Deserts Need Drinking Fountains
I don’t know about you, but the desert feel of Mad Max and Tatooine from Star Wars always fascinated me as a kid. There is just something about the endlessness and emptiness that the desert provides. It’s always quiet. It’s always there. It’s always deadly. And the sand is always in your eyes. It’s the paradise everyone dreams of.
But where can you experience something like that in real life? Maybe check out the North Indian desert, which I had a chance to do in 2013. Is it expensive? Don’t make me laugh. I found a guide who was willing to take me on a week-long camel safari for only 300 bucks. Adventure and the experience of a lifetime for $300—that’s unbeatable.
You get the desert, you get the funky-looking camels, and you get Pakistani border guards pointing their guns at you when you take pictures of them. It’s like the movie Mad Max had sex with Indiana Jones and gave birth to what the North Indian desert is – without English subtitles, not as high-budget, and you don’t get to hang out with Tom Hardy and that super-cool chick who played Furiosa. I wish that were the case. It wasn’t.
But what you do get is to spend some solid time with a few questionable dudes and some really ugly-looking, but pretty goofy and good-hearted camels. Camels are honestly the kindest creatures I’ve ever run into. They’ll care for you. They’ll hang out with you. And they honestly don’t seem to give a fuck about anything, which makes them that much more awesome. They just like living in the here and now and going about their day chewing on stuff and sleeping. It’s definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience to ride these guys through an endless desert – while the sun is frying your face. It’s pretty memorable.
On top of getting to hang out with badass camels, you also get to listen to how cool and quiet the desert becomes at night. No phones calls, no engines, no agenda, no other form of life – nothing. It’s as dead as dead can get. Just the feeling of sitting there on the desert dunes looking out over an endless sea of sand is worth the trip in and of itself. It honestly doesn’t get much more unique than that.
But nothing makes it more exciting than the random people you meet in the most random of places. Imagine a person born in Ukraine (myself) having a KingFisher with a couple from Australia and an exchange student from Italy in the North Indian Desert – out of all places. That’s super random. And that’s what makes it super cool and worth every minute.
Don’t hesitate over this trip for even one second. You won’t regret it. And honestly, it’s super cheap, so don’t use the “I don’t have money” excuse bullshit. It’s so cheap that it’s even more expensive to work full time and do nothing but pay bills than just to drop it all and do this. Think about it.
Maybe adventure is your thing, but traveling to another country and being in sand isn't. If so, checkout Mt. Fury in the North Cascades - which is right outside of Seattle. This place is as beautiful as deadly. Use the link below:
http://www.trufkinathletics.com/blog/mt-fury-the-conclusion
