We’ve selected 8 creative and inspiring travel challenges that will turn your trips into personal adventures. Our source of inspiration is a book – “203 Travel Challenges. Travel the world. Explore Your Inner Self”.

Traveling is something personal, so take the ingredients of the following challenges, stir them, move them and change them to create your own challenges to spice up your trips.

1. Jump into a warm, open-air mineral pool while it’s snowing

There are plenty of warm, mineral pools in the open air around the world. However pleasant they may be in the summer, there is nothing like getting into one in the winter, when snowflakes are falling from the sky and you are soaking in warm, mineral water, not caring about tiny details like weather forecasts or an air temperature more suited to polar bears…

How to do it: Don’t forget to take a towel to dry yourself off as quickly as possible as you climb out of the pool. Also take your favorite warm drink in a thermos for pure bliss (coffee, cappuccino, tea and rum, etc.).

2. Night Challenge

There are many attractions which stay open even when it’s dark outside. There are also events created to make your night more interesting. It’s a different world when you trade the light of the sun for the light of the moon and the stars.

A couple of ideas for night events: European Night of Museums (every year on a Saturday, around 18th May – the International Day of Museums), European Literature Night (in May – celebrities read excerpts from European works of art), European Theatre Night (in November). European Researchers’ Night – research centers and museums open doors to show their achievements (every year in late September). Open-air cinema to enjoy a movie under the stars.

A couple of ideas for attractions open during the night: Every summer from May until October the Colosseum in Rome, Italy, is open until midnight on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays (reservation necessary). In New York the Brooklyn Museum has free admission until 11 p.m. the first Saturday of each month (except September); the Top of the Rock observation deck at Rockefeller Center offers 70th floor views of Manhattan until midnight (last elevator up is at 11 p.m.), and the Empire State Building’s observation deck is open until 2 a.m. In Bangkok, Thailand, every district has its own night market where you can find all kinds of food, goods and fun activities, at the same time immersing yourself the best way possible into local life. Try the biggest market, Rot Fai, or the bohemian JJ Green Night Market.

For seasoned travelers: Take a night walk through the mountains. Under the only light of the moon or a headlamp – with an experienced guide or along trails you know like the back of your hand. Night walks are an experience that is hard to forget.

3. Go out of range for 24 hours

Go out of range, see the sunrise, read a book, talk to people. 

You are constantly online. You follow the events on the social networks and sometimes it’s as if the real world has disappeared. We challenge you to go for at least 24 hours to a place where electronic devices are out of range. We challenge you to feel that you are here and you are here now, instead of drifting through virtual space.

For seasoned travelers: Deliberately turn off all your devices for a day. Get out of range for a week.

4. See a shooting star and make a wish come true

Seeing a shooting star to make a wish may seem to you like pure chance. The truth is, you can help chance come your way by being in the right place at the right time. Every year, around 12 August, the sky night fills with hundreds of shooting stars (or meteorites to be exact). The reason is the annual meteor stream called Perseids.

Fun fact… The meteors are called Perseids because when we look at the sky it seems like they come from the constellation Perseus. In fact, the shooting stars we see in the sky are part of the comet Swift-Tuttle.

How to do it: The Perseids peak around 12 August (look up the date for the year) when hundreds of meteorites can be seen every hour.

A couple more ideas: There are other meteor streams throughout the year (Geminids in mid-December, Lyrids in mid-April, Quadrantids in late December – early January) when you can see a shooting star.

5. Bathe in a waterfall

Enjoy a free shower from nature. If you try to find pictures of the waterfalls listed below, without a shadow of a doubt you will want to shower there next time.

A couple of ideas:

Skogafoss (Iceland), Havasu (Grand Canyon, USA + more ideas for waterfalls you can bathe in the USA), Ouzoud (Morocco), Skradinski buk (Croatia), Kempty (India). Or just visit the nearest waterfall to you.

6. Celebrate the International Picnic Day

On International Picnic Day (every year on 18 June), enjoy one of the best ways to be close to nature. The importance of picnics dates back to the Victorian Age when young men and women could spend time together in the open. Back in the day, they would bring fancy meals, sandwiches, sweets and crackers. Nowadays picnics require far less effort, but they can be a good reason finally to go somewhere you’ve been meaning to, but haven’t had the chance.

How to make it more interesting: You can give the picnic a theme – everyone to wear red, to bring only Italian cuisine, tea and board games, a candlelit picnic, etc. To make it more fun, you can throw in a kite, slackline, hacky sack, badminton or a frisbee.

