, as well as the 20 or so Kingfishers. The atmosphere was fantastic, and humorous comments from many of the contestants made the briefing very entertaining. At 1pm the “flights” began, with a guy in Hawaiian hula girl outfit and a body board plunging off the platform into the water below. He was followed by more spectacular plunges by other crazily dressed competitors, and I took my place in the queue behind “Del Boy” Trotter from UK comedy “Only Fools And Horses”. He had a complete mock-up of Del’s famous car, which failed to fly any further than any of the other Kingfishers, and disintegrated on impact with the water. It was my turn next, and I waddled up the steep ramp to the platform in my costume. I had opted to “fly” sat astride an ostrich, and had worked on the costume a couple of months before, with much sowing assistance from my mum while last in England. I had also begged shoes for the outfit from my godson Owen, and found the perfect pair of ostrich feet flippers while at a car boot sale down in Devon back in June. Each contestant was interviewed on camera at the top of the ramp, the pictures being transmitted on the big screens up and down the beach, and streamed live on the internet too. I was asked quite a few questions about both ALife4Sale and 100goals, and was trying to explain my fundraising goal, when I was informed that my time had begun, and I had thirty seconds left! I barely had time to waddle to the end of the platform, and wanted to take the time to actually look off at the height of it. “5 seconds!” I was informed as I looked off the edge. It really was a spectacularly high jump! “Go, go, go!” I heard, and I flew - well, plummeted really! It was a long fall, and I hit the water pretty hard, but the ostrich costume protected me well. The safety boat arrived and I was dragged aboard completely waterlogged! We waited for the next competitor, who had managed to split his lip and was bleeding a bit. I saw him interviewed later on the beach, and he was still shaking! I got changed, thrilled by the jump, and went to watch the last of the Kingfishers, followed by the more serious flyers. (“Are you suggesting that we are not serious?” a guy in an outrageous drag outfit beside me at the safety briefing had asked loudly!) Unfortunately the wind conditions were not as good as the previous day, and nobody came anywhere near the previous days’ fantastic efforts, but the sun was out, and for the spectators the weather was fantastic. Worthing Council did an absolutely awesome job of organising a fantastic event, which all seemed to go very smoothly. The English summer weather was perfect for the whole weekend, other than wind direction on the second day, and the crowds were huge. Many thanks to all who made this goal possible, including my costume designers, contributors and assistants - mainly mum and Owen! Also to Martin, Rachel and Rob, as well as one of the other Ian Ushers and family for coming along to offer support and encouragement. And huge thanks to Michelle for being a wonderful Worthing host. A brilliant weekend all round. More from the BBC here:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/8217125.stm I now have to dash back to Heathrow, and will be back in Colorado tonight. Quite surreal. ... - tailieumienphi.vn
nguon tai.lieu . vn