Sometimes the most exciting adventure in life is made better with someone special traveling by your side! There is just something magical about having a Couple’s Bucket List & crossing off the many items together. However, not everyone who travels as a couple wants to travel to an all-inclusive resort or visit a theme park. Sometimes they want something a bit more active like an adventure race or a travel competition for adventure couples!

Why?

Perhaps, it is because couples who travel together tend to stay together! Or maybe it is just because traveling as a couple is a great way to test your compatibility. A couple’s adventure competition takes it one step further. Nothing clarifies a relationship more than seeing how your loved one handles adversity while adventure racing around the world! But also, it is a great way for active travelers to express themselves to their partner in a fun environment.

Now, we don’t recommend going to extremes like climbing Everest or forcing your loved one to race a Tuk Tuk across India! That would be insane. However, the adventure tourism company, Competitours, does offer a travel competition that will satisfy any adventure couple!

How does this adventure tourism company offer a couple’s adventure that is bucket list worthy?

Well, since 2009, Competitours says they have been creating a unique travel competition vacation for couples who love adventure. Truthfully, all adventure tourism companies say that. So we found three couples who previously competed in this adventure race across Europe and asked if Competitours is truly the best travel competition for adventure couples!

Meet the Competitours Adventure Couples

To determine if Competitours is truly the best travel competition for adventure couples, we did some research. We wanted to know why these couples entered, how they handled the different challenges, how it affected their relationship, and much more. So we interviewed these 3 previous adventure couple teams:

1. Steve and Laura from Seattle, Washington are an adventure couple who competed in 2015 and won the travel competition. They loved Competitours so much that they returned and competed again in 2019!
2. Jerry and Jamie from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, both love to travel as a couple and competed in the Competitours adventure race in 2015.
3. Dan and Elizabeth from Falls Church Virginia, love adventure. Elizabeth had once competed in Competitours with her mother. But Dan was quite jealous of her adventure. In 2011, Elizabeth battled Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. After Elizabeth recovered from her chemo treatment, she and Dan decided to enter Competitours in 2019 and take the adventure honeymoon they both desired.

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Why did you enter the Competitours competition as a couple?

• • • Steve and Laura – “We were fans of the tv show The Amazing Race and stumbled across an online mention of Competitours. We actually told friends about it and found out they competed in 2013. So we jumped in for 2015! After we had done it once and won, we needed to return, which we did in 2019!”
    • Dan and Elizabeth – “I (Elizabeth) had been on Competitours once before with my mom, but my husband Dan had always been jealous of how incredible it sounded! So when I realized I might have the energy and availability to go on a real honeymoon, it was top on our list! We’re not into vacations that are just cocktails at the beach or passive observing. Instead, we like to over schedule ourselves with museums, restaurants, and anything meaningful to where we are! So a travel competition for adventure couples was right up our alley! Plus, we could do romantic European stuff for our honeymoon afterward since we were already there!”

Did you have an advantage as a couple compared to other teams?

• • • Jerry and Jamie – “No. The great thing about Competitours is that no one really has an advantage. When you think you might have something locked in, you get beat out by the team you’d least expect to win the challenge!”
    • Dan and Elizabeth – “We didn’t feel like we had an advantage just because we were a couple. I think most everyone on the trip came with someone they knew intimately. So they’d know each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”
    • Steve and Laura – “Even though we’ve been married for 11 years, we didn’t think that would give us any advantage over the other teams. I think the winning team a few years back was two women who had never even met before the competition.”

During the travel competition, what did you argue about most?

• Dan and Elizabeth – “I don’t think we argued much on the trip but then again we don’t ‘fight’ often! But we did argue trying to paint Lake Como, when neither of us could keep track of which water cup was clean or how much paint versus liquid to use!”
• Jerry and Jamie – “We argued only about what letter to pick in the hangman competition!”
• • • •  

What did you learn about each other during the competition?

