Like many of the ACT's international travellers, Canberran Ross Reid has a secret identity.
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He might look like a mild-mannered commercial lawyer from Watson, but just two years ago he was riding a rickety bus in India, travelling one of the most dangerous roads in the world between the cities of Leh and Manali.
Mr Reid likes his holidays more exotic and he's not alone. Statistics show Canberrans like to take their vacations a little bit off the beaten track, with Bali barely getting a look-in.
In the 2012-13 financial year, more than 40 per cent of international travel by ACT citizens was to Asia or the Pacific, with Thailand, Fiji and China all in our top 10 locations.
On top of this, Canberrans often avoid the big name locations and head to lesser-visited countries, with about a fifth of travellers avoiding the top 20 countries.
Mr Reid was about to travel to Mount Everest for the fifth time with his son when The Canberra Times spoke to him.
He wasn't surprised to hear Canberrans were more adventurous than other Australians.
''They're usually reasonably well heeled, they're people that can afford it and are adventurous and don't mind doing it rough,'' he said.
Overseas travel continues to climb nationally. According to the National Visitors Survey, Australians took more than 7 million trips in 2012, with New Zealand and Indonesia our most popular locations.
International travel from the ACT is the highest in five years and our most popular travel destination the US, which ranked third nationally.
Comparing the top 20 destinations nationally to the ACT, Asia and the Pacific are more popular with Canberrans, with Europe less likely to get a look in.
Mohan Pradhan's boutique travel business The Trekking Company has been running international tours for Canberrans since 1988.
He said there is no doubt his business wouldn't have been as successful in any other city.
''The people I come across are intellectual, they're looking for more than the average thrill, they're more mature because the kind of people we've had have kind of travelled very extensively,'' he said.
''They're a much more sophisticated client.''
Mr Pradhan has run tours to the Himalayas, Bhutan, India, Pakistan and recently South America and Africa, all catering to a select Canberra client.
He said many of his first clients, like Mr Reid, who have been on more than 10 journeys are now bringing their children along for an adventure.
''The second generation are coming through, people are bringing their kids with them and there's been an increase in interest,'' he said.
The most pronounced difference between Australian and ACT figures was our preference, or rather lack of it, for Indonesia (Bali).
Nationally it was the number two destination and accounted for 10 per cent of our international trips; in the ACT, it was a distant 7th with Canberrans making less than half as many trips as other Australians.
Micarlie White has worked as a travel agent in Canberra for more than 15 years and she said despite her efforts she's never had much demand for Bali.
''I myself just went there about two months ago and loved it and I have been trying to plug it and sell it as much as I can [but] people don't ask for it,'' she said.
As for Mr Reid, he was looking forward to heading back to Nepal and visiting Everest again.
