Adventure Life is an American

adventure travel Adventure travel is a type of tourism, involving exploration or travel with a certain degree of risk (real or perceived), and which may require special skills and physical exertion. In the United States, adventure tourism has seen growth in l ...

company offering private tailormade trips, small group tours, and expedition voyages throughout the world. From their beginnings as a Latin America specialist in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

and

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

land tours, they have grown to now offer trips around the globe including less conventional destinations such as

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, the

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

and

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. Their focus is nature, cultural, and active travel, and they apply

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of nature-oriented tourism intended to contribute to the Ecological conservation, conservation of the natural environment, generally defined as being minimally impactful, and including providing both contributions to conserv ...

principles to their tours and screen all cruise and land partners abroad for these principles. A large portion of travelers arrange customized or private itineraries. Since their founding in 1999, over 40,000 clients have traveled with the company. Adventure Life is registered in the State of

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

as ALJ, Inc., and they do business as Adventure Life.

History

Adventure Life was founded by Brian Morgan in 1999. Morgan was working as a consultant in

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

for

CARE Care may refer to: Organizations and projects * CARE (New Zealand), Citizens Association for Racial Equality, a former New Zealand organisation * CARE (England) West Midlands, Central Accident Resuscitation Emergency team, a team of doctors & ...

in the late 1990s, but decided to return home to Montana. While applying for jobs in Montana, Morgan planned a group tour back to Ecuador and promoted it locally. This experience made him recognize that guided tours were a service in demand, and a niche industry that his own travel experiences and Ecuadorian connections had prepared him to explore further. Adventure Life launched in February 1999 with Spanish language study-trips, internships, and tours to Peru and Ecuador. Office was initially located in Havre, Montana, and Morgan hired the first staff member. During the first year of business, Adventure Life had fewer than 100 travelers. Starting in 2000, the company decided to focus on only offering tours and no longer provides Spanish language study-trips or internships. The office moved from Havre and settled in Missoula, Montana. By the end of 2000, the company hired four full-time staff members. The company established a partner office in Lima, Peru. Between 2001 and 2003, Adventure Life added tours to Bolivia, Costa Rica and Belize, Chile, Argentina, Patagonia and Guatemala. The company also established a second partner office in Quito, Ecuador. The company moved from Morgan's home into its first office. In 2005, tours started sending travelers to Antarctica, and in 2006 they added Panama to the list of destinations. The growing company moved into its own new construction building on Spruce Street in Missoula in 2012, and started to move towards remote operations in 2019 which was ultimately realized as a result of the pandemic in 2020. The company now has employees and contractors from around the globe. During 2007 and 2008, Adventure Life began offering small-ship cruises throughout the world. A variety of destinations in Latin America are launched over the next five years including Nicaragua, Uruguay, Mexico, Colombia and Brazil. In 2013 tours throughout the south Africa nations are launched as well. The company continued to expand its offerings to SE Asia, China, Iceland and Europe. In 2020 as a response to the COVID pandemic, Adventure Life took care of its travelers by securing rebooking credits and refunds for its travelers and started to arrange tours to certain destinations with multiple layers of testing requirements and other safety precautions as early as October 2020. The company continued to expand its offering to include Mississippi SE Asia river cruises and land tours into the Mediterranean region including Italy, Croatia, and Greece during 2021 and 2022 and continues to expand to offer new exciting destinations each year. 2024 held launches of New Zealand and Greenland tours as well as 'remodels' of tours in existing regions and 2025 of Japan, Australia, and the Scandinavian countries.

Awards and mentions

* 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, & 2011 Travel + Leisure A-List: Top Travel Advisor. Awarded to founder, Brian Morgan, as the go-to travel advisor for Peru and Galapagos tours. * 2015, 2014 Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies * 2015 National Geographic Tours of a Lifetime featuring Undiscovered Brazil tour * 2014 Travel Age West Top Travel Agents in the West. Awarded to founder, Brian Morgan, as the go-to travel advisor for Galapagos tours. * 2013, 2012, 2010, & 2009 Best Places to Work, Outside Magazine * 2013 Travel Weekly Magellan Award * 2013 USA Today Adventure Travel: Top new trips to emerging places * 2011 Outside Magazine Travel Hot List featuring Machu Picchu * 2010 National Geographic Traveler: Tours of a Lifetime featuring Bolivia tours * 2008 Employer of Choice winner, Missoula Job Service Employer's Council * 2007 Best Adventure Travel Companies on Earth, National Geographic Adventure * 2007 Best in Travel Class, Transitions Abroad * 2007 Trip of the Year, Outside Magazine * 2006 Green List Honoree, Conde Nast Traveler * 2006 Best Trips, Outside Magazine,

Media References

Adventure Life has been featured in major publications such as

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', '' National Geographic Adventure'', ''

Outside Outside or Outsides may refer to: * Wilderness Books and magazines * ''Outside'', a book by Marguerite Duras * ''Outside'' (magazine), an outdoors magazine Film, theatre and TV * Outside TV (formerly RSN Television), a television network * '' ...

'' '' Forbes Life'', ''

Condé Nast Traveler ''Condé Nast Traveler'' is a luxury and lifestyle travel magazine published by Condé Nast. The magazine has won 25 National Magazine Awards. The Condé Nast unit of Advance Publications purchased ''Signature'', a magazine for Diners Club me ...

'', and '' Inc. Magazine''.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.adventure-life.com/ Travel and holiday companies of the United States Adventure travel