101 | Not Just Travel Tips with Alastair Humphreys
Alastair Humphreys is an adventurer, author, and keynote speaker. Alastair was named a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year for his pioneering work on micro-adventures, a concept that encourages people to go outside their comfort zone and have cheap, simple, and short—yet effective—adventures close to their homes. His blog and books, including The Boy Who Biked the World and The Doorstep Mile, brim with insights and tips to help average people live more adventurously.
Alastair joins me today to discuss how we can live adventurous lives—even in our everyday world. He describes how his early love for reading inspired him to be an adventurer and why he declined an opportunity for a more traditional, stable career as a high school teacher. He explains “micro-adventuring” and the importance of directly experiencing nature in any shape, form, or capacity. Alastair also highlights the difference between exploration and adventure, describes how curiosity links them, and underscores what adventure can teach us about life.
“Exploration is adventure plus purpose and discovery. There’s something extra to it, beyond just the excitement, desire, and curiosity to go somewhere new and have a fantastic time.”
- Alastair Humphreys
This week on Kathy Sullivan Explores:
● Alastair’s background and childhood in the countryside
● His university education and year of teacher training
● Alastair’s bike adventure around the world and how he made it work
● Why Alastair is thankful for the earlier stages of blogging and the internet
● Microadventures and the importance of bringing more adventure into our everyday life
● The impact of seeing and experiencing nature
● The culture of “assured” experience and why it’s an impediment to adventure
● Guidelines for adventurers and overcoming the “doorstep” mile
● A nugget of exploration wisdom from T.S. Elliot
● Alastair’s current adventure in book-writing
Resources Mentioned:
● Book: Living Dangerously: The Autobiography of Ranulph Fiennes by Ranulph Fiennes
Our Favorite Quotes:
● “Paying attention, being astonished, and telling about it—to steal from Mary Oliver—is a good way to be.” - Alastair Humphreys
● “Adults are so boring. Children are curious and playful and adventurous in a way that us adults could do a little more learning from.” - Alastair Humphreys
● “The bicycle is the perfect exploration vehicle: it’s cheap, it’s quick, but not too fast, and, above all, you’re free—you can literally go anywhere on the planet.” - Alastair Humphreys
Connect with Alastair Humphreys:
● Book: The Doorstep Mile: Live More Adventurously Every Day
● Book: Microadventures: Local Discoveries for Great Escapes
● Book: The Boy Who Biked the World: The Complete Collection
● Alastair Humphreys on Instagram
● Alastair Humphreys on Facebook
● Alastair Humphreys on Twitter
● Alastair Humphreys on YouTube
Spaceship Not Required
I’m Kathy Sullivan, the only person to have walked in space and gone to the deepest point in the ocean.
I’m an explorer, and that doesn’t always have to involve going to some remote or exotic place. It simply requires a commitment to put curiosity into action.
In this podcast, you can explore, reflecting on lessons learned from life so far and from my brilliant and ever-inquisitive guests. We explore together in this very moment from right where you are… spaceship not required.
Welcome to Kathy Sullivan Explores.