We travel to open ourselves to new experiences. Some of those involve meeting foreigners and others involve seeing sights and learning about cultre. Some of the most memorable travel experiences for us are those ‘once in a lifetime’ activities that often define a place. At times these are exceptional while other times…not so much. No matter what though, they all make for fond memories and good travel stories.
The Good – Our runner up for ‘Good Day’ in our first Good-Bad-Ugly post, this was whitewater riverboarding in Uganda. The headwaters of the White Nile are unsurprisingly white and filled with rafting companies oozing with tourists looking to head down river. As kayakers we don’t enjoy rafting quite as much as we used to and with our cousin with us kayaking wasn’t really an option. Instead we jumped into a raft with boogie boards and although we had to sit out a couple of the rockier rapids we mostly swam through the Nile’s class 5 rapids in what was an incredibly fun day. Best part about not being in a kayak was that we didn’t have to lift a finger to paddle through the long flatwater stretches between sections of whitewater. Runner Up: That would be the winner of our ‘Good Day’ in our first Good-Bad-Ugly ugly post…Mountain Biking Bolivia’s Death Road.
The Bad – We didn’t even know the ‘W’ trail existed before we were halfway down South America. We were planning to head all the way south so why not hike the ‘W’ as well. When we arrived to town we searched for lodging and in that time out in the cold, I caught cold. In the end our trip to the ‘W’ was cut short because I was ill and this was upsetting because we had otherwise perfect weather for the trip. I think the moral of this story is that when heading to a place with rather extreme weather is is best to pickup the extra clothing and gear before arrival so that you’re prepared when you put your feet on the ground.
The Ugly – Another kayaking story, this one on the Rio Jatunkayo in Ecuador. Prior to this river trip I usually only needed to roll (that’s what you do to get back up when you tip over) once or twice each time I ran a river and had only swam/ejected (that’s what you do when you can’t roll) once or twice ever. On this day, I went for at least seven swims but I’m not sure of that because I lost count. To add insult to injury the owner of the hostel we were staying at had paid for my boat and transportation as the ‘safety boater’ for the rafters he’d sent out that day. I wasn’t a very good safety boater at all…. I did go out a second day in a different boat and didn’t have a single problem…so I blame it on having had a crappy boat that first day.
This column of ishouldlogoff.com aims to answer those questions that we always get asked. What was your favorite this, or your worst that. Every week we aim to highlight a new topic and will do so until we run out of ideas. If you have an idea for a Good-Bad-Ugly post, feel free to tell us in the comment section below or send us an email. To read all of them, click here.
They all sound like fun activities! We’d love to do the W… timing wise probably won’t work since we’ll be there in Spring… but we’ll see. Sorry to hear that you guys didn’t get to do it. But there’s always next time, right?
We did do the W, it just wasn’t as great as it probably should have been, mostly because Danny was sick! We ended up leaving the hike early due to his health. Hopefully we get there again to do the circuit!
All three experiences seem really adventurous! The water look so cold at the W!!
We’re really looking forward to Torres del Paine and are all stocked up on cold weather gear. Hoping for great views of the towers! A friend of mine went to Patagonia with inadequate gear as well and she still tells the horror stories about it – her partner always seems rather amused by the clothes she showed up in as they met down there.
This is a water sport I know nothing about, so it’s very intersting to read what’s good, bad and ulgy. Looks all very wet and cold to me though.
The whitewater rafting at Uganda looks intense- I guessed it was category just by looking at the photo before I read it. Planning to whitewater raft or kayak anywhere soon?
@Inka & Grace- We love whitewater kayaking! Sometimes it certainly makes for some bad & ugly posts, but there are good ones! It’s not always cold, but it is always wet! 🙂
You guys are adventurous! I have yet to discover river boarding, but to be honest, I’m more comfortable in the air (bungy).
To be fair, we only river boarded in Uganda, but I’d do it again! I think you have to be a bit more careful the type of river you’re in though- as paddlers we like to say low consequence, big water- i.e. fun but relatively safe. I’ve never been bungee jumping so I’m afraid I can’t compare!