trip mine real life

Tripmine ( Half-Life: Alyx )

The Combine Laser Tripmine is an area denial weapon first featured in Half-Life: Alyx .

• 2 Behind the scenes
• 3 Related Achievements
• 5 List of appearances

Overview [ edit ]

Tripmines are used to prevent unwanted access to certain areas as traps. They are ovoid in shape, and much like the Hopper mine , they feature three mechanical “claws” that are used to securely attach themselves to a surface. Like the Half-Life laser trip mine , they will project a straight blue laser when armed. If anything crosses the laser, the mine will instantly detonate. They can deal heavy damage to Alyx should she stand too close when they explode, however they can be defeated either through Hacking or by throwing any kind of object into their laser from a safe distance. These tripmines use either an internal source or the electrical wiring on the surface they are attached to for power.

Alyx Vance can hack these mines to disarm them using her Multi-tool by guiding a small blue sphere through a series of hoops, while trying to do so faster than small red spheres which, if it catches up with the blue sphere, will fail the hacking attempt. On hard difficulty, a failed hack attempt will result in the mine exploding.

Behind the scenes [ edit ]

In Alyx , tripmines originally had two versions, a pre-placed version (such as the kind seen in-game), and a version that Alyx could carry and place herself. However, the latter version was cut, most likely due to the fact that most areas in the game are too cramped to effectively use tripmines, and Alyx would end up hurting herself.

Several of these tripmines are used in a room filled with explosive barrels, as a reference to a similar situation in the Half-Life chapter Surface Tension , where Gordon must carefully make his way through a large warehouse full of explosive materials and HECU tripmines, risking setting off an explosive chain reaction. This is further evidenced by the name of the achievement the player gets if they defuse all of the tripmines in the room.

Related Achievements [ edit ]

Gallery [ edit ].

A Tripmine in the Northern Star hotel.

Two Tripmines blocking passage.

Ditto, placed on a pillar.

Ditto, placed on a barrel.

Tripmines placed in a room full of explosive barrels and jerry cans.

List of appearances [ edit ]

• Half-Life: Alyx
• Articles needing one or more images
• Articles under construction
• Combine weapons

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HECU Laser Tripmine

• View history

• 5 List of appearances
• 6 References

Overview [ ]

A deployed Tripmine.

• In Half-Life , Tripmines are first seen in "We've got Hostiles," though they are unusable since they have been deployed already. They are only obtained at the end of the Half-Life chapter Blast Pit . They can also be found with a small supply cache along with Satchel Charges and the .357 Magnum in Residue Processing.
• In Opposing Force , they can be acquired in the chapter Missing in Action in the HECU cargo truck at the vehicle repair garage.
• To place a mine, the player must get close to a surface and aim the crosshair where the mine will be placed. When the mine is placed on the surface, it will give off a chime, then activate its lasers within 3 seconds. If the placed mine is damaged, or if a suitable target interrupts the laser, it will explode, inflicting 150 damage within its area of effect. Placed mines cannot be retrieved.
• Tripmines are used as a puzzle device in the chapter Surface Tension , where Gordon has to go through an old Nuclear Missile storage facility, which has been filled to an utterly ridiculous degree with explosives of all kinds. If an explosion happens, every Tripmine, nuclear missile, gas leak, and barrel of explosive in the building will be detonated, resulting in a game over.

Tactics [ ]

• The Laser Tripmine can be used to trick any enemies that will chase the player.
• The player can place any explosive and run away to clear the tripmines. It is recommended to do this with a Satchel Charge .
• The player can also use any ranged weapons to clear out tripmines. It is recommended to shoot them from a safe distance.
• The player can also choose to avoid the tripmines by crawling under or jumping over them.
• It is also possible to jump on the mine itself in order to reach some inaccessible areas; doing so will not set it off (no longer applicable in Half-Life: Source ).
• The viewmodel features an unused arming sequence.
• The weapon appears in Counter Strike Condition Zero: Deleted Scenes in the mission Lost Cause as enemy traps.
• This doesn't apply in deathmatch where it can be deployed on another player. However, should said player move it will trigger.
• The Tripmines are apparently designated the M23B by the US Military, though with toxic gasses as their payload.

Gallery [ ]

List of appearances [ ]

• Half-Life: Day One (First appearance) (Unobtainable)
• Half-Life: Uplink (Non- canonical appearance)
• Half-Life: Opposing Force
• Half-Life: Blue Shift (Only obtainable with cheats)
• Half-Life: Decay (Unobtainable)

References [ ]

• ↑ Stephen Bahl as quoted on Marc Laidlaw Vault on the HalfLife2.net Forums
• 2 The G-Man
• 3 Gordon Freeman

TR/9 trip mine

From Halopedia, the Halo wiki

The TR/9 Antipersonnel Mine ( TR/9 AP Mine ) [3] , commonly known to United Nations Space Command forces as the trip mine , "Tripper" , "Skippy" , "Automatic Guard" , " Invisible Fence" or simply "Mine" , [2] is a landmine developed by the the UNSC. [1]

• 1.1 Design details
• 2 Operational history
• 4 Production notes
• 7 List of appearances

Overview [ edit ]

Design details [ edit ].

The TR/9 takes a circular form, with six fins protruding off the side. The centre of the disc has another four fins that, when the mine is activated, rotate upward. The mine's activation also sees it light up and emit a high-pitched beeping noise. The mine can use trip wires or laser beams to trigger the detonator, when something large enough gets within range. [2] Despite its flower-like appearance, the TR/9 trip mine is not the Lotus anti-tank mine ,

Usage [ edit ]

The tripmine is employed for defensive usage, and is used in siege warfare and guerrilla tactics. They are used in the defence of perimeters or placed alongside enemy paths. [2]

Operational history [ edit ]

The TR/9 trip mine was originally developed for UNSC forces, though as with many pieces of equipment, was often stolen and deployed by Covenant loyalist Jiralhanae forces during the later stages of the Human-Covenant War . [1] Jiralhanae equipped with these mines were deployed during the Battle for Earth and Battle of Installation 00 in late 2552 . [4] In the post-war era, Jiralhanae Jumpers allied with Merg Vol's Covenant also employed the TR/9 trip mines. [5]

Gameplay [ edit ]

• Sometimes, while playing in multiplayer or campaign , players can either accidentally run or drive over their own trip mines or those of their teammate(s).
• A trip mine's distinctive beeping and orange glow makes it easy to detect.
• The trip mine will only stay active for 90 seconds before spontaneously exploding.
• Trip mines can be detonated from a distance by weapons fire, and are therefore only useful when unnoticed.
• The trip mine is often difficult to use in split-screen local games due to the sound it makes when deployed, causing other players to screenwatch .

Production notes [ edit ]

In earlier stages of development , the trip mine in Halo 3 had a Covenant-themed texture, featuring purple metal and blue lights. This cut variant can be found in the files of the Halo 3 Beta , though unused. [6] [7] In the Halo 3 Beta , deployed trip mines could stick to the bottom of a motionless vehicle. If the vehicle then moved, the mine would explode, killing all players inside of it.

Trivia [ edit ]

• The trip mine's heads-up display icon, along with that of the bubble shield , can be used in a Halo 3 Emblem .
• Trip mines can be used to overload a map or launch an Elephant .

Gallery [ edit ]

The trip mine HUD icon.

The trip mine's active and inactive stages.

A deactivated trip mine.

An active trip mine.

The general form of a trip mine's explosion.

An inactive trip mine.

The Covenant tripmine in the Halo 3 Beta.

The Covenant tripmine restored into Halo 3 via the use of modding . [8]

List of appearances [ edit ]

• Halo 3 (First appearance)
• Halo: Spartan Assault
• Halo Wars 2

Sources [ edit ]

• ^ a b c Halo: The Essential Visual Guide , page 47
• ^ a b c d e f g h Halo Encyclopedia (2009 edition) , page 342
• ^ a b Bungie.net , Halo 3 Career Stats (Retrieved on Jul 23, 2019) [archive]
• ^ Halo 3 , Trip Mine in-game equipment
• ^ Halo: Spartan Assault , campaign level Mission 16: Escape from the Southern Fields
• ^ Twitter , Kiera キ (@Kashiiera) : "Today I learned a covenant tripmine exists in the Halo 3 Beta" (Retrieved on Feb 13, 2022) [archive]
• ^ Twitter , Kiera キ (@Kashiiera) : "I could make it different, the H3 beta only had the model and textures leftover not the actual equipment :(" (Retrieved on Feb 13, 2022) [archive]
• ^ Twitter , Kiera キ (@Kashiiera) : "I restored the covenant tripmine that I recently found in Halo 3s Beta!" (Retrieved on Feb 13, 2022) [archive]
• UNSC ground weapons

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The Trip Mine is a lethal equipment featured in Call of Duty: Black Ops III , Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare , Call of Duty: Mobile and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II .

• 1 Call of Duty: Black Ops III
• 2 Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
• 3 Call of Duty: Mobile
• 4 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
• 5.1 Call of Duty: Black Ops III
• 5.2 Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare

Call of Duty: Black Ops III [ ]

When triggered, the Trip Mine launches into the air before exploding, similar to a Bouncing Betty from past installments.

The Trip Mine is thrown and can attach to any surface and at any orientation wherever it lands, even underwater or on walls or ceilings, and takes a moment to arm once deployed. When tripped by an enemy, the mine launches high enough that the explosion is several feet above or away from where it was planted, so crouching when one goes off will save the player if the Trip Mine was placed on the ground at the same level. Similarly, if placed on a wall, hugging the wall will avoid the explosion. A friendly Trip Mine will have blue lights and an enemy Trip Mine will have red lights.

In Multiplayer matches, additional Trip Mines can be carried via the wildcard  Danger Close  or resupplied repeatedly via the perk  Scavenger . However, a maximum of two Trip Mines can be activated by a player at a time.

