I live for adventure travel! The thought of it consumes my life. Whenever I visit a new 
country, I search for the best adventure that they offer. Traveling and extremes have encompassed my life for 30 years; from white-water rafting and ziplining in Costa Rica, skydiving and base jumping in Switzerland, paragliding, helicopter flight lessons, jet pack flying, biplane flying, and glider flying in California, bungee jumping in Alberta, rock climbing, caving, and rappeling in New Brunswick, dog sledding and helicopter touring in Alaska, boogie boarding in Nova Scotia, and swimming with dolphins in Mexico, I’ve tried every “bucket list” adventure I could imagine. My wedding day in Jamaica even included a little bit of rock climbing followed by a trapeze act in my gown. I’ve been to 34 countries and I have no intentions of stopping there. Following my dreams and living life to the fullest has taught me that the world is full of endless possibilities and I share that with my readers.
But have a visited the most adventurous country or is there somewhere I need to add to my adventure travel bucket list? With a substantial amount of travel followers, I’m sure you can help me decide.
Bucket List Publications 
Considering the size of the US and the incredible list of things you have done there – we couldn’t possibly suggest a single European country that could give you all that! However, join it up into the EU and we could possibly give you a run for your money 😀
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Do you have an EU suggestion?
🙂
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Sadly we spend most of our time trying to keep out of exciting situations! Our travels are through the more well beaten tracks but hey, we could talk about places we’ve eaten until the cows come home! There’s our danger 😉 You seem to have received a goodly response anyway.
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Come to sunny South Africa for an adventure you’ll never forget… ask for advise on what to see and where to visit… for animal photos and some of our beauty look at my blog…
http://visitstothepark.wordpress.com/
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A whole country? How about my home province of British Columbia? Come and hike the West Coast Trail, summit Mount Robson, rock climb the Chief in Squamish, canoe the Bowron Lake circuit, go river rafting, whale watching, surfing, sailing, and when you’re done, come to Victoria for a few days of low key sightseeing and good restaurants.
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I agree. I’m not from B.C., but it is hands-down the best place for adventure in Canada. I will be moving there soon for that reason.
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What an awesome list!
I admire your gumption and drive for life. Great posts, I enjoy reading them…thank you so much for sharing!
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I think of the places on your list Costa Rica has the most to offer, though hiking the Inca trail in Peru is one of the highlights of my life. I think you should try horse back riding in Mongolia. It is amazing! You gallop across vastly varied landscapes, meet friendly people, and drink vodka made of Mare’s milk. it’s one of my favorite places on the planet.
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Nice read! I wouldn’t consider myself an adventure traveler, per se, but running with the bulls in Pamplona a few years back was pretty exciting! 🙂 Cheers!
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Why not Nepal?
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What are the best adventures you can think of for Nepal? Maybe it should have been included in the choices.
🙂
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Everest? 😀
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I voted for Peru because of the Incan ruins to be explored there–and all the wonders of the High Andes!
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I voted for New Zealand though I’ve never actually been there… This was based on what I’ve heard from other travelers. Also, I lived in Sydney for a while and traveled across most of Oz (never made it to the west or Tasmania.. Its killin me, missing Tazzie, I will def be making a pilgrimage to New Zealand and Tasmania someday!)
Having done quite a bit of adventure travel myself, skydiving, bungee etc. Peru would be #2. The Inca Trail is not over rated, it’s touristy bc its brilliant) and close by you can explore jungle, volcanos. Helicopter over the Nazca lines, surf, scuba… So many amazing treasures in Peru. Overall, Argentina has risen to the top of the places I’ve visited. It being both a long and wide country it spans many geographical terrain, it’s the embarkment locale for tours to Antarctica, has best in class skiing (I’m lil ski bunny and Bariloche… awed me), volcano climbing, Patagonia, glacier hiking etc. ok… Now that I’m all good and sad bc I want to go back to “adventure travel” myself, last remark – Venezuela and Colombia, those are the next two hotspots for me. Venezuela is probably home to the most natural beauty in the world, sad that their polical unrest trumps the magnitude and diversity of natural wonders in our social dialogue about the country.
