Traveling With a Mission: Why Themed Travel Can Make Your Trip More Memorable
Posted by Dan on July 07, 2009 in Adventures
Tea plantion worker in China
Last night I was watching a video about Tim Ferriss and Darren Rose’s trip to China with another guys I have to admit I’ve never heard of, you could say the theme to this trip is Tea (or for the niche marketers Pu-erh Tea). It’s a month of traveling around Yunnan Province tasting what they call the best teas on earth. Now I’m no real tea expert other than being partial to a bit of green but two things came to mind hearing their plans.
- This it didn’t come as a surprise, it seems tea is the new flavor of the month with internet celebs and I’m sure it’s a niche that has become quickly saturated in recent months. A quick check shows that, yes, there is a lot of Adwords campaigns running for Pu-erh.
- Giving your travels a theme is a great way to focus your intentions, travel slower, explore and learn more about your destination, an event, person or whatever you choose to build your trip around. Tim made the TV program Trail by Fire which might be considered themed travel, he learned the art of Yabusame, Japanese horseback archery.
Traveling with a theme is no new thing, it’s been around for ages and is popular with travel writers and long term or ‘career’ travelers. Some people choose to follow in the footsteps of someone before them, they follow a famous route like the Silk Road or Alexander the Great’s warpath east and all the towns, villages and cities that are named after him. Probably the most popular travels that could be considered missions or themes are pilgrimages, Mecca for Muslims and traveling to significant places in the life of Buddha are a couple of examples.
The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen is a great example of themed travel, he set out on an expedition to find the elusive snow leopard in Nepal and ended up with one of the greatest travel books of all time. Journeys in search of something you find interesting will be of interest to other people and they make fantastic stories.
You might have to find your Snow Leopard in a Zoo too
Historical themes are popular, significant events like war sites make interesting themes, to make these trips successful though it is a good idea to choose the right kind of history. Choosing Roman history as your theme for example will generally only lead you to sites that are on just about anyone’s itinerary for Italy, Rome beyond Italy though has the potential to send your exploring lesser known sites around Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
If you are a travel writer or want to be you will have noticed that themed trips attract a lot of readers. Themes might also send you on missions to do things most travelers don’t, you find yourself trying to contact people in order to organize an activity you wouldn’t consider doing on an ordinary trip, it’s a great way to push you out of your comfort zone and into experiences that you will remember and treasure for the rest of your life.
Some great ideas for mission and themed travel I’ve come across are Spy hunting, Muay Thai, Finding Shangri-La, Tracing your roots, Storm chasing, Secret bases, Spiritual travel find your Yogi or Guru, learn the art of Bonsai, search for a rare of mythical creature, etc. Tours based on movies like Harry Potter and The Da Vinci Code have also become popular. Think out of the box but within your interests and you might come up with a theme that will inspire you and others to take unique journeys that will stay with them forever.
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While researching a possible overland trip from Kathmandu to Lhasa today (crossed fingers for October), I saw a company offering a Darjeeling Tea Tour. Not sure if this was a tour to tea plantations or more like the movie Darjeeling Express.
I’m pretty sure themed travels can be cool too!
I’ve always wished to tour certain cities or country following some of my favorite classic writers’ books. I’ve always enjoyed the feeling of remembering places mentioned by Zola in Paris, i.e. Though it was not meant to be themed at first, I ended up finding myself in many places where I thought “wow, this action took place here”, which delighted me although it was not really share-able but more of an inner/dreamy kind of travel
I think many travelers feel that if they take too much time in one place, they’re not really traveling. Taking themed trips can help slow down the journey and open up many new travel experiences.
I love this post. Themed traveling is definitely the way to travel to truly experience the full potential of where you’re traveling. My boyfriend and I recently traveled to the Galapagos Islands and we decided to set a “theme” to our trip and follow Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. It turned out to be a wonderful experience, and we truly learned how to appreciate the destination that we were traveling to much, much, more!
I totally believe that traveling with a mission, having a reason for being where you are, can add to your trip. Your theme doesn’t have to be as complex as Peter Matthiessen’s though. Even a mission as simple as create artworks inspired by the places you travel to can make for a good personal theme.
Thanks for commenting guys, there are plenty of great themes you could come up with and a few cool suggestions from you.