I never quite know what to think of "adventure travel packages." Wouldn't a closely-managed itinerary exclude adventure, by definition? I always thought that adventure meant not knowing what will happen next? Magellan's expedition was definitely adventure -- he sailed uncharted waters, discovering unknown routes. If a modern-day sailor, with modern charts, set out to retrace Magellan's route, would that be adventure?

Magellan was also killed by natives in the Philippines. Most of us would prefer to do our adventuring in more welcoming places than that. If you take, say, the "Headhunter Trail" through Borneo, visiting tribes who traditionally were, but no longer are, headhunters, and who now rely to some degree on tourism income, is that adventure?

Obviously, we do not use the term adventure for just any exciting trip to an exotic locale. What makes a trip "adventure travel"?

Live was I ere I saw evil.