-jay
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I vote for one’s own backyard. Mine never ceases to amaze me. Maybe that’s because I live in Michigan.
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It was really hard to pick just one (particularly since I haven’t gone to many of them myself)! I think you can find adventure anywhere, though – part of the fun is the unexpectedness of new places, and that fun carries over no matter WHERE you are.
With that said, though, I would love to go on a tour of Chile and hit up their telescope arrays in the mountains someday!
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One of the things I miss in my life is adventure. Having done that, and gotten the Tshirt, I just feel like I am circumspect and adventure is no longer on my list. Kind of sad eh?
Nice work.
DS
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The answer is simple . . . and impossible. It just depends on what you want. Adventure, like music, has different genre which appeal to different people. I love the mountains, so any place with those would be an adventure for me. I also love culture and history and anthropological venues. just depends on what you want most first.
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No idea what country would be best, because I don’t get to travel. But I think it’s awesome that you do!! Wherever you go next, hope you have a blast!
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How about Sagada in the Philippines?
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Finally, an Asian country. Lol.
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I can’t give you a good suggestion as I’ve not travelled enough, but I’d really like to see a photo of you trapeezing in your wedding dress please? 🙂
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Please feel free to check out my Facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/LesleyCarterBlog. There are lots of wedding photos, including the trapeze. 🙂
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thank you, I will do that 🙂
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I’m not surprised to see New Zealand topping the poll … but, I’ve never been there, so I voted for Australia. Best European country I know for the adrenalin rush is Norway.
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What a header ! Can’t believe , Just visited first time and Bang !
Superb .
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I just posted a similar sort of post today, about some top places I really wanted to visit. Although I’m not as much of an adrenaline junkie as you seem to be, I think in every place you can find an adventure if you look hard enough! Great post by the way.
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I just wanted to comment on what a fabulous photo that is…love it!
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Tibet? offers Everest mountain climbing, visiting monasteries, flying above the snow-capped peaks of Himalaya, wild river rafting, hire a land rover and travel across the Tibetian plateau, ride an elephant.. and who knows what else! 🙂
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PLEASE tell me you have a video up somewhere of wedding gown trapeze-ing!!!
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When you were in California, you should have taken a trip up to Oregon. We have mountain climbing, year round skiing, extreme skiing, snow-shoeing, hiking, white water rafting, caves to explore, wind surfing, para-sailing, deep sea fishing, high desert adventure, lava flows to hike, rain forests to explore, sand dunes and sand buggies, surfing, dude ranching, big city restaurants which are award winning and some of the best on the planet, vineyards and wine tasting, and quiet lakes where you can canoe, kayak, or toast a marshmallow on the campfire. Maybe not extreme enough for you, but a variety of fun adventures. After reading the other posts, it seems most of us can find adventure close to home. And when we can’t we read your blog!! 😀
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Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. Fly out of Quito to get there, it’s much safer than Guayaquil.
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I voted for New Zealand, although, I’ve never been there! Me and my husband’s travels always revolve around surfing, but we absolutely loved Peru and Costa Rica!!
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I don’t mean to be a homer, but the U.S. is pretty amazing, We have epic rafting, millions of acres of hiking, great surfing and windsurfing, stellar rock climbing, dude ranches, swamp tours with alligators. The geological wonders of Yellowstone are a worthy destination by themselves. But I want to go to New Zealand too!
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I’m pleased to see New Zealand topping the poll! There are so many amazing things to do here, and you don’t have to go far from the city to find some of them either. When you come here, I’d be happy to give you some suggestions on what to do.
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Africa, Europe, Asia, I’ve tried them all but the US has as much adventure as any of them and you don’t have to pay 3000$ to get there. Well, I don’t, anyway…
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Thanks for appreciating my Blog.
