BY STEVE DINNEN
There’s offbeat travel, and then there’s adventure travel. Like a zip line in Costa Rica, or rafting the Gnashing Jaws of Death rapids on the Zambezi River.
But what if you’re not feeling as young as you once were (because you aren’t) and don’t care to rappel off the side of a cliff? You can still do this, with some adjustments, and take some pity on your body.
A retired Des Moines lawyer likes to ride bikes in Europe with his adult children. They can go faster then he can. Rather than impede the group, he rents a bicycle with a motor that kicks in on demand and maintains a suitable speed.
Visitors to Japan’s Mount Fuji love to be at its 12,388-foot summit at sunrise. But you don’t need to grind yourself down with a seven-hour trek to get there—a bus will haul visitors at least halfway to the top. Similarly, in Spain, I know hikers on the Camino Santiago who hired a taxi to take them out of town and drop them a third of the way to the next overnight stop. There’s no rule that says you have to walk every inch of this 500-mile journey, so why not save your body for another day?
