Want to find out a bit more about Adventure Life? Check out some
of these great publications that have written articles about our tours.
Browse through these brief summaries or click on the links below to
read the full articles!
Published: Jul 1, 2026
By: Sarah Campise Hallier
“What the Galápagos demonstrates is that tourism and conservation do not have to compete,” said Erin Correia, a senior trip planner with Adventure Life who specializes in the region. “When managed carefully, they reinforce each other.”
Conde Nast Traveler
Published: Jun 23, 2026
By: Ashlea Halpern
There is no easy fix for that specific type of heartbreak, no airport plushie that makes your kid’s pain go away—or makes you not feel like the Worst Parent Alive for leaving. But tiny rituals can help: a note dashed off from a hotel room or a strategically planted kiss before departure.
Published: Jun 15, 2026
By: Sarah Kuta
“Travel offers hope, joy, and light, which is especially essential after challenging times,” says Mary Curry, voyage product director and trip planner at Adventure Life. “Travellers want to travel, and the key is to meet them where they are so they feel good about their decisions.”
Published: Jun 12, 2026
By: Adventure Travel Trade Association
We’re especially excited about the four new members joining the board this year. Each brings a distinct lens on how travel can drive conservation, and the credibility to move the industry forward. Together, they represent exactly where ATCF is headed, deeper industry alignment, stronger conservation outcomes, and a bigger, more coordinated push to protect the places that make travel possible.
Monika Sundem is the CEO of Adventure Life, an experiential travel company crafting custom journeys and small-ship expedition cruises focused on human connection, cultural immersion, and responsible exploration.
Published: Jun 10, 2026
By: Suzanne Smith
A search engine can show price, departure date, and cabin type. It does not explain which operator suits travelers who prioritize time off the ship over onboard amenities, or which itinerary works well for a family versus first-time expedition cruisers. It cannot easily combine a cruise with a well-matched land itinerary across multiple countries, partners, and service standards.
Published: Jun 8, 2026
By: Mae Cornes
AI can make travel feel less intimidating. It can group ideas, shorten research time, and give families a sense of what may be possible. For ordinary city breaks, that may be enough. For remote adventure trips, the first draft can become risky when it looks more certain than it really is.
Published: May 28, 2026
By: Prae Lee
What becomes clear from listening to those who know the region best is that Antarctica rewards a certain mindset. Curiosity over comfort. Flexibility over control. Experience over indulgence.
Published: May 17, 2026
By: Wendy Rose Gould
As a veteran traveler who’s explored over 40 countries, I’ve learned that sometimes a tour guide is an absolute must, and those guided portions can become a highlight of the trip. Here are four cases when saying yes to the tour guide just makes sense.
Published: May 9, 2026
By: Travel And Tour World
Trust is becoming more valuable than ever as travelers struggle to find reliability amidst automated systems, especially when it comes to complex, high-cost trips. By focusing on personalized connections, Adventure Life ensures that their specialists offer advice, listen, and stand behind their recommendations--something AI can't replicate.
Published: Apr 29, 2026
By: Brianna Randall
Less visited national parks in Tanzania like Nyerere and Ruaha offer intimate, uncrowded safaris and up-close encounters with Africa’s Big Five and other wildlife.
Published: Apr 23, 2026
By: Authority Magazine Editorial Staff
Travel challenges our perspectives so radically, and those who do not expose themselves to it are missing out on truly seeing and understanding so much in the world. Travel also changes you. It softens assumptions and builds empathy in a way very few things can.
Published: Apr 19, 2026
By: Charmaine Lu
The long-standing expedition specialist has launched
The Adventure Life Travel Show, a podcast that trades glossy surface-level dreaming for something far more substantial: insight, experience, and the sort of storytelling that only comes from people who’ve genuinely been there and done it often in places most travellers haven’t even heard of.
Published: Apr 9, 2026
By: Jamie Davis Smith
There are many inconveniences that travelers face, but these 10 splurges help offset some of the chaos.
Published: Mar 27, 2026
By: Adventure Life
Adventure Life now offers custom land tours and cruise-based travel across nearly every major region of the world, with Australia set to become its next major land-tour expansion in 2026.
Conde Nast Traveler
Published: Mar 18, 2026
By: Jon Stojan
For more than two decades, Adventure Life has worked less like a booking engine and more like a newsroom: gathering context, weighing sources, editing for clarity. The company began in 1999 with a handful of Galapagos Islands and Peru trips and grew slowly, guided by a conviction that travel works best when shaped by people who know the ground—and the traveler. Long before “custom” became an industry buzzword, the company moved away from fixed departures, choosing instead to build journeys around questions: How do you like to move? What matters to you? Where do you want time to stretch?
“Our job isn’t to sell a destination,” says CEO Monika Sundem. “It’s to know the traveler first—and then design a trip that matches them best.”
