Thrilling Travel: Experiencing The World Without Control

"I can control my destiny, but not my fate. Destiny means there are opportunities to turn right or left, but fate is a one way street."

- Paulo Coelho, Author

At Zero Grid, we believe that it is a traveler's undeniable right to be in control of what happens next, but sometimes (most of the time), being in control is exactly what keeps you from the most thrilling experience of your life.

This month, we have asked a few of our experienced Zero Grid Travelers about the most thrilling moments in their travels, specifically the instances where they felt like they had lost control. We weren't sure what to expect and, as you'll soon find out, the responses were better than we could have ever imagined!

Tell us about an experience in which you “lost control” of the situation in your journeys. If you don’t have one, tell us about your most “thrilling” travel experience:

"When we were in Scotland 2 years ago, we mistakenly took the wrong bus. When we realised that we were going in the wrong direction, we needed to get back to the place we were leaving from. Then, we took the wrong bus (again!) and got stuck in the small town. It turned out that the bus station closed at 6 pm. It was cold and dark winter and we were completely lost. Luckily, the last bus that was leaving from this small town was going to Inverness (our destination). Everything ended up well but it was a pretty scary experience. Never before and never again will we take the wrong bus."

- Karolina, KarolinaPatryk

"Once, we were riding two non-english speaking boda-boda taxis (motorcycle taxi) in Zanzibar, Tanzania. We pulled over at one of the many, many police check-points on the island. This one happened to be in the middle of nowhere. After a few minutes of our drivers speaking to the police in Swahili, the conversation got more and more heated. Eventually, my driver was abruptly whisked off the bike by the back of his neck, which resulted in me and the bike falling to the ground. No biggie, but it was a bit startling. Our drivers were pulled inside the tiny police station without a word to me or Andrew. We sat outside while we listened to the 4 police officers screaming at the top of their lungs. We had no idea what was going on and after 30 minutes we got a bit worried. Eventually someone came outside and gestured for us to go in. We walked in to see both of our drivers crying with their shirts off and pants pulled to their ankles. They were being pushed around, against a wall, onto a table, kicked to the ground, etc. It was brutal and terrifying. Of course a million things were going through our heads. At one point we thought our driver's were in on it and we were about to lose all of our cash, phones, and cameras. There was absolutely nothing we could do about anything that was going to happen, so we sat quietly, not making a noise. An hour and a half later one of the police men walked over to us to explain that my driver wasn't carrying his license on him and that was illegal. Therefore, my driver had to cough up all of the money he had on him - which was about $40.  ALL THAT, for $40. All four of us were let go, so we silently walked to our bikes and drove the rest of the way to our destination. My poor driver was crying the whole ride, his shoulders shaking and occasionally I could hear big sobs. I felt terrible, paid him $40 extra, and I will never really know which one of us was just screwed over."

- Adrienne, A&A Take The World

"Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Far away from city center. I am alone in the park, searching for that perfect looking lake that I saw from the mountain a few days ago. 4 guys come up to me, and we start to chat. I ask them for directions. But they don't answer. A moment later, one of the guys takes out a knife from the pocket of his pants -- I can't do anything. I give them my phone and camera - all I have with me - and they run away."

- Kaspars, We Are From Latvia

"Our most thrilling travel experience would have to be our two sunrise hikes to Preikestolen in Norway! We were lucky enough to enjoy this sunrise hike twice and got two very different hikes. The first was filled with fog, rain, hail, sleet and snow with the view barely visible. The second hike was absolutely perfect weather and the most incredible sunrise we've seen. The hike itself is amazing and the landscapes are typical of those in Norway - picture perfect. The thrilling part of the trip would have to be when I stuck my head over the 600m sheer drop down to the fjord - needless to say my wife (aka thewelltravelledwoman) was fairly nervous!"

- Steven, The Well Travelled Man

All of our Zero Grid Travelers are experienced travel bloggers, digital nomads, and all-around travel experts. Sign up for our newsletter for more updates on their journeys, more Q&A's, and plenty of gear giveaways, discounts, and new products coming soon!

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