The idea behind microadventures has been quite well documented – a way to look at the world differently, break out of our everyday routines, learn new skills and to appreciate stuff that we may have overlooked. They’re a passport to freedom.
…so I’ve come up with a set of rules.
From Alistair Humphreys…
“…small and achievable, for normal people with real lives”
“They should be new, close, cheap and simple.”
“Sleep outdoors. Don’t use a tent. Pack light. Plan simple. Seek wildness. Challenge yourself.”
My criteria for a microadventure differ slightly. Whereas getting into the wilderness is awesome, there are other ways to break out of the everyday and look at our surroundings in a new light. I’m working on a points system to make it into a competition (everything’s a competition), which will reward truly “roughing it”.
Mini-Microadventures: Day trips. They don’t’ require the overnight, nor necessarily the wilderness criteria. For example, I work from home, which invariably leads to quite an insular lifestyle. My solution is what I call, “Walk to work,” where I stick my computer into my backpack and walk out my front door – an hour later I pull up a park bench or patch of grass and start work. If it’s raining, it’s a coffee shop or a library. In other words, it’s new, close, cheap and simple. Sometimes I seek the river, or set myself a task like following the creek at the end my driveway.
I also use public transport to extend my coverage …because I’ve never relied upon public transport to get anywhere, it’s as foreign to me in my hometown as it was in Tokyo or Paris. Brisbane has amazing ferries. Check out my instagram for pictures
Microadventures: Overnight. The standard in non-standard, and again I’m a little more flexible with the criteria. Sleeping light and in the wild is indeed exhilarating and worth doing, but I can also see a benefit in going to a hostel in your hometown, if you’ve never been to a hostel before. It’s still new, close, cheap and simple. I will be tackling the issues of sleeping kit and how to’s specific to Australia’s unique climate, landscape and legal requirements in this blog.
Also, we own a boat (read here), so we can take it somewhere new in the Bay and stay aboard whilst still meeting those rules.
I like to think of Microadventures as practice for the next category…
Macroadventures: Multiple Nights. To still be part of the family of microadventures, they should still be applied to the formula of new, cheap and simple, for normal people with real lives. Apparently the requisite is generally a slide show that only your closest relatives and the infirm can see through to the end. Also note that Mini-Microadventures and Microadventures can be had within Macroadventures, so it’s feasible to have a…
Drunked Mini-Microadventure Microadventure on a toasted Macroadventure with Jalapenos
The Ever-Important Variations and Terminology.
Toasted: an adventure involving alcohol and a short speech. (…without the speech, it’s a drunked microadventure)
…with Jalapenos: an adventure involving someone hot, or one where you take Jalapenos (ambiguous, but embellishment is encouraged)