In Shadows of Evil , there is an Easter Egg to upgrade the Trip Mines, with two possible routes. There are two type of Food Carts within the map, one of "Devil-O-Donuts" and the other of "Holly's Cream Cake". To upgrade the Trip Mine, players have to choose one of the types and trigger a trip mine near every one of its Food Carts.

• In the Junction, near the GobbleGum machine.
• In the Canals, near the GobbleGum machine.
• In the Footlight district, on the corner where the fuse can spawn.
• In the Waterfront district, on the same level as the lower box towards the rift.
• In the Junction, near Stamin-up.
• In the Canals, in front of the buyable door towards the Rubby Rabbit.
• In the Footlight district, in front of the Perk-a-Cola machine.

Note that damaging two Food Carts of different types will disable the upgrading process for the rest of the match.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare [ ]

The Trip Mine returns in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare . It is identical to it's Black Ops III counterpart. It is unlocked at level 18.

The Trip Mine is thrown and can attach to any surface and at any orientation wherever it lands, even on walls or ceilings, and takes a moment to arm once deployed. When tripped by an enemy, the mine launches high enough that the explosion is several feet above or away from where it was planted, so crouching when one goes off will save the player if the Trip Mine was placed on the ground at the same level. Similarly, if placed on a wall, hugging the wall will avoid the explosion. A friendly Trip Mine will have blue lights and an enemy Trip Mine will have red lights.

In Multiplayer matches, additional Trip Mines can be carried via the Extra Lethal loadout option or resupplied repeatedly via the perk Scavenger. However, a maximum of two Trip Mines can be activated by a player at a time.

In Zombies mode, it can be purchased at any prize carts around the map for 50 prize tickets with a 5 rounds cooldown. You can carry 4 mines and they glow red before blowing up, dealing a less than desirable damage. Max Ammo will not refill it and it will take the tactical grenade space. You can not stack them, like the C4 , throwing a fifth trip mine will erase the first one.

Call of Duty: Mobile [ ]

The Trip Mine returns in Call of Duty: Mobile and works the same way than their previous counterparts.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II [ ]

An Improvised Mine can be crafted exclusively in the campaign mission Alone .

• "Tank" Dempsey refers to the Trip Mine as Betty in The Giant .
• When upgraded in Shadows of Evil, the pick up prompt changes from "Trip Mine" to "Bouncing Betty".
• "Holly's Cream Cake" Food Carts have the sidenote "So good...", while the "Devil-O-Donuts" Food Carts have the sidenote "Sinfully delicious!!!" with a guy in a Devil custom, signifying Good and Evil. Signs of these two brands can be found throughout the map.
• In Zombies, Trip Mines can be used to mimic the explosion of a different weapon, as demonstrated in this video .
• "h-35 Tactical Mine" can be seen written on the Trip Mine.
• Call of Duty
• 1 Call of Duty (series)
• 3 Simon "Ghost" Riley

How to Disarm Tripmines

Welcome to the How to Disarm Tripmines page of the Half-Life: Alyx IGN Wiki Guide. This is where you'll learn the fine art of hacking tripmines, instead of just throwing physics objects and headcrabs at them every time you want to get one out of your way.

Disarming tripmines with your Multi-Tool in Half-Life: Alyx is as simple as guiding a blue sphere through a series of hoops to a blue circuit-shaped endpoint before a red sphere reaches the same endpoint. As soon as you activate the sensor with your Multi-Tool , neatly hover over the blue sphere and press the 'trigger' button to grab it. Now drag it through the little blue hoops until you reach the end. Make sure not to trigger the tripwire (as the mine can still explode, killing you instantly) and make sure the red spheres don't beat you to the last hoop.

Up Next: How to Solve the Yellow Button Puzzle

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From ATV excursions in small towns to scenic drives across the state, West Virginia is made for everyone. Rest and relax at a world-class resort or head out for a waterfall hike. It’s all waiting for you this summer in Almost Heaven.

Chase stunning fall foliage this season aboard a scenic train ride or ATV excursion. Reconnect with friends and family in a cozy cabin. From charming small towns to flavorful farm-to-table dishes, an autumn adventure awaits in Almost Heaven.

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Insider’s Guide to Real-World WV Locations in Fallout 76

Looking to explore the real-life Mountain State locations in Fallout ®   76 ? You’ve come to the right place. Through an exclusive partnership with Bethesda Softworks ® , we’ve got the inside scoop on all the West Virginia sites.

They’ve worked with us to create this interactive map to offer insight into the matchup between the fictional sites and real-world West Virginia attractions. This map will help you explore the six regions of Fallout ®   76 to learn more about places like beautiful Dolly Sods and the spooky West Virginia State Penitentiary. As you explore the game, we hope you’ll also be planning your real-life tour of West Virginia.

To get you started, here’s a matchup of a few sites you’re seeing in the game that’ll be great places to stop on your real-world West Virginia adventure.

Fallout ®  76 Location: Landview Lighthouse

Real-life wv site: summersville lake lighthouse.

Located within Summersville Lake Retreat , you can climb 122 steps to the top of West Virginia’s only working lighthouse. The lighthouse stands 104 feet tall with a top elevation of 2,164 feet above sea level. Visitors who climb up to the gallery deck are rewarded with a magnificent 360-degree view of Summersville Lake and the Gauley Ridge National Recreation Area.

Fallout ®  76 Location: Palace of the Winding Path

Real-life wv site: palace of gold.

The Palace of Gold located in New Vrindaban was built in 1973 and has been called “America’s Taj Mahal”. Guided tours of the palace are available where you have the opportunity to explore the palace’s incredible beauty. From incredible architecture, original artworks to antiques this tour will truly amaze you.

Fallout ®  76 Location: Berkeley Springs West

Real-life wv site: berkeley springs state park.

Berkeley Springs State Park is located in the center of Berkeley Springs, W.V. Long before the first Europeans discovered the warm waters of Berkeley Springs, it was already a famous health mecca that attracted Indians from the St. Lawrence Seaway in Canada and the Great Lakes to the Carolinas. Since the bathhouse first opened in 1930, thousands have enjoyed the variety of baths and treatments in the warm mineral waters that flow from the springs at a constant temperature of 74.3 degrees Fahrenheit.

Fallout ®  76 Location: Prickett’s Fort

Real-life wv site: prickett’s fort.

Prickett’s Fort State Park is a 188-acre state park near the confluence of Prickett’s Creek and the Monongahela River. The park features a reconstructed fort and commemorates life on the frontier during the late 18th century. The original fort was constructed in 1774 to provide early settlers protection from Native American attacks.

Fallout ®  76 Location: Beckley Mine Exhibit

Real-life wv site: beckley exhibition coal mine.

Dig deep into West Virginia coal culture at the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine and load into a man car and roll along the rails down into what was once an operating underground mine. The guides are veteran miners and provide firsthand accounts of the daily responsibilities and travail of past and present-day miners. In addition to the Coal Mine Tour, enjoy the Coal Camp, which includes a restored coal camp house, miner’s shanty, church, school and more.

Fallout ®  76 Location: Big Bend Tunnel East

Real-life wv: big bend tunnel.

Known as the place where John Henry defeated the steam drill, becoming one of the world’s greatest folk heroes. It is the longest tunnel on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway. At the tunnel’s entrance in Talcott, you’ll find a life-sized statue of John Henry wielding the sledgehammer that won him the battle against the machine.

Fallout ®  76 Location: The Whitespring Resort

Real-life wv: the greenbrier resort.

The Greenbrier Resort has earned national recognition numerous times for its world class amenities, which means you can find this White Sulphur Springs staple in Fallout ®  76. It’s hard to say if all 11,000 acres made it into the game, but in real life you can enjoy all the beautiful mountains, test your luck at the on-site casino, hit the green on the golf course and enjoy the many restaurants. A once-secret cold war bunker is also worth a look too. The “Whitespring Resort” in the game is in dire need of new coats of white paint, but otherwise, still carries its elegance.

Fallout ®  76 Location: Charleston Capitol Building

Real-life wv: west virginia state capitol building.

The iconic golden dome of the West Virginia State Capitol building in Charleston is unmistakable in the game. The building is 292 feet tall, making it four and a half feet taller than the capitol building in Washington, D.C. You can take guided tours of the building and the West Virginia State Capitol Complex to learn more about the history of this charming city.

Fallout ®  76 Location: Woodburn Hall

Real-life wv: woodburn hall.

Woodburn Hall was constructed between 1874 and 1876 and was first known as University Hall at West Virginia University . In Fallout ®  76, the building retains most of its historic architecture and design – with the addition of a statue of the Vault Boy mascot in front.

Fallout ®  76 Location: Fort Defiance

Real-life wv: trans-allegheny lunatic aslyum.

The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston served as a sanctuary for the mentally ill in the mid-1800s., and it retains most of its details in Fallout ®  76 as “Fort Defiance.” Today, you can tour the retired facility and learn about its roots to the Civil War raids, a gold robbery, the “curative” effects of architecture and more. Tours include museum rooms, overnight ghost hunts, nighttime paranormal tours, festivals flashlight tours, photo tours and a haunted house.

This post was last updated on September 27, 2023

How do trip mines work?

trip mines work differently from regular grenades, after trip mine are set they have to getstepped on for it to work. after stepped on it breaks a weak but solid substance the keeps the chemicals from touching, when it is stepped on it combines the two chemicals and an explosion happens.

Posted By: Josh Hirsch

Add your answer:

What do mechanical engineers work with in mines?

The job of a mechanical engineer is to design machines and mechanical installations for major projects. They also evaluate installed equipment, processes and products.

How were steam engines used in the past?

Steam engines were first used in the tin mines of Cornwall, England to pump water from the mines which often extended out under the Cornish coastline.