• Steve and Laura – “The competition tends to highlight your skills and faults. For example, on a scavenger hunt, we recognized that one of us was better at creating a plan of attach and one was better at navigating and map reading. In the escape room challenge, we learned how to give each other space and solve problems. but also to ask for help when we’re stuck. On other days, we learned which one of us had less anxiety talking to strangers and who of us was better at coming up with creating content and acting in video challenges.”
• Dan and Elizabeth – “I knew Dan had built his own computers before, but I was amazed at his cardboard box car design and construction skills! A lot of these challenges mean seeing your partner do things they’ve never done in front of you if at all. Dan says that he thought he knew all my strengths already like navigation, puzzle solving, and public speaking. This just confirmed it to him!”
• Jerry and Jamie – “We learned that we both can travel in a carry on for 11 days, I (Jamie) can’t fly a drone and Jerry can’t paint very well! With fun stuff, we learned that Jerry likes to go really fast down the alpine roller coaster, while I’m pretty good at herding sheep! Jerry has much better taste buds while having dinner in the dark but I am a better skier, even indoors in Germany! We also learned that we make a great team using only one hand each in the cooking competition and building a beautiful flower out of chocolate! Lastly, we can really dance the Tyrolian dance and flamenco!”
• • • • • •  

What was your favorite adventure challenge as a couple?

• Dan and Elizabeth – “Dan loved everything and was very sad that a sudden wrist injury meant he couldn’t go on the via Ferrata. However, since he is a racing fan, he really enjoyed the unique experience of blo-karting on the beaches near Den Haag.”
• Jerry and Jamie – “We did something called Kite Sailing! The intrigue with this activity was how we used the whole wide beach, it was something no one had done before, and how quickly the teams mastered the skill. It was fun, fast, and hilarious! It was right up there as one of our favorite challenges, though climbing the via Ferrata is a close second. We love being outdoors and although we aren’t avid climbers by any means, the thrill of climbing and hiking this iron way is like no other.”
• Steve and Laura – “Choosing a favorite challenge is impossible, but sheepherding in Bex, Switzerland was amazing! It is an example of one of those adventure tourism ideas you just couldn’t do outside of Competitours. Perhaps you could go to a resort and rent a jet ski or hire a plane to go sky diving. But you can’t really show up at a local farm and say, ‘We’d like to herd your sheep today, will you show us how?’ It was so much fun!”
• • • • • • •  

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What was your least favorite adventure challenge as a couple?

• Steve and Laura – “The first time we competed the via Ferrata (basically scaling a Swiss Alp) was incredibly physically demanding and super scary for one of us who is not fond of heights! It was by far the most difficult and an exciting challenge. But we were so happy to be back on flat land afterwards. However, it did inspire us to try again on a via Ferrata in Andorra and another time in Italy!”
• Dan and Elizabeth – “Dan was so frustrated by painting in Italy though I (Elizabeth) loved it. Conversely, he loved cooking, but it stressed me out intensely and I had to ask him to do most of it. I mean how much forearm strength does it take to whisk a custard??”
• • • • • • • •  

Did your Competitours competition strengthen your relationship?

• Jerry and Jamie – “We are on pretty common ground most of the time, but to avoid potential conflict we came up with a plan on how to make a decision should we not agree on a certain challenge. Jerry’s birthday is on September 3rd while mine (Jamie) is on June 4th, so when it was an odd day, he got the final decision and when it was an even day, I got the final decision. Along with that, we couldn’t ever say ‘I told you so’ if things didn’t work out. Fortunately, we didn’t have to use it often, but when we did, it was nice to have a plan!”
• Dan and Elizabeth – “It should strengthen every relationship so long as you’re on the same page about fun versus hard core competition. Competitours is a safe environment where you’re encouraged to try new things  and where you will likely fail – at least partially! That’s a great gift because there are no stakes and no sense of social disgrace. These are all just people going off on an adventure that won’t think any less of you, thus the pressure is off. Then with no pressure, you get to see how your partner handles new skills, you get to practice your communication. Plus you build wonderful memories together of adventure activities that you probably would have never done as a couple before.”
• Steve and Laura – “The travel competition tends to highlight your skills and your faults. Thus, you can take all of these adventure challenges and translate them into areas that can strengthen a relationship outside the game.”
• • • • • • • • •  

Was one of you more competitive than the other?

