How to choose your next Adventure (Without it staying a dream forever)
If you’re anything like me, your head is permanently stuffed with half-formed adventure ideas. Right now I’ve got about ten floating around: stalking Sumatran tigers in the jungle, following the England football team around Mexico and the USA, or busking my way across a country. Adventures breed like the heads of the Hydra—finish one and two more sprout up. You meet another traveller in a pub or on a trail, they mention something casually, and suddenly you’re trying to convince a mate to move to Scandinavia with you next winter.
The problem? Most of these ideas stay exactly where they are: romantic, untethered, floating in the ether. No dates, no budget, no real commitment. They’re “things I’ve always wanted to do,” “trips I’ll get to eventually,” ephemeral daydreams that never quite become real.
I’m getting tired of that cycle. So I have started looking for a simple series of questions I could ask myself to test any adventure idea properly: Is this worth pursuing? Can I actually make it happen? Or should I quietly put it on hold (or straight in the bin)? Before I walk you through the questions, first step is to give the idea a name.
Step 1: Give Your Adventure a Name
It can be broad or specific, blunt or poetic—doesn’t matter, just make it concrete.
GO TO EUROPE!
Photograph a Cerulean Flycatcher
Explore sauna culture in Finland and Estonia
Eat my body weight in Japanese food
Busk across a country
Write it down. Circle it. Underline it. Personalise it. Stare at it until it stops feeling like a vague fantasy and starts feeling like something you might actually do. Once it has a name, the real work begins.
Step 2: Ask the Big One – WHY?
Be ruthless here. Dig deep. Let’s take the classic “GO TO EUROPE!” example and break it down.
Why Europe?
“Because I’d like to explore lots of different cultures in a small geographical space.”
“Honestly, I just want to drink good wine and eat pasta without apology.”
“All my friends have been and I feel like I’m missing out.”
“Tasmanian winter is bleak and I want some sun.”
Each answer opens its own line of deeper questioning:
Any specific cultures? How do you actually plan to explore them—staying in hostels chatting to locals, or just ticking off landmarks? How many is “lots”?
Do you have to travel internationally for wine and pasta? Does this really mean Italy, not the whole continent? Are you interested in wine regions, vineyards, or just sitting in a piazza with a glass? What about pasta-making classes?
Do you really need to follow the crowd? What exactly did your friends do that piqued your interest—specific experiences, or just Instagram envy?
If it’s just sun you want, why Europe? Could you find it closer to home? Is it sun alone, or white-sand beaches, poolside bars, and a sense of escape?
Keep drilling. Be honest. After a while, the fog clears. You might realise “Europe” was never the goal—it was sun, or wine, or shaking off winter blues. Suddenly the adventure has a sharper focus: “Two weeks in Sicily: wine, pasta, and beaches.” Or maybe you cross Europe off entirely and realise you actually want to drive a Land Rover across Africa. Great—cross it out and start again.
Step 3: Assess the Practical Stuff
Once the WHY feels solid, run the idea through these filters. They’re the reality check that turns daydreams into plans (or kills them mercifully).
Fitness
Does this adventure demand fitness? How much? Be brutally honest: how fit are you right now? How long will it realistically take to get to the required level?
Weather & Seasonality
Will seasons make or break this? Summer, winter, wet, dry? Check long-range patterns early.
Time
How long will it take? Can you carve out that block? Can you take the leave? What responsibilities are you leaving behind—kids, dog, house plants, partner, job? Who can cover them?
Cost
What’s a realistic estimate? Flights, food, accommodation, gear, insurance, emergencies. Do you have the money now? If not, when will you?
Ethics & Morals
Question your own boundaries. Are you an environmentalist? Vegan? Culturally sensitive? Does this trip cross any of your lines—patting drugged tigers, exploiting locals, ignoring cultural norms? Be honest with yourself.
Experience
Does your background matter? Have you done similar things before? What skills do you need to learn? What are you hoping to gain—new knowledge, confidence, stories, growth?
Danger & Risk
What are the real risks? What’s the worst-case scenario (injury, getting lost, weather turning nasty)? How can you mitigate them? Does the payoff (the experience, the learning, the joy) justify the danger?
Step 4: Decide & Act
By now the adventure should feel sharper, smaller, or dead.
If it survives: put dates in the calendar, start training/saving/researching.
If it doesn’t: no shame—cross it off and move on. Better to bin a bad idea than waste time/money on it.
If it evolves: rename it, refine it, start again with the new version.
This isn’t about killing dreams—it’s about making the good ones real and letting the rest go gracefully.
So next time one of those ten ideas drifts across your mind, grab a notebook (or the back of a beer mat), give it a name, and run it through the questions. You might be surprised what survives. Or you might be surprised what doesn’t—and that’s okay too.
I will be running my own adventure this process in a separate article, so keep your eyes peeled for that!