Can you tell how emergency stop valve of turbine operates?

Unless it is an electronic governor on the turbine, there is a mechanical overspeed trip device which closes the trip valve (or trip throttle valve [TTV] on small turbines). This device is a spring loaded weighted pin set into the turbine shaft. At a particular set speed (110% of maximum operating speed, typically) the pin overcomes the force of the spring, flying part way out of the shaft and striking the trip mechanism linkage. This linkage up to that point was holding the trip valve open, now with the release of the linkage the spring on the trip valve instantly closes the valve stopping all flow of steam to the turbine. On electronic governors, when the set point on the turbine speed is reached it opens a solenoid valve (which requires a manual reset) which dumps all hydraulic pressure from the trip valve, allowing it to close.

What is meant by turbine latching?

CommentsThe protection of a turbine requires a device which ensures the turbine does not automatically restart once a protective trip resets. EG if an overspeed trip occurs you do not want the turbine to resume operation as soon as it slows down below trip speed as it could cycle into overspeed again and continue repeating the cycle. The trip logic therefore includes a lockout which must be manually reset before the turbine valves can be opened again.All sorts of devices are used but most commonly a hydraulic valve which isolates oil from the stop valves. It is separate from the trip solonoid but may be part of the overspeed trip hydraulicsIt was common for the hydraulic valve to have a mechanism referred to as a latch because once it opened it stayed open until the oil pressure was lost again. In electrical terms it is a seal in relayResetting this device is called latching the turbine

Does low suction pressure have an effect on reciprocating compressors?

At very low suction pressure, the suction valves of reciprocating compressor will not work and there will be no gas in the cylinder during compression stroke, resulting some damage to the suction valves. If low suction pressure trip protection is not provided there can be some abnormal damage.

Why did Princess Diana visit Angola?

It was a humanitarian visit; part of her work as a Red Cross volunteer. During this trip she visited the victims of mines and several minefields, she made a (famous) speech condemning the use of mines. She then spearheaded an international campaign to try to eradicate the use of mines in war.

In Halo 3 what levels do you get trip mines?

Tsavo highway and Floodgate

Buried munitions typically detonated by pressure or trip wire?

How do you turn off the guardians in halo 3.

Over load the map with trip mines

How do salt mines work?

How did the coal mines act of 1854 change occurrences of atrocities in mine work.

By not allowing children under 10 and women to work in mines

People that dig gold and silver work in where?

People who dig gold and silver are miners.

Where did poor Victorian men work?

What is the motto of camborne school of mines.

The motto of Thetford Mines is 'Hard Work Prevails'.

Can you have a list of slave jobs?

work in the mines work in the houses as servant's

Why were the Taino not suited to work in mines?

my uncle mines and he goes every month to provide money for his family

How is electricity generated using nuclear.com?

because it can create bombs and trip mines which can generate bloodthirsties and was helpful to me on cod

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Places Where You Can Go Underground and Explore a Real Mine

Deep under the earth is a dark and mysterious place where stories become legends and boys become men. It's hard to imagine working thousands of feet under the earth in conditions that could instantly become deadly. But that's where men have toiled for centuries to bring the wealth of the earth to those of us on the surface. From coal mines in England to Gold mines in Nevada, now you have the opportunity to explore them too!

When planning your ultimate mancation, it's important to not just do the same-ol' stuff you did last year. Instead, maybe try adding something new to the itinerary that will create new memories while celebrating the men that came before you. I can't think of anything more manly that working underground in a mine searching for treasure, so here's our picks for some of the best places in the world where you can go underground explore a real mine!

Lackawanna Coal Mine Tours

This part of Pennsylvania has seen a resurgence with the release of Man in the High Castle, Season 2. However, locals know that Lackawanna Coal Mine is one of the best mines to explore. The tour takes you 300 feet below the earth through an anthracite coal mine originally opened in 1860. Unfortunately there are no experiments going on here to explore but you'll learn a ton about how coal is mined as well as the people that once worked here.

No. 9 Coal Mine and Museum

This coal mine and museum is located in Lansford, Pennsylvania and you'll be able to go underground into a coal mine that opened in 1855. This tour includes a 1,600 food rail ride into the mountain and opportunities to see various aspects of mining life including the miner's hospital, mule-way, and the original 900-foot elevator as well as the "Wash Shanty" where the miners would wash their clothes and equipment.

The World Museum of Mining

Begin planning now for your spring trip to The World Museum of Mining in Butte, Montana. This attraction that includes an underground mine tour is extremely popular and fills up fast so making a reservation is strongly recommended. This tour isn't for sissies and is not ADA compliant. Each visitor is fitted with a miner's hat, flood lamp and belted battery pack. There are no lights in the mine other than two lights that illuminate the shaft to the water. Jackets are recommended as you descend 65 feet into the 2700 foot deep Orphan Girl Mine. Tour guides regale participants with stories from the thousands of men who worked the mines and present tools and equipment that were mine staples. Touch the stone and immerse yourself in history. Britannia Mine Museum

Open all year, this tour takes you by mine train through the mine tour as a friendly guide imparts some of the mines most fascinating stories. You will see working mucking machines and drills Tours are formed on a first come first served basis so arrive early to ensure your place. While you wait, enjoy visiting the museum and panning for gold before or after your tour.

Virginia City Chollar Mine and More

Once a booming gold and silver mining town, Virginia City, Nevada is now a museum, an entire town frozen in time where visitors can enjoy old time saloons with modern day spirits and touring the Chollar Mine and Best and Belcher Mine. The Chollar Mine tours are May through October. Visitors experience the mine on a 400 foot level walking tour and see where $17 million of ore was mined. The Ponderosa Tour of the Best and Belcher mine is open year round weather permitting. The guided tour lasts 25 minutes and treats visitors to all the mine characteristics including shafts, tunnels, drifts and more.

National Coal Mining Museum England

Underground tours for the National Coal Mining Museum for England fill up fast and there are only two reserved tours a day. After you are fitted with your miners hat and battery lamp, and getting your brass and signing for the traditional miner's check, you will descend in the cage to a depth of 140 meters. There you will "Meet a Miner" and enjoy a tour led by a former miner. There are accommodations for non-electric wheelchair users and there are also wheelchairs onsite.

Cripple Creek Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine Tour

The Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine Tour opens each spring but is closed during the winter. The mine is the only mine with a 1,000 foot vertical descent. Hardhats and jackets are provided. This tour has underground lighting. The tour includes tram rides, skip ride and walking. During the half hour tour you will learn about mining history and how it has evolved. You will see gold veins as they appear naturally in the mine and experience the sights and sounds of mining equipment. Your tour will include a gold specimen from the mine.

Iron Mountain Iron Mine

The Iron Mountain Iron Mine in Vulcan Michigan opens for the season on Friday, Memorial Day Weekend 2017. This mine incorporates Jimmy Dean's famous song about a miner, "Big Bad John," into its tour and memorialized the fictional giant in a towering sign of Big John that points the way. The mining tour travels 2,600 feet 400 feet underground. This tour has an underground train that visitors ride as they into the mountains stopes and drifts into the exploratory tunnel. Tours are led by experienced, knowledgeable guides, many of whom worked in the mine when it was in operation.

Sierra Silver Mine Tour 

The Sierra Silver Mine Tour  explores the history of hard-rock mining in the richest silver district on earth. Tours are led by a retired miner who can relate personal stories as well as the history of this mine that was original opened in 1900 and later operated until 1982 as a lab site to teach local high school students mining skills. Tours not only walk through the mine shaft but also get a demonstration of the actual pneumatic mining equipment used by miners - one of the only places in the country with an actual live demonstration like that.

Exhibition Coal Mine and Youth Museum

This underground mine also know as the Phillips-Sprague Mine is located in Beckley, West Virginia. The mine opened in 1889 and was operated as a drift mine but mining operations ended in 1953 and the property was sold to the city. In 1962 though the mine reopened as the Exhibition Coal Mine and was the first historic site in the United States dedicated to educating the public about coal mining. The mine tour takes 35 passengers on a tour of a vintage coal mine via "man trip" (mine train). In addition to exploring the 1,500' mine tunnels underground, and the 3,000' of vintage track, visitors will be able to tour the restored coal camp buildings located on the ground above.

Joshua Tree National Park Gold Mines

Inside of Joshua Tree National Park and the adjacent BLM land there are more than 100 abandoned gold mines including some tunnels that you can still explore. We do NOT recommend exploring these tunnels though as the rocks and bracing are not restored, the area has frequent geological disturbances, and timbers are in some cases nearly a century old. However, it makes for a great opportunity to explore the history of mining on your own in an authentic way.

Other Mining Museums and Mine Tours:

If I'm missing your favorite underground mine tour, mining museum, or other time of mine tour, please comment below and I'll check it out. Thanks for helping me create this list of mine tours!

Alaska Mine Tours ...

Usibeli Coal Mine in Healy, Alaska

Arizona Mine Tours ...

Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum in Phoenix - currently closed for renovations

Ansarco Mineral Discovery Center in Sahuarita, Arizona (open-pit mine)

Copper Queen Mine in Bisbee Arizona

Canada Mine Tours ...

Estevan Mine  and Energy Tour in Estevan, Saskatchewan Canada (strip mine)

California Mine Tours ...

Eagle Mining Company in Julian, California

Colorado Mine Tours ...

Lebanon Mine in Georgetown, Colorado (accessible only via the Georgetown Loop train ride)

Hopemore Underground Mine Tour in Leadville, Colorado

National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum and Matchless Mine Tour in Leadville, Colorado (surface mine tour)

Old Hundred Gold Mine in Silverton, Colorado

Western Museum of Mining and Industry  in Colorado Springs, Colorado

Idaho Mine Tours ...