• Dan and Elizabeth – “Dan and I (Elizabeth) are both competitive but we also knew that enjoying the experience was more important that going balls to the wall. It helps that we would flare up in the skills we were best at for competitiveness, but we were decently well balanced in skills. That meant that one of us was usually calmer and able to reel the other one back in order to remind them to just enjoy the experience. Dan did sulk a bit when I did better in skeet shooting than he did, but we got points together as a team so that helped. While I sulked when he could sculpt amazingly well, yet I was trash. But again, that’s not the formation of a lifelong grudge.”
• Jerry and Jamie – “Neither of us are really competitive by nature, but we both wanted to win something and so we both tried hard and put forth equal effort in each of the challenges. The adventure challenges are so fun that it’s hard not to be competitive.”
• • • • • • • • • •  

What tips would you give other couples entering Competitours?

• Dan and Elizabeth – “Talk about what you both want to get out of the experience and then prioritize that. Personally, we’d say to have fun above all. Remind each other that you came on this couples adventure to experience what life had to offer. That includes the stink of working in a sheep pasture! We also recommend that you get lots of rest, boost each other up in your preferred love languages, and have your stress mechanisms in place.”
• Jerry and Jamie – “Go and have fun! If you win, it’s a great bonus. But if you don’t, you will still say it was the best trip of your life!”
• Steve and Laura – “Listening is extremely important in this travel competition. You have to listen to the instructions and to your partner. For example, on an Iron Chef challenge in Italy, one of us was trying to make ravioli and it cost us valuable time for the other to convince that person we were supposed to make tortellini! Another tip is to not focus on just scoring points. Yes, you need points to win but there are many opportunities for scoring. So even if you don’t excel at one challenge, the next one might be right in your wheelhouse. Plus the less we thought about points, the more fun we had. That led to us taking first place and winning the entire travel competition in 2015!”
• • • • • • • • • • •  

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Would you compete again as a couple or choose a different partner?

• Jerry and Jamie – “We’d never NOT do it together!!”
• Steve and Laura – “We actually did do Competitours a second time and we did choose each other. We’re very lucky that we enjoy spending time together, even when that time is a whirlwind competition and potentially stressful. We’ve worked hard to communicate completely with each other, which is key to both the travel competition and marriage!”
• Dan and Elizabeth – Dan and Elizabeth did not to answer this question. We here at the Bucket List Project didn’t want to press the question in order to protect them since Elizabeth originally took her mom the first time she ever competed in a Competitours travel competition.  We would hate to be the cause of yelling at the next family thanksgiving on who gets to go with Elizabeth during next adventure race.
• • • • • • • • • • •  

So grab your partner and JUST GO!

So you have convinced your unsuspecting husband or wife to take on the best travel competition for adventure couples ever. Now What?

Well, it’s quite simple and easy! Decide on what dates you want to tour either the U.S. this Spring or Europe this Summer, Click here to Register online, and JUST GO! With several amazing races this spring & summer, you will arrive at a secret starting location & go on an Epic 9 Day/10 Night travel competition! 

Competitours might be one of the best travel competitions for adventure couples and it might be one of the craziest and most unique bucket list experiences any couple can have in Europe!

Have you and your partner ever wanted to be on the Amazing Race? Is entering travel competitions like a Competitours event on your Couple’s Bucket List? If so, which race do you want to sign up for this summer? Let us know in the comments below!

Don’t forget to Pin this to your Favorite Bucket List Board!

Disclaimer: The Bucket List Project partnered with the adventure tourism company Competitours. With that said, all opinions in “Competitours – A Travel Competition for Adventure Couples” are our own. Also, the 3 couples interviewed gave their honest feedback and were not compensated for their opinions from Competitours or The Bucket List Project. “Competitours – A Travel Competition for Adventure Couples” also may contain affiliate links. Using the links doesn’t cost you any extra. Plus, it helps keep The Bucket List Project Blog free, fun, and community supported! We will never recommend a product we don’t genuinely believe in and trust.

 

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When it comes to travel, we, at The Bucket List Project, tend to be more active travelers than passive. That doesn’t mean we don’t love to relax on a beautiful beach somewhere. But overall, most of the Bucket List Project’s Travel and Adventure Activities are focused around unique adventures around the world. Perhaps, that is why we love ideas like the Amazing Race on television. Shows that are based around travel competitions allow us to see people in exotic locations doing exciting things. But is it possible for ordinary people like us to participate in amazing travel competitions like the people on tv? The answer is yes, with Competitours!

Are you wondering what makes Competitours one of the best travel competitions ever? Well, we have come up with 10 reasons why you need to add a Competitours trip to your The Adventure Activities & Experiences Bucket List now!

