There is something about a long journey that sings to the soul. Marco Polo knew it. Christopher Columbus knew it. James Cook knew it. And while Homer did not personally embark on the grand adventure detailed in The Odyssey, the epic nature of the voyage it describes is one of the reasons the (probably wholly mythical) wanderings of the Greek hero Odysseus still resonate in the present day.
Of course, you do not need to be an Ionian warrior, or a medieval explorer happening on unseen continents, to enjoy a journey of substantial length. Rather more recent history has proved this. Back in December, Royal Caribbean made headlines – and a great deal of noise on social media – when its Ultimate World Cruisedeparted from Miami; a round-the-world escapade that will see Serenade of the Seas take nine months to circumnavigate the globe, via all seven continents, 65 countries and more than 150 ports.
Interested? The door is still open. Although the ship has sailed, the cruise is an ongoing process, divided into four segments – with cabins still available if you wanted to hop on board for, say, all or part of the Ultimate Europe & Beyond leg (July 10 to September 10).
But if this doesn’t sound like quite your idea of an unmissable journey, there are other ways to get away for a considerable spell and a significant distance. Such as the various possibilities here – all involving remarkable corners of the planet. And not just by boat, but by road and rail, and – for the more energetic – by pedal and on foot.
From the deserts of America and the glaciers of Argentina to the frozen face of Antarctica, our world is alive with destinations that demand your full attention, and as much time as you can give them. Now all you need is an ancient Greek poet to capture your deeds for posterity.
Roadtrips
Route 66
It was the likes of Jack Kerouac and John Steinbeck, rather than Homer, who brought the idea of the road trip into the literary canon and the wider consciousness. And the USA remains the cornerstone of the dream. Look within this reverie, and myriad options present themselves – Highway 1, on the ocean edge of California; the Overseas Highway down to the Florida Keys; the Great River Road along the churning Mississippi. But Route 66 remains the template – both cliché and all-time classic. For the most part, this is because, in dashing 2,448 miles – from Chicago and the banks of Lake Michigan, to Santa Monica and Pacific waves – it offers a near-complete cross-section of the American landscape. Eight states: the Midwest mysteries and Mark Twain echoes of Illinois and Missouri, the broad, flat spaces of Kansas and Oklahoma, and on through the dust of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona to the California shore. Epic.
How to do it
Bon Voyage (0800 316 3012; bon-voyage.co.uk) sells a Three-Week Extended (westbound) trip along the full length of Route 66. This tucks a side-step into Las Vegas (which is not on Route 66) into the itinerary. From £4,895 per person, including flights.
Ruta 40
In contrast to the US, South America is rarely considered ideal road-trip terrain. Too rainforested, too mountainous… too dangerous. The latter issue is frequently overplayed. Ecuador has endured much-publicised outbreaks of civil unrest in the last six months, but even so, the Foreign Office regards the heart of the country – where the magnificent Avenue of the Volcanoes holds court – as safe to visit. Of course, there are alternatives. Argentina is generally seen as the continent’s least risky destination, with a road network to match. The star of this particular show is Ruta 40, which runs the length of the country, from La Quiaca on the Bolivian border, all the way to Rio Gallegos, 3,227 miles (5,193km) away in the far south. It picks a pretty path through Patagonia, a wonderland of water and ice, where the Perito Moreno glacier spreads out for 97 square miles, and the colossal Lake Buenos Aires is shared with Chile.
How to do it
Journey Latin America (020 3733 6773; journeylatinamerica.com) sells a 16-day self-drive Argentina tour, which explores Patagonia in depth. From £5,090 per person, not including flights.
Rail journeys
The Indian Pacific
The Indian Pacific is a near-equal of the Trans-Siberian Railway – the formidable feat of engineering that stretches 5,772 miles across most of Russia, and the full width of continental Asia. The Australian journey may be shorter (2,704 miles), but the east-west principle is the same, and inherent in the name – the line links Sydney, on the Pacific coast, with Perth, and the Indian Ocean. And it does so via almost as much wilderness as its Russian rival. A pitstop in Adelaide aside, the train devotes itself to some of the harshest and emptiest portions of the land down under, crossing the Nullarbor Plain – the parched tongue that defines the arid bottom sections of Western Australia and South Australia.
How to do it
Wexas Travel (020 8125 4281; wexas.com) offers a 13-day Australia by Rail holiday, which rides the Indian Pacific in full. From £4,100 per person, including flights.
The Orient Express
A true train aficionado would argue that you do not need to traverse a continent to enjoy the ideal rail experience. You just need the Orient Express. Of course, you then have to define the meaning of “Orient Express”. At root, the phrase refers to the classic connection between Paris and Istanbul (then Constantinople) that came into being in 1889 – a brand that stayed on the European timetable, albeit in increasingly abridged form, until 2009. It might also refer to the Venice-Simplon Orient Express (VSOE), a private venture – launched in 1982, and now owned by hotel group Belmond – that is best known for its five-star trains between Paris and Venice. Or it might mean “Orient Express” (orient-express.com), a collaboration between SNCF and Accor Hotels that will add up to a formal rebirth of the service – and the return of trains all the way to Turkey’s biggest city – by as soon as next year. However you opt to define them, those two words sing of luxury and finesse – plus a hint of Agatha Christie, to enliven matters between co*cktails and dinner.
How to do it
The classic two-day VSOE ride from Paris to Venice costs from £3,885 per person (one way, not including flights). There are departures throughout the year. Belmond (020 4525 1139; belmond.com) also runs an occasional five-night service along the route to Istanbul – from a staggering £17,500 per person. The next edition is scheduled for September 26 2025.
