What is an Adventure ?

The meaning of the word depends on your level of temerity: this is how I see it

Today, 27th of April, is Freedom Day¹ in South Africa. And that is a perfect day to explore the meaning of the word Adventure, since my blog is named Gaëlle Goes Adventuring. I thought it would be good to elucidate what I mean with this title.

There are many adventurers out there who have large social media followings because what they do is worthy of lots of attention. Like cycling Africa from Cape Town to Cairo. Abseiling off every mountain on Earth. Base-jumping from tall buildings. Or maybe even walking from Marseille to Orleans with a pushcart. Hmm… I don't see myself doing quite any of those things any time soon, sorry to dissappoint…

Adventure /ədˈven.tʃər/

an unusual, exciting, and possibly dangerous activity, such as a trip or experience, or the excitement produced by such an activity

Now that is the dictionary definition of the word Adventure. Luckily for me it is broad and leaves me with plenty of space to fit in what I think of as an Adventure.

If an adventure is something unusual and exciting, couldn’t we say that something as simple as moving house or taking a weekend road-trip qualifies ? Imagine jumping into your car with a sleeping bag and an overnight pack and no idea where you’ll go. That is unusual and it could even be dangerous if you end up somewhere far off the beaten track…

But I find the process of planning and executing something the most exciting. Moving house for example: working out your budget, browsing realtor websites, visiting properties, signing papers, packing boxes, unpacking, creating a new space… It all takes a lot of energy and it’s something quite out of the ordinary when one lives a 9-5 kind of life. Maybe that’s why I started out my professional life as a project manger in the construction industry… creating something where it wasn’t before… Yes, those projects were all grand adventures to me !

Adventures are easy to find ! Riding an electric bicycle for the first time was exhilarating indeed ! Unusual and exciting. In Amsterdam possibly dangerous ?

So my upcoming adventures are not going to be great escapades worthy of Getaway or Outdoor Magasines, but don’t worry, they’ll be slightly more titillating than moving house - I’ve done that a couple of times already in my lifetime and I’m ready for the next level… Sure, leaving my regular old life behind is exciting enough as it is, that’s a good start. We’ll see about adding the dangerous spice in there a little later as I get more comfortable with existing out of a couple of suitcases and a set of wheels !

So let’s see, I bet you’re dying to hear what I’ve got planned. Well I wouldn’t want to disappoint you by listing all the things I want to do and then never doing them. Or maybe listing them would encourage me to do them so as not to disappoint you. OK, so here’s a list of things I’d like to do, and maybe I will maybe I won’t do them, but you can try and keep this list handy and watch me progress and see if this 46 year old gal has the guts to go through with them. Oh, yes, time does go by and I have graduated one more birthday since you last received my newsletter. Happy Birthday to me, I’m a nut on a tree.

~ Swim in the sea and lie on the beach - what ???? Yep. I’ve been living in a landlocked city and haven’t had a chance to do this in just under two decades… Oh, sorry, I tried early 2021 when I went down to Cape Town, but Covid went and kept the beaces closed. Damn. So that will be unusual and exciting for me, a true adventure hahaha.

~ Live on my own in a camper-van / motorhome, staying in campsites, on roadsides or with local hosts. Meeting other nomads and local people along the way. Unusual and exciting. But you knew that already.

~ Hiking on the coal-mine dumps in Northern France. I’d seen them as a child, studied mine-dump rehabilitation at university (albeit for the local gold-mine dumps here in Johannesburg) and heard about how they’ve become eco-historic conservation areas nowadays, so I’m very eager to go check them out. Unusual and exciting.

~ Explore the backroads of a country I identify with but have barely seen. Drive past mustard fields and lavender fields and rapeseed fields, see the Alps, the Mediterranean Sea, the shipyards of Saint Nazaire, Ouradour-sur-Glane, Broceliande Forest, l’Ile de Ré, Alsace-Lorraine, Biarritz, Avignon, Antibes, Chambery, Le Chemin des Dames, Verdun, Bordeaux, Lacanau-Océan…. oh so many magical names. Unusual and exciting !

~ Go sailing. Not just a day trip as a tourist, but a proper sailing trip far out on the ocean, somewhere, somehow - I will let chance decide how this happens. I’ll know it when the opportunity crosses my path. Exciting and possibly dangerous.

~ Visit Eastern Europe. When I was growing up and learning Geography, those words symbolised an impenetrable block known as the USSR, and so this region has always seemed very mysterious to me. As an adult I was soon too busy raising kids and making ends meet to get used to the idea of separate countries with their own identity. Weird, right ? The things you learn growing up really do stick like super-glue. Time to soak this off by immersing in some new cultures. Unusual and exciting.

~ Go hang-gliding and/or paragliding. Yes, I have a paralysing fear of heights. I also love the idea of flying (did I ever mention as a child I wanted to become a fighter pilot ? yes, before I realised that meant shooting down humans…) Now as a grown up, I reckon that would be a more vegetarian kind of flying. Unusual, exciting and possibly dangerous.

~ Bungee jump from the Orlando Towers in Soweto before I leave South Africa. This is another one of my fear mastering ideas. It’s the scariest of all my list so far, and it’s going to have to be the first one I achieve ! Exciting and possibly dangerous. Watch this space…

That’s quite the programme so far. I’m sure there will be lots of other things too along the way. But for now, the adventure I am living is all the planning, and implementing my exit from my previous life, and entry into the next. Sounds ominous hahaha but well I see Death as an adventure as well so that’s fitting. Anyway, no, you know I mean my previous life as a full-time mother, mortgage-paying employee, sedentary Netflix-addicted adult. This transition has been in the making for a few years now, even though at first I didn’t know it, whereas now I’m actively pursuing it. Unusual and exciting ! Dangerous ? who knows, life is possibly dangerous no matter how you live it, so might as well make the most of it !

And if you’re unable to live your dreams right now for whatever reason (they’re all valid, trust me) I propose to take you with me on my upcoming Adventures of a 46-year-old Nomad Voice-artist in a Camper-Van (quite a mouthful that). You’re welcome to follow along and live vicariously as much as you like, I’d be honoured to host you. If you haven’t done so already, don’t forget to sign up below so I can land in your inbox and take you away with me every now and then.

I write in English and French and you can read both versions to practice your language skills, or choose the unsubscribe option for the language you don't want to receive. I really look forward to interacting with you through the comments section !

1. Freedom Day commemorates the 27th of April 1994 which was the day ALL South Africans got to vote together in their country for the very first time as part of the fall of the Apartheid regime. And I had just turned 18 a few days before, so I got to cast my vote on that very memorable day :)))