by Tamara Jacobi, Eco-Adventurer
I look up at the towering papaya trees surrounding our dipping pool. Newly planted last year, these trees had peered up at me timidly, searching for guidance. I breathe in deeply, inhaling the scent of their flowers, as though to draw inspiration as I return to commence another year of running my family’s eco-lodge on the pacific coastline…

by Sarahlee Lawrence
Inquisitive, reticulated giraffes walked gracefully up to us while our horses grazed. Some days we slipped through a herd of sixty or more, towering like a cathedral. I rode where the only trails are elephant trails, the sky is so vast it seemed to wrap around me, and the Southern Cross and Big Dipper sat in the same sky. Horses carried me through the still wild bush of the Laikipia District in Kenya…

by Shannon Mullen, Journalist & Outdoor Girl
In climbing, you learn mostly through failure,” my instructor said with a grin, “but success is that much sweeter.” I’d just fallen off the rock wall for the fifth time at an indoor climbing gym in Lander, Wyoming. The small ranching town in the Rocky Mountains is famous in this sport for its proximity to breathtaking, steep-walled canyons, towering boulders left by the glaciers that carved them, and the scores of talented athletes who come in droves to scale both…

by Shannon Mullen, Journalist & Outdoor Girl
In a few days I’m leaving almost everything I know to head west in search of new challenges, with only a sketch of a plan and the freedom to ditch it entirely. I’ve always thought that I’m the type of person who needs a big catalyst to make a decision like this, some life-altering event. Instead all it took was admitting to myself that I’ve stopped learning where I am, mostly because I can’t see past my limits…

by Bev Sanders, Founder, Jennifer’s Journey and Las Olas Surf Safaris
Jennifer’s Journey is, in my opinion, a passionate work of art, showcasing dazzling adventures for women all over the world. Like every work of art, Jennifer’s Journey comes with powerful inspiration: my late sister, Jen…

by Caroline “Noni” Craven, Adventure Traveler and Photographer
Adventure is my game. I’m not an extremist, but have been known to play: white water kayaking, mountain biking, rock climbing, anything and everything in the snow. Name it, I tried it. A previous life was filled with river guiding and horse training. Play hard, work hard. Until it caught up with me…

by Ashley, Team Athleta
We all tumbled out of the plane in that travel fog, groping for our passports at customs and pulling our monster bags off the carousels at baggage claim. We were in Italy! It was maybe 80 degrees and sunny. The air in Pisa had that burning wood smell that comes up off the countryside out there, like the whole thing is a Disney movie for all your senses. As we drove the 45 minutes south to Castagneto Carducci, we talked to the others around our seats. Flights. Italy. Food. Where we all lived. Who’s been to Italy before. How we all ended up on the trip. When we arrived at Campastrello Sport, we piled back out of the bus, met Colleen Cannon (who founded Women’s Quest after her career as a professional triathlete)…

by Ashley, Team Athleta
Today, we headed out fairly early for a ride to Monteverdi. I know the roads out there so I was tying to hold myself back from charging, but I’d slept really well (that deep deep sleep you only get after being up for most of 40 hours straight) and I wanted to ride my bike. I mean, come on — we’re in Tuscany…

by Ashley, Team Athleta
Today I knew we were going to ride about 60K, but I wanted to get in some slightly longer miles, so I took off in the morning for 50K on my own. I climbed up into Castagneto Carducci. The road goes into switchbacks as you climb up into the hillside, and pretty soon, you can see the sun reflecting on the Mediterranean offshore. The land below is perfectly-manicured in tiered gardens and landscaped groves, olives and vines as far as the eye can see. And the empty eye of a castle stares at you from an adjacent hillside…

by Ashley, Team Athleta
Today we moved over to Trequanda for two nights. The plan was to take the bus to Siena, spend the day walking around and shopping, and then get back on the bus to Trequanda. It’s a town further inland in Tuscany, close to Montalcino, where the roads are just as beautiful but different. And we were set to stay at Fattoria del Colle, a winery and olive estate owned by Donatella Cinelli Colombini, who produces award-winning Brunello di Montalcino wines (including the Prime Donne that is produced entirely by women)…