1) You will discover amazing “mystery” locations

The idea “To boldly go where no man has gone before” given to us by Star Trek is perhaps one of the biggest reasons people travel. Of course, with modern technology, GPS, the ease of modern travel & the countless of travel blogs online, it seems virtually impossible to find a location not already explored by others. However, Competitours offers the unique opportunity to go on an adventure without knowing anything, until you need to know.

No matter which of their travel competitions you choose, Competitours will send you zigzagging through 2-3 unique and unexpected regions across Europe. You may start by flying to Brussels, but later you will be trying to catch a train from Dusseldorf to Vaals, and then find yourself riding the bus to Andorra. You just never know and it changes every year!

“…for us it was Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, and Switzerland. I think the biggest thing you have to understand about Competitours is that it’s an amazing way to see Europe in a way you never would’ve imagined and certainly not one that you’d ever be able to plan yourself.” ~Will Tang of Going Awesome Places, competitor in the 2015 season of Competitours

2) You will participate in thrilling activities that won’t kill you

If you are like us, then there are plenty of thrilling activities on your bucket list. But there are also plenty of wild and dangerous activities that may be on your Anti-Bucket List, things you wouldn’t do for a million dollars! For example, we always cringe when we see bungee jumping or sky diving activities on shows like the Amazing Race.

With Competitours, you will get a chance to attempt interesting and adrenaline pumping activities that you may have never tried before or even considered trying. For example, in one of the travel competitions you might participate in a scavenger hunt in Copenhagen while in another you may be screaming, “En Guard” as you learn how to fence.

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3) You will get outdoors

Another great feature of the Competitours’ Challenges is that they will get you outdoors! There is nothing worse than the feeling of being Museum-weary in yet another European city. But there is a good chance that in the mystery itinerary you will find yourself climbing a Via Ferrata in the Italian Alps like Jerry Mizer and his wife. Or perhaps you may end up in Samsø, Denmark looking at a six-acre labyrinth full of twisty multi-path trails through 40-foot tall trees, scrub brush, while trying to capture proof that you found seven stated objects like Joy Richardson experienced.

4) You will get involved in unique cultural activities

Of course one of the biggest reasons to travel is to experience new cultures. Unfortunately, sometimes travelers just observe the different nuances or experiences. But with the travel competitions put on by Competitours, you will find yourself diving feet first into an amazing and unique experience. Plus it will offer a more enriching experience by allowing you to meet locals and try things that you may have never tried if you had planned the trip on your own.

For example, John Moss of team We3Travels, shared how in Barcelona, Spain, he and his teammates had just 30 minutes to learn how to Flamenco and then showcase their “skills” in front of some tough judges! Afterward, the instructors treated them to a show of traditional flamenco dances along with a serenade from a flamenco guitarist.

5) You won’t have to gag down a disgusting food challenge

One of our biggest pet peeves about the Amazing Race is that they often create some challenge that involves eating gross food, often just for shock value. Don’t get us wrong, we would eat a 1,000 Year old egg or live squid to potentially win a million dollars in any of the travel competitions out there. But when it comes to food challenges, Competitours either takes a culturally relevant approach or an experience that is unique and fun for all.

With Regards to a culturally relevant approach, for example, Becky Pokora shared that one of her most favorite challenges of the entire time was making lemon gelato in Sorrento, Italy. Becky shared:

“We didn’t have a recipe!! At the end, we were judged by a master for the closest to a traditional gelato but points were also half-based on your fellow competitors in a blind test. So you end up getting creative and thinking strategically…if you can’t please the judge, can you make something that will be popular with a crowd? The good news is that it’s hard to mess up gelato.“

When it comes to a unique and fun experience, Jo Piz shared how one night she and her mom had a “dinner in the dark” where they ate an entire four course meal in total blackout. For them, it had to be one of the most strange experiences ever. Jo said:

“I can’t really explain it. It was just so weird. I literally used my fingers to eat the majority of the meal because I kept misplacing my fork. I always knew where my wine glass was though :-)”

6) You can’t get disqualified and sent home

For those who watch travel competitions on tv, one of the most disappointing parts is when your favorite team either gets disqualified, voted out by the other members, or is the last to arrive at the pit stop and gets sent home. Who wants to start a race only to not be able to finish it? I would rather race the entire race and finish last, than not finish at all! With Competitours, whether you are ahead on points or at the bottom of the totem pole, you will spend the entire time participating in their mystery events and seeing amazing new places!

