Unfortunately for me travel has sort of become synonymous with shitting myself; a month participating and partying at the Edinburgh Fringe earned me the nick-name ‘pooper trooper’, a jaunt to Tenerife had me planning an arse-clenching escape route should my bowls run a wry on a booze cruise, and too much smoked salmon for breakfast in South Korea resulted in some rather unruly digestive movements.  Now we all know, shit happens, especially when travelling, so why choose to inflict this involuntary intestinal terror upon myself willingly.

Now I’m not talking about travellers’ diarrhoea, food poisoning or even saturating my gut with cheap peach schnapps, I’m talking about the time I crapped my pants (thankfully in this case only in the figurative sense) on a high wire adventure course in Italy called Adrenaline Zone.

As if we didn’t have enough to worry about on this particular trip – my flatmate and I found ourselves a couple of hundred miles into Italy with nowt but €2 to our names, no maps, no phone chargers and no phrase book, #idiots – we decided to amp up the adrenaline with an aerial adventure.

Originally we had our sights set on Il Volo dell’Angelo (The Angel Flight to those sans phrase book), a massive zip wire spanning the Italian Dolomites.  But as it was off-season, it wasn’t operating.  So intead we opted for Adrenaline Zone.

Located in an industrial estate a 20 minute drive from Bari city centre where we were staying, it was an ideal quick fix for a dose of fear-factor, and crucially fun (eww did I write that?).  And, for only €20 for 2.5 hours of sweating on an elevated canopy it was an absolute steal.

My flatmate Steph and I harnessed up and smiling through the fear.

Signing-your-life-away admin complete and harnessed up, our instructor took us through the ropes, literally, since we would be the ones attaching ourselves to the zip lines and safety cords throughout the course – at once a very liberating and utterly pants wetting experience.

Feeling pumped up and over confident from nailing the safety demonstration, my flatmate and I strutted over to the real adrenaline zone, and for the first time you properly drink it all in.  Set over three tiers, reaching heights of 10m, an array of wooden barrels, planks, nets and tyres, were gently swaying in the Mediterranean breeze.  And as the hot sun beat down upon our already perspiring brows, “why the fuck am I not at the beach?” was my presiding thought.

Adrenaline Zone

Thankfully, an instructor is always at hand to take you through each course and will rush to the ready should you do a Boris and get stuck halfway down a zip line.  And when not interpreting wobbling barrels or pushing stranded flatmates across steal suspension wires, the instructors get trigger happy with a camera ensuring that every pit stain and expression of anguish is caught in all its glory.

“Logs, how the…seriously? Logs. Just keep smiling.” Image courtesy of Adrenaline Zone

But I have to say, all the sweating, straining, wobblying, thoughts of “am I going to puke” and “did a little bit of poo just come out” was all worth it to have that sense of accomplishment.  The joy of overcoming fears and physical boundaries (being a buxom lass my boobs often got caught on the ropes) was amplified when I finally clipped myself onto the 10m high zip line and flew gracefully through the air– before subsequently walloping into the safety mat.

I believe I can fly. Image courtesy of Adrenaline Zone

Whilst this might sound, for most people, like the antithesis of a “holiday”, for us it was a chance to do something different, to challenge ourselves and get out of our comfort zones. Travel is not just about poop, it’s also about adventure, discovery and breaking from the ordinary, so how could I pass up this unique opportunity to test my bowel strength whilst suspended 10m in the air?

And I might add, stiff but satisfied, our sphincter squeezing morning at Adrenaline Zone made the afternoon spent sunbathing on the beach and foraging for shells all the more deserving.

For more action shots and info check out their Facebook page.