Play for your life!
A serious look at the benefits of an active vacation
by Julie Ubben, Assistant Marketing Manager
A writer for the Arizona Republic recently phoned Bicycle Adventures. She was researching one of travel’s hottest trends: the active vacation. More than a sightseeing tour, the active vacation engages guests by building a trip around a specific type of recreation — cycling, hiking, paddling — or a combination of activities. Studies done by the American Association for Lifestyles and Fitness, articles published by AARP, and even a cursory glance through many magazines confirm that active vacations, once mostly aimed at 20- to 30-somethings, aren’t just tickling fancies: they’ve virtually exploded in popularity.
Why?
Well, for starters, awareness. A lot of us grew up with a foggy understanding that doing something is generally healthier than lying on a beach chair slurping a margarita and smoking a Virginia Slims, sleepily sopping up all available UV rays. Watching our parents age and reap the results of their lifestyle choices, we may have sworn not to make those same choices.
A lot of us grew up with a foggy understanding that doing something is generally healthier than lying on a beach chair slurping a margarita and smoking a Virginia Slims, sleepily sopping up all available UV rays.
Another reason might be personal experience. We feel better when we’re active! A revealing Duke University study in 1999 compared the results of treating depression in older patients three different ways: with medication, with aerobic exercise, or with a combination of the two. At the end of 16 weeks, exercise was shown to be equally effective in treating depression — as effective as medication alone, and as effective as the combination approach! Plus, the exercisers chalked up some additional perks: increased aerobic capacity, higher life satisfaction, boosted self-esteem, a better love life, more energy and sharper thinking. An active vacation tosses in still more: companionship, great memories, and the pleasure of new experiences. We go home refreshed and energized, which isn’t always the case after lying on a beach for a week (even with a really, really good book). It’s a thrilling combination!
Finally, it’s more fun. Let’s take the wine country. Anyone can buzz along in a car and be wowed by the scenery. But visiting Napa and Sonoma’s posh tasting rooms and sampling their offerings is even better on a bicycle: you’re smelling the roses, feeling the breeze and keeping your heart happy. You’re cleansing the mind along with the palate. (And you’re getting about 100 miles per gallon of Gatorade.) Hawaii? Nobody wants to be in a car in Hawaii! You want to be in the sun, on the beach, in the water — outside, outside, outside. An active vacation is the only way to vacation in Hawaii. Even diehard do-it-yourselfers, though, can appreciate having someone else do the planning, make the reservations, put together a menu of activities that will actually fit into one day or one week, and take care of all the pesky details. After all, vacations are supposed to be fun.
But why a bicycling vacation, specifically? Well, as experts in that field, we present a few additional reasons why it’s a marvelous investment:
• You can go at your own pace, be it slow or be it speedy. If you want a photo of an amazing view, feel free to stop and take one. Feel like racing ahead? You’ll know where the rest of us will catch up with you, and you’ll be first in line for the beer/soda cooler. Not a world-class cyclist? Not a problem. The support van is always nearby — you can hop in anytime.
• Camaraderie. When cycling, you’ll naturally connect with others who ride at about the same pace. You can actually converse while relishing the scenery. And you all have victories to celebrate and common experiences to share at the dinner table. It’s a great way to go, especially for a solo traveler: as Bonita Armstrong, who did the Bryce-Zion tour this summer, aptly put it, you’ll be part of a group of “friends you haven’t yet met!”
• Food! You work up a terrific appetite when you ride. This means you get to eat whatever you want at dinner — and not go home looking like a cruise ship. And so, for those of you who are on the fence (or the sofa), perhaps this is additional incentive to consider the two-wheeled active route. For those of you who’ve been on a BA tour, plus you super-organized folks who are already signed up for a trip next year, we offer our thanks and our applause. Our helmets are off to you.