Cruises
Around the world voyage
There is an enduring mystique to the idea of sailing out from one port, and returning to it months later, having circled the entire globe in the interim. Circumnavigation fascinated the great medieval explorers long before anyone managed it – it was Juan Sebastián Elcano who was the first to complete the feat, in 1522. Of course, these days, you don’t need to bother with scurvy, shipwrecks and losing the captain to the swords of angry islanders, to go all the way round. And while Royal Caribbean’s Ultimate World Cruise has already departed, there are plenty of other options for seeing the lot from a single deck and cabin.
How to do it
Viking (0800 298 9700; vikingcruises.co.uk) offer its own version of the adventure when Viking World Voyage I begins in Fort Lauderdale on Dec 19 2024 – Viking Sky will off in a westerly direction, bound for 83 ports, in 37 countries, on six continents, over the course of 180 days. Prices from £65,790 per person (including flights).
Antarctica
A pair of pioneering Russians – Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev – are generally deemed the first people to have set eyes on the Antarctic mainland, in 1820. Roald Amundsen (plus his team) was, of course, the first man to the South Pole, in December 1911. The cold allure of the frozen continent has scarcely weakened in the subsequent time, although the process of reaching it is now, happily, much less perilous. It’s a cruising bucket-list staple, and sailing possibilities proliferate.
How to do it
Ae Expeditions (0808 189 2005; aexpeditions.co.uk) offers Antarctica Complete, a 23-day affair that sails in and out of Ushuaia to call upon the Falkland Islands and South Georgia, as well as the Antarctic Peninsula. The next departure is scheduled for Jan 30 2025, from £26,411 per person, excluding flights.
Hiking
The Inca Trail
There is a certain irony to Machu Picchu – a royal retreat that, for its entire working life, was all but unknown outside the Inca realm (to the point that the Western world didn’t learn of its existence until 1911) – becoming the blazing light at the end of South America’s most celebrated hiking route. But there is no doubt that the Inca Trail is a modern obsession; a rite of passage so popular that, as of 2002, a quota and permit system is in place to limit numbers and protect the fragile Andean terrain. Not that this means tackling it is impossible, although a good level of fitness is essential – partly to help fend off altitude sickness where the path reaches a height of 4,200m (13,800ft). Three versions of the Trail reach the ruins, the longest being the 46-mile Mollepata route.
How to do it
G Adventures (020 7313 6953; gadventures.com) wraps the trail into an expansive 14-day Peru: Ancient Cities & The Andes trip that visits Lima, Arequipa and Colca Canyon. From £1,237 per person, excluding flights. Participants must be aged between 18 and 39.
Mount Kilimanjaro
The trail to Machu Picchu will take you to a mid-range peak on the South American spine – the Andes tip the scales at 22,837ft (6,961m), on the summit of Argentina’s Aconcagua. A hike to the top of Kilimanjaro will take you to Africa’s roof. The altitude here is only slightly lower than that of the Andean penthouse – Tanzania’s great dormant volcano comes to a head at 19,341ft (5,895m). But Kilimanjaro is much more famous than its Latin rival, thanks in part to the snow that covers its head in a country only fractionally below the Equator; thanks, too, to its status as a charity cause celebre, conquered over and over by a legion of popstars and recognisable faces. Anyone in decent condition can do it, without mountaineering skills. The Northern Circuit is the longest approach; a trek of 55 miles that takes nine days, with suitable periods of acclimatisation.
How to do it
Climbing Kilimanjaro (climbing-kilimanjaro.com) offers the Northern Circuit as a guided experience, from £2,376 per person, excluding flights.
Cycling
Camino de Santiago
True, the staunchest of believers would only ever consider attempting the most feted European pilgrimage route via the erosion of their shoe leather and the blisters on their soles. But, the Camino de Santiago is a formidable endeavour – which takes various shapes on the map. The only geographical certainty is the end-point – the 11th century cathedral in the Galician city of Santiago de Compostela, where, tradition has it, the remains of the apostle St James are interred. But there are several well-worn routes to get there. The original, the Camino Primitivo, begins in Oviedo, in Asturias, and stretches for 199 miles. The Camino del Norte (northern way) kicks off in Irun, in the Basque Country, and asks 508 miles of your legs. There are also at least four versions of the Camino Francés (French way), the longest of which ebbs all the way down from Paris; an escapade of 913 miles. One hell (heaven?) of a challenge on foot; still a big deal by bike.
How to do it
Exodus (020 3553 2682; exodus.co.uk) offers a self-guided Cycling the Camino de Santiago tour that takes nine days, setting off from Astorga (in Castille and Léon) on a ride of 178 miles. From £2,149 per person, with flights.
The Silk Road
Some journeys of astonishing distance are clearly defined. Not so the Silk Road – which, though its name conjures images of medieval merchants forging doughtily across the steppes of Central Asia, was less a single groove in the atlas, worn by the passage of a million footsteps, and more a loose collection of trade corridors that connected Africa (Alexandria) and the very edge of Europe (Constantinople/Istanbul) to China – across 4,000 or so miles of muscular landscape and 1,550 years of history (roughly 100BC to 1450AD). Still, there is an enduring romance to the phrase – hear it, and you can practically smell the spices, coffee beans, figs and camel dung (if not the silk). And the power of its legend still reverberates in the cities it passed through: Samarkand and Tashkent (modern Uzbekistan), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan). All the more reason to follow (some of) it in 2024 – and not upon a camel.
How to do it
It would be implausible to bike all 4,000 miles, but you can ride 350 of them with KE Adventure Travel (01768 773 966; keadventure.com) and its Cycling in Kazakhstan escorted tour. This 11-day affair pedals part of the Silk Road’s traditional northern route, via Almaty and the Tian Shan Mountains. A single edition of the trip will take place this year (August 24 to Sepembert 4). From £2,795 per person, including flights.
Maps provided as a rough guide. Contact operators for further route details.