Published: Mar 18, 2026
By: Adventure Life
The Condé Nast Traveler Top Travel Specialists list showcases the world’s most passionate and knowledgeable travel experts. Each year, thousands of advisors apply, with CNT’s editorial staff conducting a vetting process to select an elite group of specialists.
“We are incredibly proud to see six of our team honored on a list that remains one of the travel industry’s most respected accolades,” said Monika Sundem, CEO of Adventure Life.
Published: Mar 16, 2026
By: The Washington Times
By 2030, travel discovery will increasingly be mediated by artificial intelligence. Algorithms will recommend destinations. Machines will summarize options. But machines do not take responsibility. They do not argue with an operator on your behalf. They do not care if your honeymoon collapses or your family misses a once-in-a-generation window.
Adventure Life’s quiet endurance suggests something countercultural: that in an age obsessed with scale, intimacy still scales. That moral clarity - standing with clients when it is inconvenient—creates a legacy more durable than optimization.
“We don’t just sell trips,” Sundem says. “We advocate for our travelers. We use our experience, leverage, and relationships to make sure things are done right.”
Published: Jan 13, 2026
By: Andi Stark
Adventure Life does not operate ships or run lodges. It designs journeys. Its planners act less like salespeople and more like editors, shaping itineraries from a vast global network of operators, vessels, and guides. The company’s average booking involves just over two travelers, a quiet rebuke to the logic of scale that dominates mass tourism. The value lies not in volume, but in fit.
“People come to us overwhelmed,” says CEO Monika Sundem.
“They don’t need more options. They need clarity.”
Published: Nov 27, 2025
By: Plentisoft Press Releases
Travelers increasingly say they want variety, not patchwork, and prefer a single point of contact who can shape their journey as a whole. This is where Adventure Life’s model becomes especially resonant. Rather than booking a cruise from one website and a hotel from another, travelers can combine private guides, drivers, boutique accommodations, and outdoor activities that complement the expedition rather than conflict with it.
Published: Oct 26, 2025
By: Greg Grzesiak
The Human Advantage
Despite the rise of artificial intelligence and algorithmic travel planners, Adventure Life demonstrates the limitations of machine-driven decision-making. During the COVID-19 crisis, when borders closed without warning and cruises were canceled overnight, many travelers who had booked independently were left stranded with little recourse. Adventure Life clients fared better. Through persistence and negotiation, the company was able to secure credits, refunds, and rebooked itineraries.
This was not a matter of technology but of advocacy. Staff went to work for their clients in a way that software never could. It was a reminder that while machines may calculate, only people can argue on your behalf. That difference is at the center of Adventure Life’s value.
Published: Oct 22, 2025
By: Chelsie Carvajal
Adventure Life’s most defining strength lies in small ship expedition cruising. Whether in Antarctica, the Galapagos Islands, or the Mediterranean, travelers face an overwhelming array of reputable operators. Adventure Life’s value comes from helping clients make sense of those choices, finding the vessel, route, and style that best match their expectations. As CEO Monika Sundem explains, “Our job is not to sell a ship. It’s to connect someone with the experience that fits who they are.”
Published: Sep 28, 2025
By: Amanda Teague
Looking for a laid-back alternative to Phuket? Krabi might be your perfect match. “Sometimes referred to as Phuket’s ‘little sister,’ Krabi is a more relaxed beach destination than Phuket, but almost as convenient to get to,” says Jeff Rottschafer, Senior Trip Planner for Adventure Life.
It’s also a great launching point. “From there, it’s easy to take ferries to other islands in Thailand,” he adds. But don’t rush off too quickly. Krabi itself offers beautiful limestone cliffs, white-sand beaches, and incredible day trips for kayaking, snorkeling, and island-hopping. Be sure to check out Railay Beach and the iconic Phi Phi Islands nearby.
Published: Sep 27, 2025
By: Mary Curry
Maybe you’re a wildlife lover, a foodie, or want to go all-out and visit 100 countries; small ships can tailor itineraries to your specific goals. Before deciding where you want to go, ask yourself what it is you want to experience on this next adventure.
Do you want to see orangutans in the Southeast Asian island of Borneo? Sip wine atop a Sicilian volcano in Italy? Travel to the remote island of St. Helena off the southwest coast of Africa? Thinking about what appeals to you most is the first step in finding the right
small-ship cruise.
Published: May 8, 2025
By: Karen Rubin
Still looking to trade a ho-hum summer vacation for a memorable adventure? Here are some ideas:
Alaska Lodge Adventure: Discover the rugged beauty of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in Alaska on a guided five-day trip with Adventure Life that combines outdoor exploration with lodge-based comfort. Tour Kennicott Town and learn about its mining history, hike to a hidden lake or across a glacier, try ice climbing, fly into the backcountry for a day of wilderness exploration, and paddle a packraft through pristine waters.
https://www.adventure-life.com/alaska/tours/18770/wrangell-st-elias-national-park-lodge-based-adventure
