Holiday or hard work? Breaks include archery in Mongolia and polar bear safaris in Spitsbergen.
If you get no satisfaction from a run of the mill "fly and flop" summer holiday, a new travel company is hoping that you will fall for one of its 150 carefully selected adrenalin and adventure breaks - from learning archery in Mongolia to tracking polar bears in Canada.
Whydontyou.com, which launches today, says its target market is not tied to any age bracket but rather a "Peter Pan" mindset of wanting to live life to the full, no matter your age.
On the winter sports menu, instead of mainstream skiing and snowboarding breaks, the site offers dog-sled safaris in Norway, snow-shoeing in Bulgaria and an active family winter break in the Pyrenees. Meanwhile in the wellbeing section, in place of conventional spa breaks, which its founders think have been "done to death", you'll find options to lose weight in the Himalayas, undergo marathon training in Austria or book life coaching in Tuscany.
With 150 trips available, rising to 300 by January and 500 by March, Whydontyou.com says the breadth of its experience holidays - both in geographical and specialist terms - is unrivalled. Some 70% of the packages are sourced from specialist operators including Exodus, Explore and The Adventure Company, while 30% are their own products. Customers won't pay more than if they booked through the supplier company, rather Whydontyou.com will receive a commission on each booking.
Not to be confused with the cult kids' TV show Why Don't You (Just Switch Off Your Television Set and Go and Do Something Less Boring Instead)? the company is the brainchild of two former Kuoni staffers, who felt that current travel brochures were too destination-led and that there was a gap in the market for a specialist in enriching and fulfilling holidays.
Although prices range from £325 to £3500, most trips are high-end and co-founder Nathan Philpot admits that many of the breaks will be sold as gift experiences, for instance for a 40th or 50th birthday. The company hopes to take advantage of the growing trend for empty nesters to travel more adventurously thanks to increasingly good health, more free time and sufficient financial means.
"I'm not sure how big a factor price will be in these holidays," says a confident Philpot. "The beauty of this is that you can't DIY it. Most of the things on there can't be replicated."
An additional benefit is the company's funding and support from the well-established luxury travel club WEXAS, meaning extra scope for tailor-making itineraries and relying on extra personnel from their pool of travel advisers.