Sierra Silver Mine Underground Tour in Wallace Idaho

Western Wallace District Mining Museum  

Crystal Gold Mine  in Kellogg, Idaho

Illinois Mine Tours ...

Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois (museum has a recreation of a coal mine shaft)

Kansas Mine Tours .... Kansas Underground Salt Museum in Hutchinson, Kansas

Kentucky Mine Tours ...

Kentucky Coal Mining Museum  in Cumberland, Kentucky

Minnesota Mine Tours ...

Quincy Mine in Hancock, Minnesota

Croft Mine Historical Park and Underground Iron Mine in Ironton, Minnesota

Hill Annex Mine State Park in Calumet, Minnesota

Iron World Discovery Center in Chisholm, Minnesota (overlooking surface mine, no tours)

Minnesota Museum of Mining in Chisholm, Minnesota (simulated mine)

Lake Vermilion - Soudan Underground Mine State Park in Soudan, Minnesota 

Missouri Mine Tours ...

Missouri Mines State Historic Site in Old Lead Belt, Missouri

Nevada Mine Tours ...

Newmont Mining Corporation in Elko, Nevada

Tonopah Historic Mining Park in Tonopah, Nevada

New Jersey Mine Tours ...

Sterling Hill Mine and Mining Museum in Ogdensburg, NJ

New Mexico Mine Tours ...

Grants Mining Museum in Grants, NM (no tours but this is one of the only Uranium Mining Museums in the world, underground conditions are simulated)

Pennsylvania Mine Tours ...

Windber Coal Heritage Center in Windber, Pennsylvania

Texas Mine Tours ...

Mining Heritage Exhibit at Chihuahua Desert Research Institute 

West Virginia Mine Tours ...

Exhibition Coal Mine in Beckley, West Virginia

West Virginia Mine Wars Museum in Matewan, West Virginia

Bituminous Coal Heritage Foundation Museum in Madison, West Virginia

Royce J. and Caroline B. Watts Museum at West Virginia University (no mine tours)

Wisconsin Mine Tours ...

The Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums and Bevans Lead Mine Tour in Platteville, Wisconsin

Wyoming Mine Tours ...

Gillette Coal Mine Tour in Gillette, Wyoming

• Pennsylvania
• West Virginia
• Travel Ideas

Love Exploring

23 Places In America To Have A Real Life Treasure Hunt

Posted: February 23, 2024 | Last updated: February 23, 2024

Hidden gems

Fremont County, Wyoming

Rockhounding is prohibited in Wyoming’s national parks, but there’s no stopping you hunting for treasure outside of these zones and one of the best places is in Fremont County. Most gem enthusiasts come here in search of nephrite jade, jasper and turritella agate, while waterways like the Sweetwater and Wind Rivers are also known for their quartz and agate deposits. Since there is no specific mine to visit here, it’s best to join a local rockhounding group.

Doc’s Rocks Gem Mine, Blowing Rock, North Carolina

There are 800 active mines in North Carolina and this gem-mining center, run by Randy ‘Doc’ McCoy, offers the chance to find out more about the region’s diverse minerals, from topaz, moonstone, feldspar and epidote, to ruby and sapphire. The spot runs gold prospecting and gemstone collecting tours from late spring through to fall, and you can turn your gems into jewelry at McCoy Minerals Inc, located on Main Street, Blowing Rock. Visitors can also buy and sift through a range of seeded ore bags, which might contain everything from arrowheads and shark teeth to amethysts.

Gem Mountain Sapphire Mine, Philipsburg, Montana

Dubbed Montana’s largest, oldest and best sapphire mine, Gem Mountain welcomes gemstone hunters of all ages. You can book a slot for sluicing sapphires, rubies and moonstones at the official mine, located off the Anaconda-Pintler Scenic Route. Alternatively, drop into the site in downtown Philipsburg which has an indoor sapphire washing area and jewelry shop. See if you can hunt down the ‘Royal Blue’ or ‘Cornflower Blue’ sapphires, the most sought-after varieties of this striking gem.

Emerald Hollow Mine, Hiddenite, North Carolina

The Piedmont region in North Carolina is renowned for its hiddenite and this mine invites members of the public to go prospecting for this famous gem, said to be one of the rarest in the world. Both amateur and more experienced rockhounds are welcome and you have the option to purchase a bucket of earth to wash off in the sluiceway or dig your own minerals in the pit mine. Prospecting in the scenic mountain creek is a popular option too.

Spokane Bar Sapphire Mine, Helena, Montana

An alternative sapphire mine in Montana is this one, in the Missouri River area, which was originally mined for gold in the 1800s when the so-called ‘blue stones’ clogging up the sluices were deemed worthless. Today, you can visit the mine, around 14 miles (23km) east of Helena, to sluice for sapphires from ancient river deposits or buy a bag of concentrated gravel that you can explore on site.

Benitoite Mining Company, Coalinga, California

Coalinga is famed for its abundance of benitoite, and mining here dates back to the early 1900s. Visitors flock to this mining attraction to hunt for these bright blue crystals alongside neptunite, joaquinite and natrolite. All tools are provided and experienced miners will guide you through your hunt. It all takes place outside on a screening field where masses of ore are left for you to dig and explore. The company is hoping to offer gem collecting workshops and classes soon too.

Rainbow Ridge Opal Mine, Virgin Valley, Nevada

Opal prospecting has been happening in Nevada since the early 1900s and Rainbow Ridge Opal Mine, located 30 miles southwest of Denio, is open for digs each summer. It offers 'tailings digging' (digging from material that has already been mined) which is ideal for beginners, as well as virgin ground loads (digging from fresh clay and dirt, knocked down from an excavator), which is great for more experienced rockhounds.

Jade Cove, Big Sur, California

If you’re looking for incredible views while you’re gem hunting, Big Sur is your place. This rugged stretch of Californian coastline is home to an area known as Jade Cove, where people have been searching for the eponymous gemstone for years. You’ll need sturdy walking shoes as the trails can be very steep and there are strict guidelines to follow since it lies within Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Many high-value gems have long gone in the area but go with a keen eye and a sense of adventure, and you'll be rewarded with Pacific views and maybe a bit of treasure.

Spectrum Sunstone Mine, Plush, Oregon

The state of Oregon is known for its precious sunstone and visitors can have a go at searching for this reddish-orange gem at Spectrum Sunstone Mine in Plush. The center, situated in the Warner Valley, offers guests a pile of unprocessed ore to explore and dig all day. Alternatively, opt for a high-grate pit digging experience, where you get to use various tools to comb through basalt lava rock and keep any gems you find. Cabins and tipis are available for anyone who wants to stay the night.

Nantahala River Gem Mine, Bryson City, North Carolina

The mountainous region of western North Carolina is known for its natural deposits of rubies and sapphires, but at this attraction visitors can also find emeralds, garnets, topaz, amethysts, citrine, peridot, moonstones and myriad other gems. Once you’ve discovered your treasure, take it to the on-site gemologist who will evaluate them and discuss how you’d like them cut. Bryson City is also an outdoor-lover’s paradise, with horseback riding, fishing, river rafting and train tours to the scenic Nantahala River Gorge.

Graves Mountain, Lincolnton, Georgia

Rutile, a crystal-like mineral commonly used to polish diamonds, was famously mined at Graves Mountain by Tiffany in the early 1900s, but you can collect a whole host of other gems – from quartz crystals and iridescent hematite to kyanite and turgite – here too. The quarry is usually open for selected three-day digs in May and October and you have to book an appointment with the caretaker to join field trips to the site. Visitors must bring their own tools and equipment for scratching and breaking the rocks, as well as safety glasses and a rocker screen for sifting.

Oceanview Mine, Pala, California

In the late 19th century and early 20th century, ex-Gold Rush miners purportedly discovered a bounty of tourmalines and other precious gems surrounding the community of Pala. Today, Oceanview Mine hosts trips to an active mine, where visitors pay a standard dig fee and can take up to five gallons of rock home after you’ve screened and washed it. Expect to find anything from kunzite and triphane to aquamarine and quartz. The trip includes jeep tours of Chief Mountain with views of Pala Chief, Tourmaline Queen and other famous sites.

Crystal Hill, Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, Arizona

Arizona is a treasure trove of semi-precious gemstones and mineral specimens. And you can find specimens such as quartz and semi-precious gemstones such as agates, jasper and onyx, if you have a keen eye and fancy an independent rockhounding trip. Check out the aptly-named Crystal Hill, an area of Kofa National Wildlife Refuge in the Livingston Hills, around 150 miles west of Phoenix. Non-commercial mineral collecting (without digging) is permitted in this specific area and you’ll enjoy fantastic views of the surrounding desert wilderness.

Elijah Mountain Gem Mine, Hendersonville, North Carolina

Another of North Carolina’s top gem-hunting spots is this one in Henderson County, where prospectors have been mining for generations. Young rockhounds are invited to don their hard hats and purchase a ‘Little Miner’ bucket which they can sluice in covered outdoor or indoor flumes for a wide range of gems, from sapphires and quartz crystals to sodalite and peacock copper. There are also goats and peacocks on site, plus waterfalls and forests to explore nearby.

Himalaya Tourmaline Mine, Santa Ysabel, California

You’ll find an array of mines in San Diego dedicated to high-quality tourmaline, the ‘gem of the rainbow’. But this one, in the Mesa Grande mining district, some 20 miles east of Pala in San Diego County, claims to be the best. Not only has this mine been active for over 100 years, it has apparently produced more of these beautiful pink and green gems than any other. Digs take place in groups outside, with instructors on hand to tell you about the minerals. You can also order ore bags to be sent out to your home.

Alabama Gold Camp, Lineville, Alabama

Red garnets and citrine can be found at this popular attraction in Alabama, but you may have a chance of finding gold too. The site has miles of creek where you can sluice for gemstones and glittering flakes of gold. And if a couple of hours spent dredging and sluicing isn’t enough, you can camp on the creek or campsite, or hire one of the prospecting shacks. There are fossils and indigenous artifacts to discover here too.

