Warning: This is one of those hypocritical posts in which I possibly contradict my whole existence. How many times can you tell people how hard an expedition was? What you had to endure, overcome and outlast? Throw in the requisite tanned, shirtless, bearded explorer photo (or wrapped up in polar gear, hidden behind reflective goggles lenses and icicles hanging from beard if you like) along with images of inhospitable terrain and there you go. How f**king boring that has become. Yeesh! I bore myself with that crap!

Bit harsh perhaps? For hundreds of years, explorers and adventurers have returned from their exotic journeys, recounting stories to eager audiences, all hungry for tales of derring-do. A large part of my days are taken up doing just this and ok these stories are not always boring I suppose. I love it, but...there should be more. There has to be more. Fortunately, there is.

In this little world I inhabit (adventure? exploration? expedition?) a small revolution is taking place. In fact, a couple of my mates are on the front line (there are for sure more leading the charge). I was fortunate enough to attend a private screening recently of a film called Janapar by my friend Tom Allen. He is the star of the film and mostly on camera he rides a bike across Europe, Central Asia and Africa. But, the film has almost nothing to do with cycling and certainly sod all to do with expeditions. It tells a story far more interesting and enthralling than punctures, headwinds and long, straight roads. It tells a story about life.

Al Humphreys just wrote a book called, "There Are Other Rivers", ostensibly about his walk in India following the course of the holy Kaveri River. Al, who has written a good few books about his travels already could have taken the easy route and produced what would have basically been an edited version of his journal. Straight forward, simple and go...sell! Not this time. Al has published a book that tells the story of the walk through an account of a single day. Does it work? Who cares! It is different, it is new. It is interesting! Which I guess means, yes, it does work.

In May, I will paddle the length of the Missouri-Mississippi River in the US. Over the course of 4000 miles and 5 months you can bet things will get boring fast if I tell people about the headwinds, the river flow, the aches and pains day after day. Again, fortunately that is not the plan. With the help of a couple of talented individuals, I, like Al and Tom am having a crack at something new, something different. Using the expedition as a vehicle to bring other people's stories to life. Having the expedition as a bit player, rather than the star of the show is how I see the future, my future.

I might get it wrong. It may not work. I might fail spectacularly. But at least it will be fun trying something new, something exciting. What do you think? Do you still dig tales of heroism and beards? Or, do you think there might be more to it?

Tagged: 7 continents, 7 rivers, adventure, adventurer, Amazon River, current day explorers, epic, Expedition, expedition ideas, extreme, Extreme adventurer, extreme athlete, film, H2O Performance Paddles, Janapar, longest river, Mark Kalch, Mississippi River, Missouri River, modern day explorer, modern day explorers, modern explorer, modern explorers, motivation, Motivational speaker, Nile River, outdoors, Rab, source to sea, story-telling, Suunto, Therm-a-rest, Tom Allen, Zeal Optics. Written under expeditions, motivation