Thursday Traveler: Adventures With Ben

Every Thursday, A Dangerous Business will be shining the spotlight on a world nomad, travel blogger, armchair adventurer, or just someone really cool in the travel world. This week, the traveler is Ben Reed of Adventures With Ben. Ben writes about making traveling fun. He has logged 320,000 miles traveling to 15 countries on 5 continents where he has walked with lions, eaten insects and supported the Vuvuzela during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

1. How do you define the word “traveler,” and why would you consider yourself one?

I don’t call myself a traveler actually. I consider myself an “adventurer.” Adventurers have more fun than travelers. Traveling can be active or passive, while adventuring is always active. Travelers go somewhere and SEE something. Adventurers go somewhere and DO something. For me, travel should be something exciting, breathtaking, exhilarating, challenging and magical. People travel for a lot of reasons: learn new cultures, see new things, try different foods… I travel because it’s fun.

2. What has been your favorite travel experience thus far?

Hands down, visiting Victoria Falls in Zambia and Zimbabwe. You haven’t traveled until you visit this mile-long waterfall. When you stand underneath the mist as it’s raining down on you, soaked to the bone, you truly can appreciate how fragile and beautiful this planet really is. It’s the best place in the world to Bungee Jump. Awe-Inspiring

3. How about your proudest travel moment?

My proudest travel moment was being selected by the Tourism Authority of Thailand to blog from the City of Pattaya as part of their social media travel competition Ultimate Thailand Explorers. I applied last year hoping to benchmark and learn from expert travel bloggers on how to build networks and blog — never expecting to actually win the competition! As voting periods progressed from semi-finals to finals, I was surprised to discover that I was selected as 1 of 5 teams to win an all-expenses paid trip to Thailand.

Many bloggers (including myself), could only dream about winning something like this. I almost didn’t apply because the odds seemed insurmountable. My advice to others, take a risk and go for it. You never know how it will turn out until you try.

Eating a water bug in Thailand

4. Have you had any travel mishaps or bad experiences? If so, have these influenced how you view the place where they happened? Would you go back?

I travel a lot for business and always joke, “you’ll either have a great trip, or a great story about a trip.” My worst experience was having my suitcase lost on a flight from Africa to the U.S. I had about $1,300 worth of clothes, suits and 2 bottles of Amarula (a delicious South African Liquor) inside. The airline couldn’t find my bag and wrote me a check to replace it all for the full amount (after haggling over the phone). I bought replicas of the suits to replace the lost ones. Four months later, my suitcase, which had traveled to France, South Carolina, St. Maarten and Port Canaveral, FL (via a cruise ship), arrived home with everything in place (minus the alcohol). Now I have 2 pairs of matching identical suits and a great story!

I make sure every bag I travel with has a laminated paper with my address, phone and e-mail on it, incase the luggage tag is ripped off. I try to avoid checking bags as often as possible and now save every receipt for clothes purchases. Airlines won’t reimburse the full amount unless you can prove you bought them.

5. Name one thing you can’t travel without.

My Canon Rebel xTi. I love my camera. It serves as an outlet for artistic expression and helps me to reflect on all my adventures when I return home.

6. Name one thing you wish you COULD travel without.

My Canon Rebel xTi. That camera, with all those lenses and filters means I have to carry a backpack with me everywhere I go. Sometimes it’s nice to just travel without all the baggage.

Bungy jumping at Victoria Falls

7. What do you think has been the biggest thing you’ve learned while traveling (about yourself, a destination, a culture, travel itself)?

The United States is rule-obsessed. For a country that says we are free, we have to live with an awful lot of rules. More than any other country it seems. Many of them are just plain dumb. I think America needs to lighten up. If more Americans traveled more, they’d see that.

8. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

Every country has it’s own appeal in one way or another. I’ve lived in South Africa for 6 months and always consider it my second home. But there truly is no place like home. We live in a very fortunate country. Despite our own frustrations at home, we are incredibly lucky. Traveling has reminded me of that. I love America. What it stands for, what is has and where it will go.

9. Name one place you’d like to see or one experience you’d like to have before you die.

Australia has been on my adventure list for a long time. I’m glad to say I’ll be able to cross that one off in 2011. After that, unearthing the mystery of the Pyramids of Egypt is high on the list, as is staying in one of those little huts over the water in the South Pacific. Both seem almost unfathomable to the average person, which makes them even more enticing for me to accomplish it. A great blogging friend of mine, Jeff Noel says, “if your goal isn’t impossible, you’re not reaching high enough.”

The only thing holding you back from achieving your dreams is you. That’s one of the messages I try to share on my blog. Just get out there and do it. Who cares if you fail? Get back up and try again. Life is too short to worry.

10. If there was one thing you wish somebody would have told you before you started traveling, what would it be?

Take a full year after college and travel the world. I missed that opportunity and am trying to catch up now.

Visit Ben’s site: Aventures With Ben
Follow Ben on Twitter: @adventureswben
Like Ben on Facebook: Adventures With Ben

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Are you a travel blogger who has something to say on these topics? Do you know of somebody really interesting in the travel universe that you’d like to see interviewed? Speak up! The Thursday Traveler needs some interview subjects.

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