Garnet Mine Tours, North River, New York

Known as the state gemstone of New York, the barton garnet is a ruby red variety of gemstone and can be found high up on Gore Mountain in the Adirondack range. Usually known as a top skiing destination, this scenic region also offers organized tours of the historic Barton mines and you can spend time digging for these hard gems in the mountaintop pits. You’ll learn about the history of the mine and a trip to the Gem & Mineral Shop is included, to weigh your garnets and see gem-cutting demos.

Dig Maine Gems, West Paris, Maine

Mount Mica is where the first rose quartz crystals were found around 1915 and visitors are taken here on field trips with this rockhounding outfit. Visitors are kitted out with shovels, sifting screens, potato diggers and rinse water, and it's recommended you bring two large buckets for taking your rocks home in. You can also sift through buckets of pre-dug rocks on the dig site in West Paris. Aside from the famed rose quartz, you could leave with red garnets, an array of tourmaline varieties, mica and feldspar.

Diamond Hill Mine, Abbeville, South Carolina

Gem hunters can dig to their heart’s content at this site, with six acres of ground to mine in the southern Appalachian Mountains. It’s best known for its wide variety of quartz crystals, but beryl, garnet and epidote have also been discovered here and in rare cases, purple amethyst too. It’s a simple set-up with picnic tables and no running water, so come with plenty of supplies if you plan to stay long.

Royal Peacock Opal Mine, Denio, Nevada

This pay-to-dig opal mine has been open since 1981 and some of the most impressive Virgin Valley black opals – which formed millions of years ago – are said to derive from here. Opals of many other colors can also be discovered and visitors who come to the attraction, open from May to October, are taken through the basics by staff, before they start their dig. Choose from the tougher ‘bank digging’ or, for something less demanding, you can ‘rake the tailings' or sift through a mine dump. The company has a campsite, cabin and cottage for overnight stays too.

Emerald Village, Little Switzerland, North Carolina

Emerald Village, known for its picturesque setting in Little Switzerland, offers an intriguing underground tour of the historic Bon Ami Mine and plenty of activities, from gold panning to exploring the North Carolina Mining Museum. You can pay a fee to dig for gems at the dump – a mass of ore from the historic McKinney Mines – or purchase a gem bucket at the flume, which may contain up to 25 different gem varieties from citrine to smoky quartz.

The Lilly Pad Village, Blue Ridge, Georgia

Situated around eight miles out of Blue Ridge in the Aska Adventure Area of Georgia, this family-friendly attraction offers a fun day out for young gem-mining enthusiasts. Experts here offer plenty of advice and information as little miners get to work on finding their treasure and there’s the option to purchase a number of different-sized buckets of gem dirt to sluice on site. There's usually gem polishing, plus fishing and miniature golf available too.

Pigeon Forge Gem Mine, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

Located near Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains National Park, this popular attraction welcomes all sorts of rockhounds with a wide range of gemstones ready to be unearthed, from ruby and sapphires to garnets and amethysts. Visitors can choose between four different-sized buckets to dig from, each containing a unique mix of gemstones and fossils. After you’ve found your treasure, have it cut and polished, and mounted into your own jewelry to take home. There’s also a rock and fossil museum on site.

Crater of Diamonds State Park, Murfreesboro, Arkansas

There are few places in the world where you can dig for real diamonds in their original, volcanic source, but this 37-acre field in western Arkansas is one of them, with the largest diamond in the USA originating from here. You can hire equipment or bring your own (no motorized tools allowed), and the visitor center and Diamond Discovery Center provide a perfect introduction to this sought-after gem. This place made the news when one visitor found a 4.38kt yellow diamond in 2021.

Cherokee Ruby & Sapphire Mine, Franklin, North Carolina

The most famous ruby mines can be found in Myanmar but this one, nestled in the scenic Cowee Valley of western North Carolina, is one of the best in the United States. Open from April to October, it allows rockhounds to sluice through rock and dirt – using water from the Caler Creek – in search of sapphires, garnets and rutile. Experts are on hand to offer tips on how to identify each stone.

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19 Inspiring Travel Experience Stories About Life-Changing Trips

Love inspiring travel experience stories ?

Then you’re in the right place!

Grab a snack and your favorite beverage and get ready to settle in, as you’re about to read some truly inspiring travel stories about life-changing trips.

In this roundup, some of my favorite bloggers share their best travel stories.

You’ll hear about travelers embarking on sacred pilgrimages, growing after a first solo female travel trip, deeply connecting with locals on the road, and getting out of their comfort zones in ways that completely alter the course of their life.

And if you’re looking for a unique travel experience, you’ll likely find it in the short stories about travel below.

Table of Contents

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I regularly share about solo female travel, New York City, lesser-known destinations, unique experiences, active adventures, and how to turn your passion for exploring the world into a profitable business through travel blogging.

Click here to head back to the travel blog .

There is so much included!

Plus, I’m constantly adding new resources, guides, and personality quizzes to help you travel beyond the guidebook!

On that note, let’s dive into the inspiring travel stories .

1. Travel Experience Stories In South America

My travel story takes place in South America, back when I used to travel solo for months at a time.

I was in my mid-20s, and even though I’d backpacked Europe, Southeast Asia, and China and had studied abroad in Australia, the mix of intense excitement and nerves I had leading up to my South America backpacking trip was different.

And despite family and friends warning me that South America wasn’t a place for a solo female traveler , it ended up being my best trip ever.

There are so many interesting short travel stories and unforgettable travel experiences woven into this trip, like:

• Getting invited to have dinner with my Brazilian plane seatmate and her grandma
• Having a group of complete strangers on Couchsurfing take me out for dinner and dancing on my birthday in Mendoza
• Attending a small house party in Argentina and learning about the tradition of mate
• Getting stuck on a broken-down bus and having an impromptu language exchange with an elderly woman in Peru
• Having a love interest back home break up with me via text, and then experiencing the kindness of strangers as a woman in my hostel who I barely knew treated me to ice cream to cheer me up
• Having a romance with a hostel mate in Ecuador and then traveling through the country together
• Living in a giant treehouse with a group of strangers during a solo trip in Brazil and spending our days exploring hiking trails and swimming and our nights drinking and exchanging stories about traveling
• Taking a 4×4 from Chile to Bolivia across the Siloli Desert to see otherwordly sites like rainbow lagoons and train graveyards in the middle of nowhere
• Experiencing some of the world’s most incredible natural wonders, like Iguazu Falls, Torres del Paine, the Amazon River, Uyuni Salt Flats, and Perito Moreno Glacier

At times the trip was also challenging, from dealing with long bus rides and car sickness to flipping over my bicycle handlebars in Peru and getting my body (and ego) badly bruised.

But, I was okay.

In fact, I was more than okay, as the trip showed me how independent I could be and what I was truly capable of. It also showed me the beauty of immersing yourself in cultures different than your own and connecting with locals who want to share them with you.

Years later, when people ask what my best travel experience has been this is the trip that comes to mind.

-Jessie from Jessie on a Journey

2. Traveling With An Open Mind

Many people think of travel as an experience and rightly so. Sometimes, however, you cannot choose the places you travel to.

This happened to me in 2019.

My husband found himself posted in Brunei for work.

Three months pregnant meant that I had a choice:

Either stay with him in Brunei for three months before returning back to India or remain in India, alone.

I chose the former. Not because of my love for the country but because I wanted to be close to him.

Brunei had never held any appeal to me. Whatever research that I pulled off the Internet showed me nothing other than one beautiful mosque.

The flights in and out of the country were expensive so traveling frequently out was not an option either.

I was engulfed by a sense of being trapped in a remote place.

Needless to say, I reached Brunei in a pretty foul mood. I think one of the things that struck me the most even in the midst of that bad mood was the large swaths of greenery that surrounded us.

Mind you, we were not staying in the big city but as far away on the outskirts as you could imagine. I’m not a city girl by any stretch and the greenery eventually soothed my nerves.

It took a week, but I soon found myself interacting with people around me. Fellow expats and locals all went out of their way to make me feel comfortable.

The more comfortable I felt, the more we explored. We trekked (yes, while pregnant!), we joined the board game community, and we enjoyed the local cuisine.

Three months later when it was time to leave, I found myself reluctant to say goodbye to the warmth of the country I had called home for a short while.

I think that my time in Brunei taught me a valuable lesson:

Don’t judge a place by what others say or a lack of information.

Sure, you may not always like what you see, but there will always be something that you will like. You just need to look hard enough to find it!

-Penny from GlobeTrove

3. From Half-Day Hiker To Walking Holiday Enthusiast

I’ve always enjoyed walking but never in a million years did I imagine I’d end up walking over 200 kilometers (~124 miles) in 10 days, become a fan of walking holidays, and end up developing self-guided hiking routes in Portugal with a local tour operator as part of my business.

The shift from being someone who was content with an easy three-hour walk to an experienced multi-day hiker began with a brief taste of the Portuguese Camino de Santiago, an ancient pilgrim trail through Portugal to Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in Spain.

Back in 2013 I did a guided one-day hike along one of the most beautiful stretches of the Camino, north of Ponte de Lima. It’s also one of the most challenging sections so it was hard work, but the views from the top of Labruja Mountain made the climb worthwhile.

My guides were so enthusiastic about the thrill of arriving at Santiago de Compostela Cathedral after the challenges of day after day on the Camino that I began to think I might want to give it a go, despite not being religious.

Fast forward a few years and I set off from Barcelos with a friend of mine to follow the Portuguese Camino de Santiago.

Apart from suffering from chronic back pain, I thought I was quite fit but nothing had prepared me for how utterly exhausted I would feel at the end of each walking day.