Fun fact… According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the biggest picnic in the world was organized in Lisbon, Portugal, on 20 June 2009 with more than 20 000 participants.

7. See a shipwreck – without going underwater

It’s human nature – we are drawn to tragedy and decay. We roam around abandoned villages, enter buildings carrying legends of ghosts and dive to reach sunken ships. If diving is not your passion, we challenge you to visit one of the most famous shipwrecks in the world… without having to dive.

A couple of ideas:

Zakynthos, Greece – At Navagio Beach, you will see the remains of a vessel washed ashore. You can take a peek from the high rocks or reach it by boat.

Muynak, Uzbekistan – Outside the town of Muynak (or Moynaq) in Uzbekistan, in the direction of the Aral Sea, you will witness a sinister view along the road – the skeletons of ships and fishing boats abandoned long ago in the desert. Up until about 30 years ago Muynak was a sea harbor, but today it is in the middle of the desert, 50 km (30 miles) from the coast, after the rivers were diverted for irrigation purposes, and so the road leading to the Aral Sea turned into a ship graveyard.

Sydney, Australia – Homebush Bay in Sydney has become the final resting place of no longer operating ships. Some of them were swallowed by mangroves, growing over the rusty decks.

8. You want a raise? Take a holiday!

It is a proven fact that employees who use more of their vacation days achieve better results at work and have a higher chance of being promoted. Many people don’t use all of their vacation days as they fear that their long absence might show their bosses that the work can be managed without them. A study, however, shows that employees, who take all of their vacation days, show better results at work. Statistics in the USA and Canada reveal that for every 10 days off from work, the employee’s results improve by an average of 8%.

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If you have used boat that you want to sell, you can use platforms like Grays.

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Sometimes your dreams need a bit of help to come true…

You don’t have to wait for a shooting star to make your wishes come true. There are plenty of places around the world which were made for rubbing, grinding, leaving coins and gifts, with the sole purpose of your most intimate desires coming to life. Let’s see where, what and how.

1. Whatever you want: The Erawan shrine in Bangkok

The Erawan shrine was erected in 1956 as a part of the national hotel Erawan, to neutralize the bad karma which, according to the locals, was accumulated because the hotel’s foundations were laid on the “wrong” day. The series of fatal incidents on the construction site came to an end when an astrologist’s suggestion led to the creation of a statue of the Phra Phrom God. The sanctuary is easily noticeable, as it is always covered in flowers and candles. They say that you need to leave a gift if you want a wish of yours to come true. Often you can see dancers performing next to the shrine – they have been hired by people who are hoping to have their wishes fulfilled.

How much does it cost: It’s free – it is up to you what gift you ll leave.

2. Love: Juliet’s House

Juliet’s house is a classic, if your secret desire is love. It doesn’t matter that Juliet never actually existed, she has the world-famous power of lighting fires in people s hearts, and even keeping the flames alive. Or so it seems at the entrance of her house in Verona, where the walls have been covered by pieces of paper, with names and dreams on all kinds of languages. This paper wall has collapsed a few times due to its weight. Go a bit further inside the house, into the yard, and you can line up to rub Juliet’s right breast for luck.

How much does it cost: Entrance to the yard is free of charge.

3. Whatever you want: The Wishing Bridge

In Jaffa, Israel, they have a Wishing Bridge, with figurines of all the zodiac signs. People say that if you touch the figurine corresponding to your zodiac sign, and stare into the sea, your wish will come true.

How much does it coast: It’s free.

4. Health: The Iron Pillar of New Delhi

This pillar is more than 1,600 years old and even the fact that it still stands is a miracle in itself. It remains a mystery how an iron pillar has managed to survive this many centuries in such a humid climate without falling prey to corrosion. They say, however, that the pillar will take care not only of its own needs, but of yours as well. All you have to do is walk around it and think of your wish. The pillar is located in the yard of the Qutb Minar mosque.

How much does it cost: You have to pay 250 rupees (about 3 euros) to enter the Qutb complex.

5. Money: the Wish Tree on Isle Maree

In the Scottish lake Loch Maree, there are a few islands, one of which is home to century-old oak trees. One of those oaks is different – they say that it’s magical and whoever squeezes a coin under its bark, will become rich. You can probably imagine what the tree looks like today – with thousands of coins piercing its bark. The truth is, however, that the original Wish tree, in which even Queen Victoria left a coin, rotted away long ago due to copper poisoning brought about by the numerous coins in its bark. Its substitute will probably suffer a similar fate.

How much does it cost: About 20 euros for a boat trip to the island.

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