7) You might win some amazing prize money

One of the coolest features about the different travel competitions put on by Competitours is that you will get the opportunity to not only accomplish fun, hands-on challenges, but you will do it all in pursuit of several cash grand prizes. Currently they are offering a $3000 grand prize that is be split between the top 3 placing teams. (50% 1st place, 30% 2nd place and 20% 3rd place)

Of course, winning cash prizes and bragging rights is awesome. But one of the coolest things we found was that most past competitors agreed that it wasn’t all that important to them. For example, Bob Maggio who competed with his wife shared:

“We honestly did not care about the prize. I stopped looking at the leader board after day 3; my wife stopped looking after day 5. We both realized we were not in this for the prize or to win. Instead we simply wanted to enjoy each experience and location to the greatest extent possible as this was our vacation.”

8) You don’t have to create some stupid application video

Even if you have an amazing on camera presence, there is no guarantee that you will accepted to those tv travel competitions based on your application video. Therefore, most people don’t even try. With Competitours, you never have to create video to see if they will take you. If you want to compete, all you have to do is register your team for any of the travel competitions they have available. Simple as that.

Plus, you never have to worry about some camera man filming you as you scream like a little girl while you whip down the world’s longest alpine coaster enjoying stunning views of the Swiss Alps. That is of course, unless your teammates want to have something to blackmail you with later!

9) You will meet amazing new friends for life

Famous Irish Poet, William Yeats once said, “There are no strangers here, only friends you haven’t yet met.” This is definitely a truism you discover when travelling anywhere in the world. Plus, it can definitely be seen in travel competitions like Competitours. If you have ever participated in any sort of competition, then you know there is always a bit of rivalry. But with these adventures and challenges, you actually find yourself coming together in shared experiences that can create lifelong bonds.

Bob Maggio said, “It was amazing to see such a diverse set of strangers come together and be so comfortable with each other so quickly.” While another competitor, Jerry Mizer similarly said, “we now have friends – good friends – in several States and Canada that we’ve met with since Competitours and regularly keep in touch with several more…their weddings, births of their children, etc.”

10) You won’t meet Phil Keoghan but Steve Belkin is a close 2nd…okay maybe 3rd!

In 2009, after participating in a global scavenger hunt a few years before, Steve Belkin started Competitours. According to an interview with Cleveland.com, Steve shared that he wanted to create less intense travel competitions. Basically, he wanted challenges and adventures that would provide unique twists on familiar destinations.

On top of Competitours, Belkin, also operates a website called bookyouraward.com, which helps frequent flyers book complicated international travel using reward miles. So if you have airline miles and/or credit card points, his team can help you redeem them. Or if you don’t have any, they can help you jumpstart accumulating them so that you can redeem them in lieu of purchasing airfare outright.

On Your Marks…Get Set….GO!!

So you have found an unsuspecting teammate and you are both ready to take on one of the best travel competitions ever. Now What? Well it’s quite simple and easy! Decide on whether what dates you want to tour Europe in the this Summer and register online! With races this summer, you will arrive at a Secret starting location & go on an Epic 9 Day/10Night competition across Europe! This year, Competitours has two upcoming Summer travel competitions available:

Summer 2020 Race #1: July 1 – 12

Summer 2020 Race #2: July 21 – 31

As you can see, Competitours might be one of the best travel competitions ever. Plus it might be one of the craziest and most unique bucket list experience a person can have in Europe! So have you ever wanted to be on the Amazing Race? Is entering travel competitions like a Competitours event on your Bucket List? If so, which So which race do you want to sign up for this summer? Let us know in the comments below!

Don’t forget to Pin this to your Bucket List Board!

Disclaimer: The Bucket List Project partnered with the travel competitions company Competitours. With that said, all opinions in “Competitours – One of the best Travel Competions Ever” are our own. Also, “Competitours – One of the best Travel Competions Ever” may contain affiliate links. Using the links doesn’t cost you any extra. Plus, it helps keep The Bucket List Project Blog free, fun, and community supported! We will never recommend a product we don’t genuinely believe in and trust.

The post Competitours – One Of The Best Travel Competitions Ever appeared first on The Bucket List Project.