This was truly a slow travel experience, as we were averaging about 20 kilometers (~12 miles) per day and by the time we reached our hotel, I would barely have enough energy to get cleaned up and find food before collapsing. I had envisioned plenty of sightseeing but that ended up being minimal.

Quickly, I realized the moral of this unique travel experience:

The Camino was all about making the most of the journey rather than the destination.

For me, that was quite a shift in thinking as I am usually all about getting to where I want to be as soon as possible so that I can start exploring. It was, perhaps, also my first step on the path towards mindfulness.

I will never forget the sense of achievement and progress at the end of each walking day, and the relief and pride I felt when we finally made it to Santiago de Compostela.

We met people who had walked the Camino several times and I can totally understand how it can become addictive. 

-Julie from Julie Dawn Fox in Portugal

4. A Story About Traveling & Its Ripple Effect

Tucked away in far eastern Indonesia is a tiny archipelago of islands called the Banda Islands.

Apart from world-class snorkeling and some crumbling colonial buildings, the Banda Islands are mostly forgotten and would be described as a backwater by all accounts.

However, the Banda Islands are possibly the main reason that I am who I am today. 

Well, the Bandas are the original Spice Islands.

Nutmeg used to grow on this tiny group of islands alone and nowhere else. The Dutch colonized Indonesia and promptly became the owners of islands where money grew on trees.

The only problem was that Indonesia was so far away that they needed a halfway stop to and from Indonesia.

That’s where my travel experience story comes in.

The same Dutch East India Company that traded in spice set up a halfway station at the foot of Table Mountain to break up their long journey. As a result, my Dutch ancestors arrived in the southernmost point in Africa , and generations later we are still there.

When I visited the Banda Islands, it dawned on me how something happening on the other side of the world can ripple out and affect people on the other side of the planet.

And I’m not the only one!

The spice trade was so important to the Dutch that they even traded a tiny island in the Banda archipelago for a much bigger island…Manhattan.

Yes. That Manhattan.

Before visiting the Banda Islands I never really knew about this part of my history.

Along with the spice that the ships carried back to Amsterdam, it also carried slaves. These slaves, more often than not, ended up in Cape Town.

Just like my European ancestors, they too became a part of Africa and added another shade to our beautiful Rainbow Nation.

It was in the Banda Islands that I realized how much of my culture, food, stories and even words in my mother tongue, Afrikaans, actually originated in Indonesia.

Because of these tiny islands, I am a true mix of Europe, Africa, and Asia. While I always thought I knew how all things in life are somehow connected, I didn’t really grasp it until my visit to Indonesia.

This could have been a resort travel experience story, as I went to Indonesia to swim and snorkel and relax on the world’s best beaches. And while I did get to do that, I also learned a lot about who I am as a person, my people, and my country…on another continent. 

My visit to the Bandas has sparked a fascination with Indonesia, which I have visited seven times since. I’m already planning another trip to this spectacular country!

-De Wet from Museum of Wander

5. Awakening My Spirit In A Costa Rican Cloud Forest

In February 2017, I was just coming out of a decade of mysterious chronic illness that had shrunk my world.

And one of the things that finally helped me to resurface during the previous year was an online Qi Gong course I stumbled upon: 

Flowing Zen .

To the casual observer, Qi Gong looks a lot like its better-known cousin, Tai Chi — the ancient art of moving meditation — but it’s actually energy medicine for healing.

In fact, it’s commonly used in Chinese hospitals.

My daily practice that year made such a difference for me that I dangled a reward for myself:

If I stuck with it all year, then I’d head to Sifu Anthony’s annual retreat in a cloud forest in Costa Rica the following February.

And I did! It was my first trip out of the country for more than a decade.

Just like that, I booked a solo trip — something I hadn’t done since I was an exchange student to Europe 30 years earlier — to San Jose where I met up with a dozen strangers and Sifu Anthony, our Qi Gong master.

We boarded a tiny bus and rode up, up, up around carsick-inducing curvy mountain roads into a magical cloud forest jungle where we finally arrived at The Blue Mountain (“La Montana Azul”) for a weeklong Qi Gong retreat. 

There were no Internet or distractions here — just delicious organic vegetarian meals made with love and shared with the community under a gorgeous open-air palapa.

There were also colorful tropical birds singing in the jungle, as well as the largest arachnid I’ve ever seen in my gorgeous (but also roofless) room for a little extra adventure.

I’d felt a little energy movement during my year of online practice, but during that week on The Blue Mountain, my body began to really buzz with Qi — life force energy — as I Lifted the Sky, stood in Wuji Stance, and practiced Shooting Arrows.

I felt electrified and joyful. 

And that was when everything changed for me.

At home, I had a successful career as a freelance writer, but I decided during my week in the cloud forest that I wanted more from life.

I wanted to explore the beauty, diversity, nature, and culture in every corner of the world.

And I wanted to share this intoxicating joyful feeling of life-giving freedom and adventure with anyone who wanted to come along for the ride.

Shortly after that, at age 53, I launched my travel blog.

Dreams really do come true. They are just waiting for you to claim them.

-Chris from Explore Now or Never

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6. From Rome With Love

This wasn’t the way I wanted to see Rome. 

Sure, I was happy to spend Christmas in Rome and stand in awe of the city’s many iconic attractions. But, life wasn’t meant to turn out like this.

I was supposed to go to Rome with my mom back in 2012; however, life had different plans, because a week before our trip, I got a double kidney infection. A condition that required a week of hospitalization.

Although I was annoyed I had missed my trip, it wasn’t the end of the world since I was fine and everything seemed okay…until my mom developed a cough.

A cough that later became a heartbreaking diagnosis of stage four ovarian cancer. 

My mom spent the final months of her life in chemo, desperately trying to fight a horrific disease so that she wouldn’t let her family down.

And she didn’t.

Instead, she showed us how to never give up on life, even if it was a losing battle. 

So, when she eventually passed away, I booked a trip to Rome. 

Sure, it wasn’t the trip I had hoped for. But, I knew that as her daughter, it was my job to live enough for the both of us. 

And that’s exactly what I did.

Was I an anxious, sad, angry mess of a person?

Absolutely. I was still getting used to a world that my mother wasn’t a part of. 

And honestly, you never get used to that world. You just deal with it because you don’t really have a choice.

But I also knew that I wanted my mom to live on through me and that I didn’t want to live a life where the haunting phrases “should of,” “could of,” and “would have” swirled through my head and ate away at my happiness.

So, I went. I packed a boatload of tissues, sobbed my heart out, and attended Christmas mass at the Vatican. 

I also threw a coin in the Trevi Fountain, walked through the Colosseum, chowed down on gelato, and spent two weeks doing all the things my mom and I had wanted to do. 

And that’s when it hit me. I had never gone to Rome alone because my mom had always been there with me. Maybe she wasn’t physically there, but I thought of her and felt her presence every minute of every day. 

Her presence also reminded me that life isn’t about the things we buy or the money that we have.

It’s about making memories with the people we love; people that never really leave us since they are constantly influencing our lives in countless ways.

And after my trip to Rome, I finally knew that my mom would always be there because she had forever changed my life in the best possible way. 

-Kelly from Girl with the Passport

7. Studying In Finland

One of my major life-turning points happened during my exchange studies in Finland.

Until then, I was studying at a university in Prague, had a part-time job at a renowned management-consulting firm, and thought I was on the right path in life.

At the University of Economics where I studied it was notoriously difficult to get on an Erasmus exchange trip abroad since the demand was huge. Everyone wanted to go!

Regardless, I decided to sign up early for my last semester, just to see what the process was like to be better prepared for applying again in a year.

I did make it through all the three rounds and surprisingly got a spot at a University in Turku, Finland! I was ecstatic. The success brought its own challenges, but once you set your eyes on the goal, nothing can stop you.

And I had the time of my life in Finland.

I met the most amazing people, traveled a ton, partied a lot, and bonded with friends from all over the world.

Given I was one of the few people there who really needed to pass all her courses and additionally write her thesis, I managed to run on an impossible sleep schedule of four hours per night. But I made it!

My studies in Finland opened up my horizons, too.

The summer after, I wrapped up my life in Prague and went on to study in Germany and China . The whole time I traveled as much as possible, often going on solo adventures. It was only a matter of time when I’d start my own travel blog.

My Finland adventure led me to a life of freedom made up of remote work, travel blogging , and plenty of traveling. I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome. And it gave me one of my favorite true adventure stories that I can now share with others.

-Veronika from Travel Geekery

8. How Cuba Changed My Life

One of my favorite inspiring stories about travel takes place in Cuba.

I visited Cuba in February 2013 and it changed my life — and I like to think it did so for the better.

Interestingly, I expected a completely different country and was compelled to write about it when I got back home.

But let me tell you more.

I read copious amounts of blogs and travel diaries to prepare myself for the trip to Cuba so I thought I’d go in with a fairly good idea of what to expect. Each and every post I read spoke of marvelous landscapes, pristine beaches, crumbling but charming cities, and welcoming locals.

All of it was true, in my experience — except for the locals.

I didn’t find them so welcoming. At least, not genuinely so. They only seemed to welcome me as far as they could get something in exchange: money, clothes, pens, soap, you name it. 

Each and every day in Cuba was a challenge to avoid the scams, to avoid being ripped off, to fight off each and every attempt of people trying to take advantage of me. I usually managed, but it was exhausting and it left a sour taste in my mouth.

Once I got back home I felt the urge to write about my experience — not for other sites or papers as I’d often do. This time I was afraid I’d be censored.

So I opened my own blog. With zero tech knowledge, zero understanding of online content creation and SEO, I started writing and telling people what they should really expect during a trip to Cuba.

I’d put up the occasional post, but continued with my usual job.

At the end of the year, my contract as a researcher in international human rights law at the local university ended, and I decided to stop pursuing that career for a while.

