{"id":4912,"date":"2015-07-08T09:00:05","date_gmt":"2015-07-08T16:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=4912"},"modified":"2018-11-11T22:36:16","modified_gmt":"2018-11-12T06:36:16","slug":"become-a-local-explorer-find-adventure-close-to-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/camp\/become-a-local-explorer-find-adventure-close-to-home","title":{"rendered":"Become a Local Explorer – Find Adventure Close to Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever met a tourist who has seen more of your hometown\u2019s sights than you have? It\u2019s a common phenomenon. When you\u2019re only visiting, you appreciate that a place is different, interesting and worth the time to explore.<\/p>\n

When I\u2019m in an exotic, faraway place I make the effort to explore backstreets and eat in quirky cafes. I set my alarm early to watch the sun rise over a river. I love getting off the beaten path. Battling difficult terrain to reach a remote beach makes arriving there all the more enjoyable.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, though, I realized that while I\u2019m an adventurous, curious person overseas, I was a very different guy back home. I had made the mistake of assuming that because I\u2019m very familiar with where I live, it could not be wild, exciting or adventurous. I was wrong!<\/p>\n

For a whole year I stopped doing big overseas expeditions. Not only did I love those trips, they also were my only source of income. So stopping them was hard for me to do, yet I decided to begin exploring my own country. Britain is not known for being big and wild. But I discovered that almost everywhere I looked, there were pockets of wildness waiting to be explored. Not only that, I discovered that exploring these pockets doesn\u2019t require a lot of time or money. Imagine having an enormous mountain range close enough to enjoy on a work night!<\/p>\n

\"Local<\/p>\n

The only hard part of finding adventure close to home is shifting your attitude to go seek it out.<\/p>\n

Remember sleeping in your back garden as a kid? Looking at the moon and stars, listening to birdsong or watching the sunrise from your sleeping bag\u2014it was fun, right? So why not try it again, now that you\u2019re a grown-up? Sleep out for the night, then wake up and head to your important grown-up office job. Similarly, when was the last time you swam in your local river, \u00a0or explored the fields and woods off the route of your normal run or dog walk?<\/p>\n

\"Local<\/p>\n

Here then is my challenge. I challenge you to make a journey around your home. It sounds easy. But whether you live in a city or the countryside, I guarantee this will show you places that you have never seen before. Grab a map. Draw a circle with your home in the center. It\u2019s up to you how big that circle is.<\/p>\n

Then walk, run or cycle your circle, trying your hardest to stay exactly on the line you have drawn. I tried this last summer, camping out along the way. It was a real eye-opener to see new landscapes, to feel like an explorer and to enjoy a night under the stars in a small wood, knowing that I was just two miles from my home, my normal boring routine and my TV.<\/p>\n

Adventure is out there, just waiting for you. All you need to do is change your attitude. The rest is easy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever met a tourist who has seen more of your hometown\u2019s sights than you have? It\u2019s a common phenomenon. When you\u2019re only visiting, you appreciate that a place is different, interesting and worth the time to explore. When I\u2019m in an exotic, faraway place I make the effort to explore backstreets and eat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4916,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,388],"tags":[66,12],"internal-tag":[499,1672,1684],"class_list":["post-4912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-camp","category-travel","tag-tips","tag-travel","internal-tag-alastair-humphreys","internal-tag-pre-redirect-camp","internal-tag-pre-redirect-travel"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/camp\/become-a-local-explorer-find-adventure-close-to-home","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Become a Local Explorer – Find Adventure Close to Home","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/camp\/become-a-local-explorer-find-adventure-close-to-home","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/camp\/become-a-local-explorer-find-adventure-close-to-home"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/07\/9469219153-b0d3a4f764-b.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/07\/9469219153-b0d3a4f764-b.jpg?fit=1024%2C683"},"articleSection":"Camp","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Angela Crampton"}],"creator":["Angela Crampton"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["tips","travel"],"dateCreated":"2015-07-08T16:00:05Z","datePublished":"2015-07-08T16:00:05Z","dateModified":"2018-11-12T06:36:16Z"},"rendered":"