Adrian from Leeds is a long-standing KE customer who has embarked on more than 10 KE adventure holidays, experiencing everything from mountain biking across Kyrgyzstan to self-guided walking on the Levada trails of Madeira. His journey with KE began nearly 30 years ago and continues to this day, driven by his passion for adventure and exploration. We had the pleasure of catching up with Adrian to delve into his travels with KE and understand what keeps him coming back for more.

Well it might be three decades ago, but it was such a brilliant trip that I’ve still got lots of very fond and clear memories from it. Mountain biking adventure holidays were still in their infancy, and I joined a small group led by Tim Greening, mountain biking in Utah. It was such a memorable adventure as we got to ride some iconic routes such as Porcupine Rim, The Slick Rock Trail, Needles and The White Rim Trail. I came back from that trip and straightaway booked myself onto a KE trip mountain biking across Bhutan a few months later!

I actually had quite a long hiatus from adventure travel, as family and the career I’d chosen became my focus. Throughout that time, I’d often wistfully daydream about going back on KE adventures. So when I retired, I booked myself on one… and I’ve kept coming back for more and more ever since! I love the large variety of trips and destinations as well as the KE style of doing things; everything is super-well organised with fabulous support and customer service whilst maintaining a genuine sense of adventure throughout. That’s a difficult balancing act to achieve but I think it’s something “written in the DNA” of KE, tracing its roots all the way back to the adventurous spirit of the company.

They’re both fantastic ways to experience an adventure holiday. For me, self-guided trips are a fabulous adventure experience for me and my wife to go on. We enjoy the freedom of it just being the two of us travelling together. Getting up in the morning, chatting over a lovely breakfast, donning our day sacks and then spending all day walking, just us, through beautiful mountains and along stunning coastlines, all whilst our luggage is transported to our next overnight accommodation.

Guided trips are just amazing too. It’s part of the appeal that you get to meet like-minded travellers of all ages and backgrounds, sometimes coming away from a trip with great friends. These trips give you the opportunity to travel to far more remote corners of the world, on even more adventurous trips, where an experienced guide is much more essential.

If I have to choose just one, it’s summiting Mont Blanc. Leaving the Tete Rousse Hut at 2am, the hiking ends and the mountaineering begins. Crossing the Grand Couloir in the dark, climbing snow, ice and rock up to the Aiguille du Goûter with head torches and watching the sun rise over the Alps. Approaching the Vallot Hut emergency shelter, the wind became fearsome and the cold intense. In front of us, all the way up the Bosses Ridge to the summit, we could see huge amounts of snow being blown off the ridge into the intense blue sky - our route to the summit! Reaching the summit, I was ecstatic! The pay-off for the high winds and intense cold was the most fabulous, crystal clear views from the summit. I often find myself thinking back to that moment when I’m daydreaming!