I packed my bags and left for a long-term trip to Central and South America . I started writing on the blog more consistently and learning, and eventually took my blog full-time , turning it into a career.

As of today, I have never looked back and have no regrets.

The one thing I’ll do, as soon as I can, is travel to Cuba to say thank you — because it changed my life in a way nothing else has ever done. 

-Claudia from Strictly Sardinia

9. A Short Travel Story About Finding Inner Peace In Patagonia

Life in London is hard.

Life in London as a gay single brown refugee is harder.

Juggling between work, my passion for traveling, and the prejudices that I dealt with on a daily basis eventually took their toll on me and I reached a breaking point.

The fact that I couldn’t return home to see my family and being away for them for almost nine years was enough to hammer in the final nail in the coffin.

I almost had a nervous breakdown and in that moment of desperation, which I knew would define the rest of my life, I took a month off and headed to Patagonia.

It was probably the best decision I’ve ever made in my life. The 36 hours it took me to get to El Chalten from London were tiring but Patagonia blew me away.

On my first day there I did a 28-kilometer (17-mile) hike which included a steep mountain climb. It was incredible how moving through the forest helped me clear my mind. And as I stood in front of Laguna de Los Tres, the rain and clouds gave way to sunshine and a rainbow.

I felt at peace.

The countless hikes, great food, and the warmth of locals in Chile and Argentina helped me get back in my skin and find the peace I was missing in my heart.

Nature is indeed the best medicine when it comes to stress relief and I won’t be coy about hugging trees to speed up the process (it did).

Patagonia was life-changing for me.

The beauty of nature struck me at each point and every time I thought it wasn’t possible to beat the view, the next one did just that.

I came back a changed, resilient, and most importantly, a happy person.

-Ucman from BrownBoyTravels

10. Looking Inwards & Making Connections With Strangers

It was decades before I traveled solo for the first time in my life.

This trip — a six-day escape to Colorado — was the first trip that was not for business or family reasons but just to travel and discover.

As I prepared for it, I had a strange feeling of excitement and nerves at the same time. I had all sorts of thoughts and doubts:

Would it be fun?

Would I be bored?

Would I stay in bed all day or would I bounce with excitement to do the next thing?

I wasn’t sure. Little did I know that it was going to be a memorable journey of self-discovery. 

As a good wife and mom, for me travel is always about the family; always thinking of who would enjoy what. It’s about family time and bonding. It’s about creating memories and travel stories together. It’s all so wonderful.

But on a solo trip who would I connect with? What would I say?

Well, I found that I got to do anything I wanted!

Usually when I travel with my family, if I feel like going on a drive that’s not on the itinerary or getting a snack no one else is interested in, we simply don’t do that.

So it was weird to just go do it. Really, that’s a thing?

As for making connections, it was so easy to meet locals while traveling and also to connect with other travelers. Honestly, I had conversations everywhere — on planes, while hiking, in restaurants, in the hotel lobby.

It was quite an eye-opening experience to meet a mom of 18 kids and hundreds of foster kids, a cookie baker, a professional photographer, a family of Fourteener hikers, and an internationally ranked marathon runner.

The inspiring stories I discovered were amazing and nothing like my wonderful safe life at home. 

In terms of travel safety , I got to go rock climbing, solo hiking, driving up a Fourteener, eating alone.

And it was all fine. Actually, it felt surprisingly normal.

It was was just me, my SUV, and my backpack for a week. Most of all, it was a breath of fresh air that I didn’t know existed. 

It’s wonderful to be back home and know that possibilities are endless and there is so much more out there to explore and be wowed by!

-Jyoti from Story At Every Corner

11. A Solo Hike To Find Connection

I have traveled solo many times, but I admit I was a bit uneasy booking my trip to Colombia . In part, due to the country’s dark past. But also because I desperately wanted to do the Cocora Valley hike, and if I’m honest, I was terrified.

This hike is located in the Coffee Triangle, an area recognized for its beauty as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It features both rainforest and a stunning green valley speckled with cartoonishly-tall wax palms rising 200 feet or more.

It’s incredibly beautiful.

It’s also a long hike and quite challenging — it generally takes between six and eight hours and there is a steep area with over 3,000 feet of elevation within a quarter of a mile.

I wasn’t in hiking shape, so I was a little concerned. But, worst of all for me were the seven dodgy-looking suspension bridges. 

I’m terrified of heights.

And, I’d be going alone.

I decided to go anyway and I met an incredible woman on the bus to Salento, the town near Cocora. She was also traveling solo and we agreed to hike together.

The town is a backpacker enclave and we met up with a small group of people all traveling solo. As the days passed, our group got larger and it was such a magical experience.

As much as I love city travel, this small town won my heart.

My new friend and I set off on the hike and met two other women who were nervous to do the hike. We all went together.

When we got to the first suspension bridge, I paused. I was embarrassed to admit my fear, but the bridge swayed widely and there was nowhere to hold onto.

When they realized how out of my comfort zone I was and how scared I felt, everything changed. Instead of me dealing with it alone, they were all there to encourage me.

One crossed the bridge to encourage me from the other side and they stayed off of it to limit the sway. Crazy enough, I not only crossed the seven suspension bridges, but I also crossed one an extra time when we went the wrong way on the trail.

I did it! 

I was prepared to be blown away by Cocora Valley’s beauty, but what I wasn’t expecting was what a life-changing travel experience my time there would be.

 -Sam from My Flying Leap

12. How A Pet Sitting Travel Experience Led To A Passionate Career

We wanted to go to the Caribbean but didn’t know much about the islands or how we were going to afford it.

By chance, a friend of ours in Australia mentioned “pet sitting” and that it is something you can do all over the world.

We quickly created an account on a pet sitting website and began searching for options. There were only a couple of sits available in that part of the world, but we tried our luck, sent a request, and to our surprise landed a three-month gig in a beautiful house in the US Virgin Islands — with an infinity pool overlooking the British Virgin Islands.

A month into our sit, we had explored the destination pretty well and so had a lot of time on our hands. We managed to secure another sit in Grenada, so our year was going to be taken up with Caribbean pet sits.

Inspired by a Canadian couple that had previously stayed at our Grenada housesit, we decided to start our own travel blog. We began by writing about The Virgin Islands, highlighting the beautiful beaches and funky bars.

But for every photo of a beautiful beach there were 10 photos of trash.     

It was hard to ignore the plastic pollution issue, especially on such pristine and remote beaches.  So, we began to share photos of the trash we saw and how much we could pick up on our daily dog walks.

The more we looked into plastic pollution, the more we realized the severity of the global plastic pandemic. From that point, we used our platform to create awareness and highlight ways to say no to plastic and travel plastic-free .

We changed our daily routines, our way of living, and even our diets to accommodate more organic foods and little to no plastic packaging.

It’s been over three years now and we continue to do what we can. This journey has led us to some amazing places, working with great conscious brands and even organizing a country-wide beach clean-up campaign in Grenada.

Our aim now is to keep on going.

We love connecting with like-minded people and love the shift over the last few years that brands have made towards creating more sustainable products and services.

It’s been an amazing few years that was sparked by a conversation about pet sitting. Who would have guessed?

-Aaron & Vivien from The Dharma Trails

13. Learning To Slow Down The Hard Way

On Christmas of 2017, I was born again.

We like to spend our Christmas holidays somewhere warm abroad, and that year we chose Uganda.

Nature, wildlife, and sunny days were a blessing when it was so cold and dark in Europe. Life was beautiful, and we had a rental car and a busy schedule ahead to explore the country.

This is where this short travel story turns into one of my more scary travel experiences :

At Murchinson Falls National Park, we had a car accident.

I lost control of the car, and it rolled over, destroying windows, chassis, and engine.

But we were alive! My right arm was severely injured, but we managed to walk to our lodge, not far inside the park.

In the lodge, I was happy to learn that there was a pretty decent American hospital in Masindi that was just a one-hour drive from the lodge. Moreover, one of the lodge’s guests was a nurse who cleaned the wound while we were waiting for the taxi from/to Masindi.

The hospital took care of us, and after a couple of injections and stitches, I was ready to head to our new hotel in Masindi; however, my wound required daily dressing and more injections, so we were asked to stay in town for a few days.   

Masindi is the kind of place where you may want to stop to buy some food or water, but that’s it.

The town’s highlights were the market and our daily visit to the hospital, so we ended up looking for the small things, chatting with the medical staff, the hotel staff, the people in the market, and learning more about their customs.

We learned to slow down the hard way.

When we were allowed to leave, we took a road trip south through the country to see something else. We did not care about our travel bucket list anymore — we were alive, and we wanted to enjoy Uganda’s unique nature and its people. 

In the end, our Uganda trip was not about the places that we saw, but the people that we met. It was travel for experience vs sightseeing.

I hope to revisit Uganda one day, with a stop at Masindi for some food, water, and maybe something else.

-Elisa from World in Paris

14. A Cycling Trip To Remember

During the summer of 2019, I cycled solo from London to Istanbul. This huge bicycle tour took me 89 days and through 11 countries.

As you might expect, it was a challenging yet incredible journey, which saw me pedal along some of Europe’s greatest rivers, pass through some of its best cities, and witness some of its most beautiful scenery.

It’s becoming more and more important for us to think about the impact that travel can have on our environment. This was the inspiration for my bicycle tour; I wanted to find more responsible ways to explore the world and avoid flights where possible.

I discovered that bicycle touring is one of the most eco-friendly ways to travel, as using nothing but a bicycle and your own pedal power you can carry everything you need while covering surprising distances each day.

The simplicity of life and the sheer amount of time I spent cycling alone gave me a lot of time to just think . This really helped me to come to terms with some personal problems rooted in my past and, as a result, I arrived solo in Istanbul with newly found confidence, independence, and liberation. 

