500 Adrenaline Adventures (Frommer's) - Lois Friedland [4]
We compiled this list through personal experience as well as discussions with and recommendations from fellow travel experts, friends, family, the frommers.com community, and countless other resources. We think it will serve as a fantastic jumping-off point (no pun intended) for many adventures to come.
We’ve grouped these experiences by theme rather than by destination. We figure animal enthusiasts will want to know all the best spots to convene with the wild things, that kayakers will want to know the top places to get on the water, and so on. (Consult the geographic index at the back of this book if you’re interested in a specific part of the world.)
We know that you, our readers, have many ideas of your own about your favorite adrenaline adventures. We hope to hear your suggestions for the next edition of this guide, so feel free to send your ideas to us at Frommer’s Travel Guides, 111 River St., Hoboken, NJ 07030. In the meantime, get out there, take a chance, and get that adrenaline racing!
A Note on Hotels
We’ve tried to recommend hotels across all budgets, but offerings will vary—some destinations cater to the backpacker, while others appeal to those who want a little more pampering. We’ve assigned price categories for recommended hotels using a system of $ (inexpensive), $$ (moderate), and $$$ (expensive). These price ranges are relative to the destination—meaning that a $$$ hotel in Nepal may be considerably less expensive than a $ or $$ hotel in Hawaii or Banff National Park. Keep in mind that for a number of the adventures in this guide, many of the recommended tour outfitters will arrange for your accommodation. For more extensive hotel descriptions and recommendations, as well as other useful travel advice, consult the relevant Frommer’s guide to that destination, or search frommers.com. You can also use the contacts we’ve listed in the section of each entry.
Chapter 1: In the Air
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Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
MiGs over Moscow
A Top Gun Experience
Almost anything seems possible in adventure tourism these days—if you have a dream and a big enough bank account. In post–Cold War Russia, even the sky has no limit. Anyone between the ages of 18 and 70 who’s in relatively good health can mimic the world’s best-trained fighter pilots and fly a Russian military jet high enough to see the earth’s curve at 11⁄2 times the speed of sound. Just be prepared to pay for this fantasy flight: A 5-day package costs around $20,000, not including international airfare. Aviation aficionados who have tried it say it’s worth every penny.
Incredible Adventures began offering these Top Gun–inspired flights in 1993 after the company’s founder, Kent Ertugrul, then a young American entrepreneur who traveled to Moscow in search of computer programmers for a software venture, took one ride on a MiG-29 and fell in love with the rush. He signed a deal to market similar flights worldwide, returned home to Florida, and ran an advertisement for them in the Wall Street Journal. An investment banker from New York was the first client to sign up, and since then more than 2,000 other daredevils have followed her lead. The company has offices in Sarasota, FL, and Moscow.
To climb aboard your own fighter jet, first you have to take a commercial jet to Russia’s capital. After spending a couple of days exploring Moscow’s historic monuments and lively city streets, you head to Nizhny Novgorod, home of the Sokol Aircraft Building Plant—which is where you lift off for the flight of your life. This place has been manufacturing top-of-the-line Russian fighter jets for more than 70 years and has an air museum that’s worth a quick tour. Weather conditions permitting, you go through a final security clearance, safety briefing, and medical check. Then it’s time to put on your helmet and flight suit, discuss the flight plan with your Russian co-pilot, and hop into the cockpit. Depending on which aircraft you’re flying, you can reach heights of 21,336m