Like most of us these days, I feel far too busy with all the commitments of real life. So one of my greatest joys is a chunk of empty time in my calendar and the jangle of enough coins in my pocket to go off and do something fun. Everyone chooses to spend their precious spare time and money differently. Do you go on holiday, or do you feel the call of adventure? But what exactly is the difference between a holiday and an adventure? Intuitively they feel very different, but are they really?

When I try to answer this question I feel drawn to the old definitions of the types of fun. 

Type 1 fun is obvious fun. Lying on a beach, eating ice cream.

Type 2 fun is retrospective fun. Mud, rain, blisters, then laughing about it all later in the pub.

For me, a ‘holiday’ involves Type 1 fun like nature, freedom and fresh air, whilst ‘adventure’ involves all those things PLUS a dash of Type 2 masochism, misery, asceticism, and looking forward to the end. 

But what about you lot? I asked on Twitter what adventure and holiday meant to you. The different types of fun featured strongly. @KarlOnSea, @PensionsMonkey and @vickyinglis13 mentioned it, as did @Rhodrigo17 who feels that on an adventure ‘You know it will be hard, physically and mentally daunting. And you only realise you had fun at the end.’ And @alistairmagowan was surely thinking of the pub afterwards in his description that ‘Adventures are less relaxing, but always have the best stories.’

If holidays are relaxing, then perhaps adventures are about the challenge and the unknown. We choose them not because they are easy, but because they are hard. @jfeatherstonemc wrote, ‘Adventure must have an element of risk, in its widest sense for me. There must be some unknown elements; a sense of exploration (physical or of self) and meaningful challenge. At its heart, success cannot be guaranteed. Holiday implies almost absolute control with few variables.’ For 

@JordanJaunt, the element of purpose comes into play: ‘Adventure has a goal, a plan, a pass/fail. Holiday is enjoying doing very little which is why you can spend a holiday in bed doing and still have achieved the goal!’ 

In @RexannaKeats’s mind, ‘Adventure includes pushing your boundaries of what you thought was possible.  Holiday includes exploring new worlds and pushing your boundaries of who you thought that you were.’

I also liked @junkcano’s distinction that ‘An adventure is to seek challenge. A holiday is to escape from challenge.’ which @jnicedill agrees with: ‘Holiday you’re running away from something. Adventure you’re running toward something.’ This was also backed up by @AmandaDudman, for whom ‘Holiday is time away or ‘off’, adventure is the stretch’ and by @AjWilhelmsen: ‘For me, it’s the setting of a goal that requires a degree of ‘suffering’. Adventures have a goal to be strived for, holidays are their own goal.’

When I plan adventures I aim for a strategy of pragmatic recklessness. I plan enough to be safe and to give me a decent chance of success. But beyond that I dare myself to leave the rest to chance or fate. I want to embrace risk, surprises, serendipity and to be able to take less travelled paths on a whim. I always assume that because holidays are easy, they don’t need planning. I always regret that decision! @DanRavenEllison highlights risk, commenting that, ‘I think risk is an essential ingredient of adventure, but for me that risk does not have to be about pain or failure.. it can be about discovery, connection, the unexpected, delight, euphoria.. all of which may be unknowns but are possible without unpleasantness.’ 

The difference in planning was a feature amongst several of you, too. I would like @caminante_norte to organise my next holiday. For them, ‘Holidays are more planned so when you are there there’s not much planning to do. Adventures require more planning when you are there, things don’t always work out which is part of the fun.’ @stanleystravels echoes this point: ‘In a holiday almost everything is planned out, with few surprises. In an adventure, there is less planning and far more scope for randomness and surprises.’ ‘When something goes wrong on a holiday,’ says @Mikeachim, ‘it feels unwelcome and annoying. When something goes wrong on an adventure, it feels – kinda why you did it.’ @missbutlerbikes explained that ‘The definition we work on, is if you know in advance where you will sleep every night then it’s a holiday. If not, adventure.’ And for @stevemarvell, ‘An adventure for me is more a journey of discovery with unknown outcomes.’

The definitions of adventure and holiday are difficult, in part, because one person’s gentle stroll is another’s epic Everest, as highlighted by @PeakDistrictDeb: ‘Adventure is different for everyone if you consider it in an inclusive & equitable framework.’

Travel podcaster and author @thecreativepenn suggested that ‘I think you should add Travel as another option. It implies curiosity, and exploring cultural differences, not necessarily ‘adventure’ which is more physical boundary pushing. Travel can be challenging, too.’

@ZaritaFloridian ties this together with more emphasis on curiosity: ‘To me adventure is anything that involves curiosity, the journey to discovery, and anything that enlivens your heart. Adventure can take many forms, and not all of them involve masochism and danger, it could even be intellectual. Not everyone has the abilities…

There may be disabilities, we may not be in tip top shape anymore, or not have the youthful movements we once had, or have certain limits to what we are willing to endure. But we can still be adventurous and explore wherever our curiosity takes us.’

For many, holidays and adventures overlap. ‘A holiday can be an adventure’ writes @JustHelenWoods1, ‘but an adventure doesn’t have to be a holiday. @leannedowns feels that you can have both: ‘For me Adventures can happen within a Holiday and a Holiday can happen within an Adventure. I went on Holiday to France, stayed in a villa with family but had an adventure one day driving into the mountains and hiking up to a lake between two peaks.’ @jackthurston makes a good point that ‘Voluntary adventures are a type of holiday. Involuntary adventures are fleeing from war or famine, a shipwreck etc. A third category that is voluntary adventure but not a holiday are scientific expeditions, innately risky jobs (e.g. astronaut), that kind of thing.’ And @Haroon_Mota is ‘always looking for excuses to adventure on holidays. My wife doesn’t quite like that! Haha.’ 

And perhaps the final word, in this piece penned by a self-titled Adventurer and Author, should go to @LakesStiles: ‘Adventures are self indulgent people writing about their holidays….’

This piece originally appeared in Alpkit’s Outpost magazine.