Exodus Edits: Bucket List Busting Adventures

How’s the view from your window right now? Grey, drizzly, with a gloominess that matches your mood? Our favourite remedy for winter misery is plotting adventure. We’re talking bucket list busting adventure. So, if 2022 calls for a blow-out and planning the trip of a lifetime, we’ve gathered up some extraordinary journeys (complete with encounters that bag ultimate bragging rights) to set you on the right path.

Summit & Spices in Morocco

If you’ve never climbed a mountain before, now’s your moment. Climbing North Africa’s highest peak, Mount Toubkal in Morocco, will be something you’ll remember forever (as well as securing lifelong membership of the exclusive ‘I’ve climbed a mountain’ club). You’ll pass through Berber communities, sleep at altitude, then rise before dawn to continue an incredible climb for views over the Atlas Mountains.

Incas & Intrigue in Peru

Macchu Picchu. Need we say more? This is a non-negotiable feature on any self-respecting bucket list. But our trip to Peru includes so much more besides catching a glimpse of this fascinating ancient marvel. You’ll also see the sensational Rainbow Mountain and visit the otherworldly salt flats of Salineras de Maras. And let’s not forget ample opportunity to savour the glorious Peruvian food.  

Mountain Vistas & River Quests in Nepal

Perhaps this is the year you’ll casually trek the Himalayas. Yes, seriously. On this trip to Nepal, you’ll spend four days doing something that might push you entirely out of your comfort zone, but that’ll give you an incredible sense of achievement. The adventure doesn’t relent post-trek. You’ll take a raft ride through the jungle, staying overnight riverside surrounded by exotic wildlife. Well, you wanted to go big, right?

Aurora & Adventure in Iceland

Elsewhere, you could chase the Northern Lights across Iceland on a glacial escapade. While there’s time to soothe your soul in geothermal baths and the sensational Blue Lagoon, you’ll have earned the downtime from hiking over glaciers, kitted out with crampons and an ice axe, and zooming (thankfully not of the virtual meeting variety) on an ATV tour over the ice.

Bun Cha & Biking in Vietnam

If your happy place is on two wheels, then ten-days of biking through Vietnam may sound pretty heavenly. You’ll cover significant ground, visiting Hanoi, Hue and Hoi An. But you’ll also venture off the beaten path into rural Vietnam and through the challenging Ocean Cloud Pass – the thousand-metre-high barrier that divides the climates of north and south Vietnam.

Cabernet & Capers in South Africa

After a day easing yourself into South Africa over sundowners in Cape Town, the pace accelerates and doesn’t stop. Climbing Table Mountain. Biking the coastline. Kayaking with penguins. Wine tasting. Hiking. Sandboarding. This is the kind of exhaustion you’ve been craving (not that perpetual couch potato exhaustion of lockdown.