Adventure Is Not Dead Yet

The moment I stepped through the door-less, concrete doorway, it was like I was in another era entirely.
The noise of the ocean died away, the noise of children playing and seagulls squawking in the clear blue sky died away, replaced by an eerie silence that made the hairs on the back of my neck prickle. My surroundings were no longer summery or modern, not at all like the welcoming holiday resort I was staying at.
Where am I? An abandoned hotel in Cancun, Mexico. To this day, I ask myself, what on earth was I thinking? A lone 16-year-old girl venturing into an abandoned hotel of a crime-ridden city... I must've had a death wish. But the popularity of urban exploration is ever rising, and I wanted to experience it for myself.
But why, oh why, would I choose to do it in such a dangerous place? Why not in my own country, where I have cell reception to call for help, where I know the language and know how to handle myself... I guess I'm just not the type to let an opportunity like that down.
I was walking along the beach by the holiday resort I was staying at, and something caught my eye. Amongst the high-rise hotels reaching for the sky, there was a small cluster of two-storey buildings. As I grew closer, I saw that they were windowless and void of furnishings, with cracks in the concrete walls and overgrown gardens.
The quaint holiday resort had never been finished, never hosted its first guests, never brought excitement into a travellers life... until now. Disregarding reason, law or any shred of self-preservation 16-year-old me may have possessed, I ventured over the concrete wall surrounding it.
What happened inside was not terrible exciting. I looked around, I took some photos, I almost wet my pants because a rather large goanna ran past me. The whole time my adrenaline was thumping, with thoughts like "what if a homeless crazy murderer lives here?" running through my head. I came across a pile of ashes from a recent fire to support that theory, but made it through the ordeal unscathed.
It was the first time I took a risk alone, it was the first time I explored an abandoned building, and it was the first time I realised - adventure isn't dead yet, we're just not looking hard enough for it. We spend lots of money to fly somewhere else, only to lounge on a beach and watch TV in a comfortable hotel room. Well, I say screw that. I say abandon the comforts of home, immerse yourself in the way of life of other countries, take risks, seek real adventure.