12 Wishes We’d Ask For From an Adventure Genie

Imagine you’re on an adventure and a Genie rocks up, flashing before your eyes in all of their colourful vibrance and glittery magic, and agrees to grant you three wishes. Three adventure wishes no less. What would you wish for?

This is what my co-host, Kristen Vautin and I often ask guests on our podcast, Into the Wee Hours.

The podcast’s mission is to elevate the voice of the everyday adventurer and we’ve often slotted this Adventure Genie into our quick fire question round as an interview warm up before we dive in deeper. We’ve been totally blown away by the creativity of our fantastic guests, and some of these wishes have been suggested or inspired by them. 

Standard Disney genie rules apply – you can’t bring anyone back from the dead, make someone fall in love with you, or ask for more wishes. 

This is all about thinking of those things that can make adventuring tricky and opening your heart and mind to the possibility of changing them. Yes, endless good health, world peace, and addressing climate change are all a given for our wishes at this point… so, allowing for that, let’s focus a little smaller scale, on simple fun and everyday adventure. 

Here’s what we’d wish for…

1. Weightless Water

Take a second to think about that one. Dehydrated water which you could just pop out of a packet like dehydrated ‘food in a bag’.

As anyone who’s carried water in any form knows, it’s freakin’ heavy. Be it sloshing around in a bladder or bottles in your backpack or weighing down your bike.

Finding storage space for water and carrying it, can be a royal pain in the backside – especially on a long hike or on remote stretches of a bikepacking tour. Guaranteed, you’re now going to be wishing for weightless water on your next self-propelled trip.

Frozen or not, imagine this not weighing a gram | @tim_ashelford

2. The Ability to Switch The Sun On and Off Like a Light

So often, safety on trips will require you to think about daylight and nightfall. 

What if you’re running out of time to get to camp and don’t feel comfortable on that trail in darkness? How often have you found yourself on a cold night in a tent, wishing the sun would come up and the day can kick off for real? When I’ve been camping out, listening to dingoes and dogs howling around me in the pitch black, I’d have done anything to flick that light on. 

As Leif, who suggested this one said, ‘Sunlight brings life and a sense of safety and normality’. Imagine just hitting an imaginary light switch and boom, the sunshine appears and all is well again in the world.

On the flip side, how hard is it to snooze under canvas in broad daylight? How great if you could just order up some darkness to either get to sleep, or prolong your camping snoozes?

3. Never Ending Endurance

What if you could hike, bike, paddle, climb on and on and on? Yes. Please.

Never. Stop. Running. | @onelifewild

4. Ability to Talk to and Befriend Dangerous Wildlife

‘G’day Mr Bear; Mrs Snake; please don’t eat me or bite me today, why thank you.’ 

Off you go on your merry way, with new found friends and the option to ditch the snake bandage.

5. A Personal Climate Bubble

This one came from Allison P who loves to bikepack, but doesn’t love the heat and humidity of a Queensland summer. Imagine if you could dial in a bubble of your perfect weather around you at all times? Bye bye sweaty, sunburned adventures. Hello perfect 26 degrees and light, cool breezes, wherever you are. 

If you like pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain | Photo by Chagi Weerasena

6. The Ability to Teleport Anywhere in the World

Imagine being able to do this just by looking at a photo of the destination or clicking your fingers. You could teleport with ALL of your gear. Maybe you grab your 4WD; your bike; your backpack; your dog… your friends. Whatever you choose. Click your fingers and off you go, transported from one place to another at the speed of light.

7. Adventure Buddies Who Always Show Up

You know, not the ones who say they’re enthusiastic but then the weekend rolls around and suddenly they have some ‘essential’ laundry to take care of and subsequently bail. The adventure crew who say they’ll show up and always do – they’re the ones we want to hold onto tightly.

8. Never Getting Injured

Pushing yourself hard but never dealing with the physical consequences. No more recovery weeks and lost adventure time. 

Read more: How I Got Into (And Out of) a Sticky Situation

Say goodbye to hospital visits post-adventure | @alissa.ward

9. A Whole Extra Life

One life isn’t enough. Every adventure is a trade off for another. Hit rewind and restart the adventures in a different direction.

10. The Ability to Make Any Food Incredibly Nourishing

Those two minute noodles with the sketchy fluorescent powder that you pack because they’re super light and minimal brain power to coordinate at the end of a massive day?

Magically, they provide you with the nourishment of a superfood and fuel you throughout your multiday adventure.

Pancakes erryday | @wanderer_rachel

11. An Endless Supply of Salt and Vinegar Chips

Thanks Hannah, our work here is nearly done.

But not until, our final wish:

12. Our Trail Dogs Can Live Forever

*broken heart emoji*

An Explorer’s best friend | @patcorden

So, what would your adventure wish be? Personally, I’m holding onto Rob’s ‘weightless water’ as the ultimate adventure hack.

Feature photo by @louishansel