Let Us Answer Your Adventure Travel Questions

“Adventure” is like the words wealthy, attractive, or intelligent: its meaning is almost always relative to the speaker or the audience. To some, an “adventure” getaway entails journeying to a hotel that doesn’t have an in-house spa. To others, it requires jumping out of a plane.

In travel circles we use the adjectives hard (like Bungee jumping or white water rafting) and soft (bird watching or culinary tours), to help define the level of adventure. But activities in the two categories swing to extremes, begging the question: what about someone who might want to try something that gets her heart pumping a bit, but isn’t quite ready for a vertical ice climb?

For starters, you fit into the Tomgirl category. And for that category we’ve coined the term “mildly adventurous.” What does that mean? Well, as you’ve seen here on our blog, our activities range from zip-lining and indoor skydiving, to ropes courses and Segway riding.

Mild adventure is our style and, as such, we’re working on our upcoming webinar, Adventure Travel 101, to help explain the differences in adventure excursions, answer questions would-be Tomgirls have, and ease the minds of anyone who has considered an adventure tour, but is still hesitating.

During the Webinar Ann Petronio of Annie’s Escapes and I will answer questions about how to plan an adventure vacation and provide food for thought on choosing the right tour (addressing topics like travel goals, destination choices, desired activities and budget planning).

But we know there are other questions out there so, throw ‘em at us and we’ll be sure to address your queries. Have you taken an adventure vacation? What was your experience? If you haven’t yet experienced an adventure tour, what questions or concerns have stopped you? Do you have fears about the level of adventure or fitness required to participate? Do you wonder about the safety of the activities?

Feel free to post any questions in the comment section here or email them directly to me: lori@tomgirltours.

The Webinar is Sept. 23; we’ll have registration available next week but, if you’d like advance information, just let me know!

Videos from Vermont... Check Out the Action!

We've returned from our fabulous Vermont adventure (and are still savoring the fun!). Here's a peek at Carol and I in action the past few days at the Essex in Burlington...

My Segway trip through the park near Lake Champlain, what a great way to enjoy a fantastic day in beautiful downtown Burlington Vt.

Carol rope climbing and making her way to the top platform at Northern Lights (no easy task!)

Carol takes a break and bursts out laughing – she is so happy to be back on stable ground (42 feet in the air on a platform, that is)!

Then it was on to the next part of the adventure, where Carol took her first zip line to the base.

Lori makes her way to the top on the ropes while posing for photos for Charlie King, the summer resident photographer at The Essex.

Update from Vermont! On the Ropes and Climbing the Wall

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and I agree! So, what better way to explain the adventures Tomgirl is enjoying at the Essex in Vermont than with these photos... (more to come later!)

Our wonderful guides, Tommy and Frank

Carol and I climbing

Me, flying!

Here I am on the ropes

Curious About Adventure Travel? Read On…

Okay, what exactly is “adventure” travel? Heard the buzz and wonder what it entails (and if it is for you)? If so, you aren’t alone. We hear those questions a lot at Tomgirl Tours. So, to answer them, this September I’ll be hosting a webinar “Adventure Travel Demystified,” along with travel agent Ann Petronio of Annie’s Escapes. Ann and I decided to offer this informational webinar because so many women want to try an adventure tour but haven’t—whether due to uncertainty over the itinerary, safety, or required fitness levels (short answer on the latter: if you can walk a couple of miles, you’ll be just fine on a Tomgirl tour!). Our goal with this webinar is to debunk people’s fears of the unknown in adventure travel.

Here at Tomgirl, for example, we focus on “soft adventure”: we’re not climbing glaciers, but we’re not spending our tours indoors getting manicures either (although we do understand that a girl wants to be pampered, and add a touch of that to every tour!). Our recent White Mountain Adventure excursion in New Hampshire is the epitome of soft adventure: a zip line canopy tour and indoor skydiving lesson, balanced by a morning of shopping in the heart of North Conway.

Right now, we’re in the planning stages for the webinar, figuring out which of the many questions about adventure travel we should really tackle. Any subjects you’d like us to address? I’d love to hear from you (feel free to comment or send us an email directly). The webinar is slated for September 23, so you can get started on figuring out your 2010 vacation with your travel consultant and tour provider. We’ll give more details and remind you again as the date approaches, but mark your calendars and please do chime in to let us know what information you’d like to hear about in the webinar.

Next Up: A Culinary Adventure in Providence!

We are all still smiling and talking about our adventure in New Hampshire, so here are a few more videos

Lisa's fun zip:

Tomgirls on the bridge:

Caroline rappelling:

But now, it's time to shift gears to the upcoming Savory City

Tours in Providence, R.I. - two amazing culinary adventures. I am

especially excited about the September 18-20 tour because it includes an amazing Providence WaterFire where tens of thousands of people converge to see this series of bonfires installed on the three rivers of downtown Providence. National Geographic Traveler named it one of the 20 “must see” events in the U.S. and we are hoping to see folks from the many nearby (or far away) U.S. cities that have direct flights right into Providence. We would love to see you, too!

Action Video from Our White Mountains Adventure!

You saw the photos, now videos of our tomgirls in action on the zipline Sunday! First Thea, then Vicki...

An Exhilarating Zip = Happy Tomgirls

As Day 1 of our White Mountains Adventure comes to a close, we are a happy group of tomgirls here in New Hampshire! The zip in Bretton Woods was an exhilarating experience enjoyed by all; here are a few photos of our guests gearing up earlier today (more to come, along with video, later this week!) Tomorrow we'll continue the excitement as we give indoor skydiving a shot. Stay tuned for more on that tomorrow. 

Tomgirls and friends ready to zip!

Safety First

Gearing up...

Ready to go!

Our fantastic guides, Bobby and Steve

Greetings from New Hampshire!

We've arrived in New Hampshire and enjoyed lunch at the beautiful Mount Washington Resort. Here's a glimpse of this beautiful hotel and the gorgeous view we're enjoying. This afternoon, we are off to zip line and are all very excited. More later from our White Mountains Adventure!

And, We're Off! (On our White Mountains Adventure)

We are all ready to hit the road for Tomgirl Tours' White Mountains Adventure in New Hampshire tomorrow and everyone is very excited! We have folks flying in from the Washington, D.C. area and several others coming from different parts of Rhode Island. It looks like we are going to have perfect weather if the forecast holds up! (Which was not the case mid week and had me fretting).  

I was up in New Hampshire last weekend and, with all the rain we've had in New England recently, it was the most plush, green scenery I've experienced in years - just gorgeous!  

We're bringing along our newest tech gadget - the Flip Video - so we can capture our zip lining experience "in motion"... the perfect memento for guests to receive as part of their tour experience (and for us to share here on Travel for Tomgirls).  Stay tuned to the blog, as we'll be posting photos and sharing stories from our trip as they happen this weekend. We can't wait to hear your comments and feedback! 

So, until tomorrow, have a great day and we'll "see" you after the zip!