Cycling across the entire European continent may seem like an impossibly daunting task, but I assure you, it will make you feel like a new person, just like it did for me.

-Lauren from The Planet Edit

15. How The Caribbean Shaped Me Into A Fully Sustainable Traveler

One of my first international trips as an adult was traveling around the Caribbean .

I checked into my hotel in Jamaica and asked for a recommendation for a local place to eat. The receptionist told me that under no circumstances should I should go into the town because it was really dangerous, but that — to my luck — the hotel’s restaurant offered wonderful Caribbean food.

I pondered my options:

Did I really want to spend all my time on the beach without getting to know a single local?

I was a very inexperienced traveler and very young, but there was only one answer to my question:

Absolutely not. I was not going to be visiting a new place and staying hostage in a hotel chain. So out I went.

The poverty hit me in the face. After only seeing fancy resorts, the reality was hard to swallow.

A few locals approached me and were super curious as to what I was doing there alone, since most tourists didn’t go there.

I told them I was interested in meeting them and experiencing their culture. And just like that, I was embraced.

We met more people, had some food, and then we danced the night away. They had so little, yet they wanted to share it with me. They wanted to make me feel welcome.

And they undeniably did.

The next morning all I could think about was how all the money most tourists spend goes to big corporations. The locals have to be thankful if they get a job that pays minimum wage, while foreign businesses earn millions.

I have always been environmentally conscious, but this trip made it clear that sustainability goes well beyond nature and wildlife.

It’s also about communities.

From then on I always look for locally owned accommodation, eateries, guides, and souvenirs.

Sustainability, with everything it entails, became a motto for me and changed the very essence of the way I travel.

-Coni from  Experiencing the Globe

16. Lessons From My Students In Peru

One of the most life-changing trips I’ve ever been on was a volunteering experience in the stunning city of Cuzco in Peru.

I spent a month there teaching English and Italian to a group of local adults. And even though my time there was short, the travel experience was so humbling that it changed my outlook on life.

My lessons took the form of active conversations, which essentially turned into a massive multilingual cultural exchange between me and my students. Hearing my students talk about their lives — and realizing just how different they were from mine — made me look at my own life with a fresh new perspective.

One person spoke about the three years he spent living in a jungle with his dad, where they fed off of animals they hunted in order to survive.

Another student told me about her ultimate dream of mastering English so that she could become a tour guide and have a more stable future.

For me, these stories were a reminder of just how small I am in this world and how much we can get consumed by the small bubbles we live in. 

Most of all, my students showed a passion and appreciation for life that I’d never witnessed before.

This is true for the locals I met in Cuzco in general. The quality of life in Cuzco is very modest; hot water is scarce and you learn to live with little.

But the locals there do way more than just that — they spontaneously parade the streets with trumpets and drums just because they’re feeling happy, and their energy for the simple things in life is incredibly contagious.

It was impossible to not feel inspired in Cuzco because my students always had the biggest smiles on their faces, and the locals showed me again and again that simply being alive is a blessing.

I went to Peru to teach, but ended up learning more from my students and the locals there than they did from me.

Ever since I got back from that trip, I made it a goal to slow down and not take the simple things in life for granted.

Every time I get upset about something, I think about the Peruvians in Cuzco parading their streets in song and pure joy, and I tell myself to stop complaining.

-Jiayi from  The Diary of a Nomad

17. Braving Travel With Chronic Pain

Santiago de Compostela is a beautiful city with a prominent cathedral positioned centrally within the city.

While the historical cathedral attracts numerous visitors, even more well-known is the route to Santiago de Compostela, Camino de Santiago –- the world-famous pilgrimage route that has a plethora of trailheads and ends in Santiago. 

Home to locals, students, English teachers, and those on a spiritual pilgrimage, personal conquest, or a great outdoor hiking excursion, Santiago is a magical city.

My introduction to Santiago de Compostela doesn’t begin on the pilgrimage route, yet ends with a spiritual awakening analogous with those other unique pilgrimage stories.

It was my first solo trip abroad teaching English in Spain, a country that’s always been on my travel bucket list. A small town outside of Santiago was selected as the school I’d be teaching at for the year.

Unknowingly, this teach abroad program chose the perfect city for me to live in. 

A year prior, I suffered a traumatic brain injury that left me unable to function normally and complete average tasks. Migraines, headaches, and dizziness became my body’s normal temperament, a hidden disability invisible to the naked eye. 

Braving travel with chronic pain was the first lesson I learned during the trip.

The vast green outdoors and fresh dew from the morning rain enlivened me daily and reminded me about the importance of slowing down so I could enjoy traveling with my hidden disability. 

I also learned to stop often for daily tea breaks and to embrace the long lunch hour,  siestas , with good food, company, and a nap to rest.

Meeting locals , indulging in local food, and learning Spanish allowed me to connect deeply with the beautiful culture of Santiago. After all, my dream was to travel to Spain, and I more than accomplished that dream.

Difficult or not, I learned to own my dream and I was more than surprised with the results.

Who knew that a year after my injury I’d be traveling the world with chronic pain, and for that, I’m eternally grateful.

-Ciara from Wellness Travel Diaries

18. A Blessing In Disguise

2020 has been a wild year for all of us and foreign students in China are no exception. As soon as the malevolent virus began to make its rounds in China, our university sent us home for “two weeks.”

However, within a short time, countries began to shut their borders and these “two weeks” turned into months, a full year even.

Crushed by the burden of online lectures and virtual labs, my boyfriend and I packed our bags and caught one of the first flights to his home country of Pakistan.

I had always been an over-ambitious traveler. I believed numbers were everything — the number of countries I visited, the number of hours I spent on a plane, the number of international trips I took in a year. These numbers were what defined me.

My feet were constantly itching and I never liked to spend more than a few days in a place before heading to the next country. Revisiting a place felt superfluous to me.

That’s why I was hoping to spend a month or two in Pakistan and then continue to check new countries off the list — after all, my online classes finally granted me the freedom to “work on my numbers.”

But as is usually the case in 2020, things turned out quite different from what I had expected. Borders remained closed and worldwide infections stayed rampant. At this point, I have already spent nearly half a year in Pakistan.

During this peculiar time, however, an amazing thing happened:

My mindset about travel started to change and I began to look at my long stay in Pakistan as perhaps my most valuable travel experience ever.

I may not have visited dozens of countries like in previous years but my experiences were deeper than ever before.

From trekking to one of the world’s tallest mountains to sharing tea with heavily armed officers at nearly 5,000 meters altitude to exploring hidden beaches in the most secluded regions to spontaneously being invited to village homes, my adventures in Pakistan couldn’t have been more incredible. They opened my eyes to the sheer diversity of many countries and completely transformed my idea about traveling. 

It took me nearly a full year of heavy restrictions on international travel and a few months in one of the world’s most fascinating countries to give up on my superficial ideals and become a more mature traveler.

This time will always have a special place in my heart.

-Arabela from The Spicy Travel Girl

19. What The River Taught Me

My travel story takes place in the summer of 2017 — the final summer before I graduated university — as it continues to play a significant role in the person I’ve become.

When I say that, people ask me if it was the portion of the summer I spent solo backpacking in Europe . And to their surprise, it wasn’t. It was actually the latter portion of the summer where I stayed closer to home.

For July and August I worked as a canoe guide leading whitewater canoe trips on remote rivers in Canada. It was here that I got to canoe the powerful and iconic Missinaibi River, a river that continues to influence me all these years later.

The Missinaibi River flows from the powerful Lake Superior to the even more powerful salty waters of James Bay. Here, I led a group of eight teenagers through dozens of whitewater rapids over 500 kilometers (~311 miles).

With no cell service for 25 days, we were forced to disconnect from anything other than the river.

During this trip I learned two important lessons:

First, I learned to be confident in my own abilities as a leader and problem solver.

There were a few rapids where my campers’ boats flipped and I had to rescue the campers and the canoes. One rescue saw two boats flip on a mile-long rapid. It took six hours to make it down the rapid, and during this time I managed stuck canoes and crying campers.

And while this was one of the most difficult rescues I’ve done, I was amazed at how calm I was throughout it. I gave clear directions, prioritized effectively, and kept my campers safe throughout the entire experience. Following the rescue, I had a newfound sense of confidence in my abilities.

The second lesson I learned on the Missinaibi was the power of disconnecting from society and connecting with the people around you.

A wild river commands all of your attention. Each day, you and your group must take down camp, load canoes, paddle up to eight hours while navigating both rapids and portages, get to a new campsite, set up camp, cook dinner, and go to bed.

And without the distraction of technology, your attention has nowhere else to be. You focus on the river and your teammates.

As someone who had wrestled with anxiety and depression prior to this summer, I felt at total ease on the trip. Now I seek societal disconnection and human connection as much as I can. 

Sometimes the most profound, life-altering trips are the least expected trips closer to home.

-Mikaela of  Voyageur Tripper

More Short Travel Experience Stories

25 Crazy Travel Stories You Need To Read To Believe

23 Inspiring Travel Stories Sharing The Kindness Of Strangers

17 True Short Adventure Travel Stories To Inspire Your Next Trip

38 Inspiring Travel Love Stories From The Road

16 Short Funny Travel Stories That Will Make You Laugh

20 Embarrassing Travel Stories That Will Make You Laugh & Blush

21 Travel Horror Stories About Scary Travel Experiences

Do you have any inspiring travel experience stories about life-changing trips to share?

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These stories are so much fun to read! Thanks so much for putting a post like this together. It’s great to be able to check out other people’s blogs and read about other people’s experiences!

Always great to read about travel experiences of others. Some great stories to read over coffee. I’ve Pinned your post for future reference and to share with others. Will check out each story author’s blog as well. Great Job! 🙂

Amazing story for new traveler like me thanks for your contribution

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