ICON Adventures

15/06/2025

Great morning for a walk. Brisk and cool to start but we soon warmed up with a few subtle hills and a good dose of blue sky.

13/06/2025

✈️ Vegetarian on a Flight? It’s Not Just One Size Fits All!

When we ask "Do you have any dietary requirements?" while booking your flights, it's a bit like going to Bunnings and saying "I need white paint." You’ll get a raised eyebrow and so many choices. Same deal with vegetarian airline meals!

Here’s a quick guide to the top 4 vegetarian options—so we can make sure your inflight meal is something you’ll actually want to eat:

🥚 VLML – Vegetarian Lacto-Ovo Meal
The standard option: no meat or fish, but includes dairy and eggs. Think veggie lasagne, cheese omelettes, and maybe yoghurt for dessert.

🌱 VGML – Vegan Meal
Totally plant-based. No eggs, dairy, or animal products of any kind. Usually healthy, sometimes beige, but always safe for vegans.

🌶 AVML – Asian Vegetarian Meal
Inspired by Indian flavours, no meat, fish or eggs, but often includes dairy like paneer. Usually a tasty curry with rice and veg.

🥡 VOML – Vegetarian Oriental Meal
Think East Asian: noodles, rice, tofu and stir-fried veg. May or may not have egg or dairy—depends on the day (and the airline!).

Still not enough choice?

🥕 JVML – Jain Vegetarian Meal, or
🥗 RVML – Raw Vegetarian Meal
But let's not get bogged down and overwhelmed!

So next time we ask, “Any dietary requirements?” don’t be shy—give us the details so your tray table treat matches your lifestyle (and your stomach thanks you).

11/06/2025

📸 What do you see?

We love our homepage image – to us, it’s the perfect shot of a hiker in her element, surrounded by wild mountain beauty.

But when our IT guru saw it, he squinted and said, “Is she… in a swamp?”

A swamp! 😂

Turns out, not everyone sees windswept wilderness and hiking bliss. Admittedly not all of our clients are hikers, some just want a 'normal' holiday!

So now we’re wondering—what do YOU see when you look at it?

We’re calling it a fun little social experiment, and a helping hand with our image refresh.

ICON Adventures are specialists in creating small group cultural and hiking tours and create unforgettable journeys tailored for you.

11/05/2025

Looking back through travel photos, I’m often struck by the fleeting encounters that linger in memory.

We met this gentle mother and her bright-eyed baby in Ethiopia in 2018 - a country that holds a big place in my heart, as it’s also where my own children were born.

I wonder where life has taken this little one and her mum.

Today, I’m thinking of her, and of all the mothers across the world who love, nurture, and guide.

Happy Mother’s Day.

24/04/2025

Lest we forget.

09/04/2025

Here at ICON we spend a fair amount of time looking for perfect hotels for our clients. This is a genuine hotel we found in Kathmandu. I can imagine the feedback . . .

Booked a “short stay” at Hotel Mum’s Home – now wondering if I need a travel insurance claim for emotional damage.

🏨 Room highlights:
– No door lock, because “what are you hiding?”
– Bed covered in cushions that must not be touched
– An ancient electric blanket set to “surface of the sun”

🍽 Dining experience:
– Dinner at 5:00pm
– Seven passive-aggressive comments with every meal
– Surprise visits from neighbours you’ve never met

🧼 Amenities include:
– Dettol-scented bathroom stocked with expired sunscreen
– Relentless reminders you’re “looking pale” and “should settle down”
– A landline that rings every 12 minutes, and yes, you have to answer it

⭐⭐ Would rate it 2 stars – one for the free food, one for the laundry service. Docked three for lack of privacy, personal space, and basic human rights.

Escape plan currently being drafted.

05/04/2025

After days of exploring the hills, temples, tea trails (and maybe a cheeky curry or two), we’ve wound down our Sri Lankan adventure with a couple of gloriously slow days in Galle.

Think: cobbled streets, colonial charm, pool swims, and sunsets that make you stop mid-sentence. We wandered the ramparts of the old Dutch Fort, browsed quirky little boutiques, and sipped icy drinks with new found friends. Some of us even braved the tuk-tuks for one last spin around town!

It’s the perfect spot to reflect on the journey we’ve shared—so many laughs, stories, and unforgettable moments. Galle gave us the gentle landing we didn’t know we needed.

Now it’s time to head home... with expanded waistlines 😳, full heart ♥️ , and maybe a few extra spice in our suitcases 🧳 .

03/04/2025

Let us show you some of the beautiful hotels and locations we have been staying at during our Sri Lankan adventure.

31/03/2025

World’s End hike at Horton Plains - stunning 10km loop through rolling grasslands and forests, with rivers, waterfalls, rhododendrons and mildly alarming Leopard signage!
As we neared World’s End, the clouds rolled in and by the time we arrived it was a total white out. Nothing to see here! A classic case of “it’s about the journey, not the destination”…, because, well, the destination vanished!

30/03/2025

Would you look at these amazing humans?

Today was meant to be a ‘day off’ – and yes, sometimes we do ease off the go-go-go and slip into slow-mo. But even on our chill days, there are options! Some rolled up their sleeves in a cooking class, others blissed out with a massage, and a few just embraced the art of doing absolutely nothing.

But these four legends (plus me) decided to tackle Little Adam's Peak in Ella, Sri Lanka.

After brekkie, we jumped into tuk tuks (aka tropical rollercoasters) and zoomed off. The hike wasn’t too intense, but it did involve about 30 minutes of upward leg-day action – stairs and steep hill walking included.

And here’s the best bit: the youngest in this hiking squad? A sprightly 71 years old. Talk about redefining what’s possible.

30/03/2025

It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to do it!

Hello from the Sri Lanka office 😉

30/03/2025

Trail