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If you’ve been sitting at home, scrolling Instagram or travel blogs thinking “Woah, that looks like so much fun, which I could have an adventure like that“, then I’m here to save your 2017. Everyone else seems to be having super epic trips these days, but it’s difficult to know where to start when you want an adventure of your own.  2017 is your year to put that right.

ENOUGH WAITING AROUND! MAKE 2017 AN EPIC YEAR

Firstly, you can join our charity trip to Northern Thailand, help us build a playground on the Thai/Burma border for the Burmese migrant kids, then backpack around Northern Thailand with us – donate here to win that trip for FREE, we’ll be selling tickets to that after the fundraising stops too.

Everyone who works hard deserves 2 trips per year though, so put the thoughts of the same old holiday to Cancun, Ibiza, Florida to one side for a second and do something different, something to tell your grandkids about. This is why we make money, grinding it out,  to take opportunities when they present themselves, to live life to the max, and do epic sh*t that we’re proud of.

Imagine 2017 is the year that you RACE A TUK TUK around Sri Lanka in April, then 2 months later, build a playground on the Thai/Burma border. That’s a year to remember.

RACING A TUK TUK AROUND SRI LANKA? WTF?!

Yup, April 20th to April 29th 2017, the awesome adventure company Large Minority are running a tuk-tuk adventure challenge around the north of Sri Lanka. I’ve already signed up my team of 3 (me, my co-founder of the charity Josh, and our awesome videographer, Jordan) and I cannot wait to get my teeth sunk into it.

Check out a video of last year’s event to get you excited!:

HOW DOES THE ‘RACE’ WORK?

Between 10 and 20 teams of 2 or 3 (your choice, tuktuks are small, but I’m cramming 3 into my badboy!) meet in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s gorgeous capital. Here we get familiar with our tuktuks, supplied by the guys at Large Minority. Now the actual 10 day event isn’t an outright race, it’s a lot more fun than that.

Each day has separate challenges (how many coconuts can you collect and full your tuktuk with en route, that kinda thing), then we race to the finish point each day, where all the teams meet up, share epic stories from the day and have a good time. Maybe even have time for a cheeky beer.

THE ROUTE (all 1000km of it!)

THE TUK TUKS

The beautiful thing about the ‘Lanka Challenge’ is that the tuktuks are all sourced and rented locally, giving the local drivers a much better income than if we weren’t there. Day 1 is all about training and getting used to the sexy little beast, insurance is covered too so no stress there. Bring plenty of paraphenalia to adorn your trusty stread, and you’re good to go.

RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL

The guys at Large Minority are super commited to giving back, one of the reasons I wanted to work with them. Check out what they have to say about responsible travel, it’s pretty rad to be honest:

“Travel’s way too important not to do it properly. If you’re going to cross oceans, explore the Amazon Rainforest and ride tuk tuks in the name of Adventure, it may as well be responsible adventure: a trip that treads lightly, eats noisily and gives a little something back.

All of our Adventure Challenges are geared around fundraising and responsible travel. It’s kind of our thing. That means that 10% of every dollar we get goes straight back to flagship charity projects and tree-planting campaigns in the countries we visit. The grassroots organisations that can really make a difference in the world.

Since 2009 we’ve teamed up with incredible NGOs and small community groups to raise over USD 75,000, distributed to our various Meaningful Travel initiatives. Not only that, but our plucky adventurers have fundraised an extra USD 50,000 for charities of their choice.

We often say that travel can change the world. Which sounds a bit cheesy, but it’s true. Visiting far away places, putting money in the hands of local communities, learning about other cultures and busting up stereotypes – it’s all possible. You’ve just got to think responsibly.“

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

Eeeek, the million dollar question eh? Ok ok, first of all Sri Lanka is pretty cheap to get to as it’s serviced by Sri Lanka Air (a super cheap airline, the food might suck, but the prices don’t, I use them all the time!).

Secondly, there are 2 price options  – Luxury and Budget, which basically means either nice little boutique hotels you share with your teammates or camping. The price per team is $4,999 for luxury or $3,999 for budget. So if you have a team of 3, luxury costs you $1,620 per person, and budget costs $1,300. Teams of 2 then are $2,450 luxury and $1,950 no frills. Boom. Done.

SEE YOU IN SRI LANKA!

One thing I’ve always done, even when I was super broke and traveling FOR YEARS on $15 a day, was that I always threw money at awesome experiences, even if it meant giving up booze for a month, or for no pressies all year, just small donations to my travel fund, whatever it took. In all my years of blogging, I never really intended to work as a tour guide, or own a charity tour company, but here we are – both the ‘ Lanka Challenge ( more info in the link)’ and the ‘ GiveBackGiveAway 17‘ in  April and then June. Make 2017 the year you live it up, see you in Sri Lanka!