I feel adventure is the real purpose of life, to experience God’s grace in a million forms and a million shapes.
Thanks. Cheers
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I’d have to say go somewhere crazy, somewhere that’s just way out there… I’ve heard that Kyrgyzstan is amazing and has some beautiful untouched mountains. I have also read a lot about Mongolia and met a few people who think it is great. There is a middle ground between those places and modernized countries like the USA; for example I loved Romania and Bulgaria. I think that countries like that are a real adventure, but all of the countries in the poll are very well developed except for Peru. People travel to all those places a lot, and they are fun, but the adventure is where people don’t go.
Andrew
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I would come down to Mexico, if I were you. I’ve had some odd experiences here. Very adventurous and most often, if you have a set goal (like seeing a certain natural monument or ruins), it normally ends up being a very interesting trip.
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Dislike!! I’ve just looked at the rankings! what the bloody hell is going on with Australia lagging behind in last place??! Are people just too lazy to travel this far (that my friends is the first failure of being adventurous), I can live with NZ being top of the poll, only because it was the location of THE greatest adventure of all time courtesy of some wee people with hairy feet…….BUT!! Switzerland in second place????!!! Unless there are mountain sized blocks of Toblerone available for abseiling, or extreme ‘tightrope walking whilst yodelling’ events that I don’t know about, then I’m contesting that result.
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Switzerland has Interlaken, which is a big draw 😉
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I spend a month in New Zealand, two weeks of those on adventure travel. Whitewater rafting, bungee jumping, and Zorbing were my very favorites, but I also loved climbing the Franz Josef glacier, taking a dip in a geothermal mud bath in Rotorua, exploring a glow worm cave, hiking the breathtaking hills, and lots more. NZ is said to be the adventure capital of the world, and I very highly recommend it – definitely my favorite country I’ve visited so far!
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I think that living your life in such a way that you can pursue your bucket list and travel around the world doing it is an amazing adventure in itself. You need to share with others the source of your courage to do this. Can you imagine what the world would be like if everyone actually pursued their life’s dreams? It would be an incredible place, and much more peaceful.
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Costa Rica is an absolutely beautiful place to visit. I recommend it to everyone. But, keep in mind that the food served in jails is pre-hispanic and takes a little getting used to.
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How do you manage all this with a baby?! I am amazed. Do you strap her to your font in a sling to go abseiling? I have to say I am a much lazier kind of adventurer than you…but I once did a trek through the Ladakhi Himalayas, with some hitchhiking on top of big lorries through switchback mountains…that was pretty unreal. Check out the Zangskar Valley; it has some awesome high points, altitude lakes, and a couple of monasteries way out in the middle of nowhere. Otherwise, Zanzibar is pretty incredible for some laidback scuba diving.
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I would definitely have had Nepal on here: 3rd highest bungee in the world, Everest treks, not to mention many other treks, paragliding in Pokhara, yoga retreats in the mountains and not to mention its overall backpacker-friendly environment and affordable accommodations.
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Hey Lesley Carter,
You do have spunk! Wow… what a fabulous way to live your life. Read some of your posts and would love to travel with you again… at least virtually, for sure! 😉 Thanks for stopping by, to appreciate my world. 🙂 Cheers, and wish you a fun-filled, memorable, journey – safe would be nice too, eh! 😉
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So I loved your blog way back when you were a baby blogger…and love it still now. Great job at creating Bucket List Publications! I too have a Bucket List on SimplyStephanieBlog.com that I’m slowly working on, but admire your pace much more!
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Tried traveling on my own some months back and it was fun! I’ll be a traveller when I grow bait older one day Lesley (:
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New Zealand by far. there is so much out there, Australia is quite good too although it doesn’t compare to New Zealand when it comes to adventures.
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I do hope you been to Nepal till up to date. If you not been yet then Welcome to Nepal!!! Nepal Himalayas if one of the adventure destination of the World.
All the Best!
Raju Gurung
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