Editor’s Note: The segment Microadventures owes ultimate thanks to Alistair Humphreys, the originator of the “microadventure”. Thanks to Alistair, our minds have been enlightened and our childhood dreams of being an “adventurer” are actually within reach. 

So often we become wrapped up in our daily routines and situations, invariably following the same path over and over. It is inherent to our nature to find a rut in the road and ride in it; it is the instinctual urge to achieve stasis. We even fall prey to cultural, lifelong routines (graduate high school, go to college, begin career, retire) because of the safety they promise. We accept the hand dealt to us by impartial Fate. Yet we are envious of the history-makers who strive so hard, lose so much, and live.