It's ok NOT to take risks in travel...

I was just reading this article about female solo travel and how the author, Shannon, didn't regret choosing not to go deep sea diving in Belize in a spot everyone had told her 'you simply HAVE to do this'. She chose not to for safety concerns, something just didn't feel right.

I can identify with that and I completely agree that you should go with your gut instinct on your travels and not do something just because some one else says you absolutely have to do it, dude.

When I was in Honduras, I visited this waterfall:

Pulhapanzak Waterfall, San Pedro Sula

It's a pretty big waterfall.

I was in charge of a group of Canadian tourists who were DESPERATE to get into the waterfall and all I'd been told was that the itinerary included a waterfall trip where you could go behind the waterfall.

Sounds fun so far.

What I hadn't realised was that the waterfall was over 40 metres high and pounded down around you, the spray hits you from so far back that when you get closer you can't see or hear a thing.

In order to get to the waterfall we had to jump into a rock pool and swim across a river, all the time with the deafening water tumbling around you. I'm not a strong swimmer anyway and I was getting a little scared (ok, a LOT scared).

It was my job to go into the waterfall last and make sure everyone was safe in front of me but at this point I was starting to panic that I couldn't do it. We all had to hold hands as we crossed the river at the bottom of the waterfall and we couldn't see a thing.

See this video for more details...

It was at this point I made the decision to turn back to dry land.

I have no regrets! I know I wasn't a strong enough swimmer and I had no intention of drowning in a foreign country. Even when everyone came back raving about the experience, I knew I'd made the right decision.

No regrets. Don't do something just because everyone else is doing it kids. It's not cool. Yo.