Adventure Divas: Searching the Globe for a New Kind of Heroine with Holly Morris

Wed., April 26, 7 p.m., free, Free Library of Philadelphia, 1901 Vine St., 215-567-4341

Book-editor-turned-travel-writer-turned-documentary-filmmaker Holly Morris wants to share her adventure-seeking philosophy with SUV-driving suburbanites and city dwellers alike.

Morris quit her job as a book editor for Seal Press in 1999 and traveled everywhere from the Matterhorn to Iran. She interviewed like-minded women along the way and wrote her Adventure Divas book, which she later turned into a pilot documentary picked up by PBS.

While her favorite place on earth is the Sahara desert ("All the baggage my of life was swept away [there]," she says), Morris believes any trip—be it to the French Riviera or the Jersey Shore—can be turned into an adventure.

"It is a philosophy, it's how you walk through the Australian outback and to the corner store. It's really creating space in your life to make it happen and leave your comfort zone."

Next time you're "down the shore," leave the beach and kayak through the marshes in search of wildlife. It's no Eritrea, but hey, baby steps.