Outdoors Experiences that Sound Great but are Actually Crap

I tried these activities so you don’t have to (unless you want to)

Photo by the author

I’m lucky. I’ve been able to travel the world and try a bunch of cool things. I love nature and the outdoors and have had some wonderful experiences. I’ve also had some experiences that sound wonderful but are actually shit. These are those stories.

Climbing a Volcano to Watch the Sunrise

Bali, Indonesia

Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? You climb up through the jungle, passing black lava formations and puffs of thermal steam, to watch a resplendent sunrise at the active volcano’s peak.

Well, in order to see that sunrise you need to wake up at 1:30 am to allow time to pick everyone up and drive a couple hours to the destination. I’m not a morning person, and this was a traumatically discombobulating start to my day.

It was not a leisurely stroll up the volcano. It was a steep climb over rocks in stinking humid heat with only a small torch to guide you. It wasn’t dark for long though. By the time we reached the top, we’d missed the sunset. Either that or there wasn’t one that day. No glorious rays of pink shining over jungles and rice paddies. Just grey and smog with the threat of…