A decade of budget slow travel has afforded us some truly amazing adventures! I’m reflecting back on my top adventures because my 10-year anniversary of budget slow travel in early retirement is August 10! Woohoo!
Spouse Theo suggested I make a few different ‘Top 10’ lists, since I can’t narrow anything down to a ‘final’ top 10. There are top beaches, best UNESCO sites, top human experiences, ‘best travel deals’, top adventures, and more. So here, I’ll start with my top 10 travel adventures over the last decade.
Now, you might say our lives are full of travel adventures – and you would be correct! This list refers to specific planned excursions that were set apart from our ordinary days of temporarily living in places around the world.
Only 10 of many excursions over the last decade made the cut for this list. These experiences made the list because they cannot be done anywhere else on Earth, and/or they simply hold extra special personal meaning to me.
Top 10 travel adventures in 10 years
10. Swam with whale sharks in Mexico.
9. Hot air balloon rides in Luxor, Egypt, and Cappadocia, Turkiye.
8. Hiked a dormant volcano to camp near an active one in Guatemala.
7. Watched Komodo dragons fight in Indonesia.
6. Desert camping in the Sahara Desert in Morocco.
5. Lived with Asian elephants in northern Thailand.
4. Hiked up and down Mt. Fuji – in one day – in Japan.
3. Tracked orangutans in the jungle in Indonesia.
2. Explored inside ancient pyramids, tombs and crypts in Egypt.
1. Three 10-day silent vipassana meditation retreats; Chennai, India, Tiruvannamalai, India; Kuantan, Malaysia.
Honorable mentions of incredible adventures go to the times we: swam with Giant Green turtles on Lambai Island off the southern coast of Taiwan; walked the entire wall around Seoul, Korea; stayed on a ‘floating house’ in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam; swam with millions (and I mean millions) of sardines in Moalboal, Philippines; snorkled Banco Chinchoro, Mexico; and soooooooo many others.
My next Top 10 list will come next week.
The next year(s)
It’s unbelievable how fast the last decade flew by! And I’m ridiculously lucky to be on the cusp of another year of more travel with the best travel partner a lady could have.
If you struggle with whether or not to start a lifestyle of budget slow travel, I say: it’s now, or never because the world out here is changing fast, and also because– Life is Now.
Thanks for reading, “Top 10 travel adventures in 10 years.”
Recent posts:
Top 10 ‘human’ experiences in 10 years of budget slow travel
Ellen
10th anniversary of budget slow travel in early retirement
Ellen
Budapest budget breakdown
Theo
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We go without travel health insurance, but many of the principles apply to those with coverage.
About Ellen
Ellen’s sobriety date is April 13, 2010. She left the news business in 2015 to travel the world on a budget with spouse Theo in early retirement.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018 while traveling and had a double mastectomy without reconstruction in Croatia. She recovered, and kept traveling the world as a ‘flattie‘.
Our free guide about slow travel in India can help get you quickly acclimated to this wondrous country.
Read this before you visit the subcontinent.
Opinions & travel stories:
Elephantine Island has 7,000 years of history, a million reasons to visit
Ellen
10-day silent meditation retreat at Dhamma Malaya
Ellen
Boycotts of American brands & uncomfortable questions for us travelers
Ellen
“Happy Birthday, Mom!”
Theo
