Frozen Time

When you saw that you could stay on a vacation for several days, you thought about how that would affect aging, right? After all, your Sim only has a certain number of days before they age up.

If you spend all of your days on vacation, how will you fit in all of the career-building and skill-developing back at home to satisfy a Lifetime Wish?

Well, you’re in luck—aging and the earliest stage of pregnancy freezes on vacation.

You do not have to worry about blowing important aging days while cavorting around the dunes of Egypt or the tombs of China. Time picks right back up when you return to your home town, though.

You can use this to your advantage, especially when you can stay for a long time at a location. Most locations have skill-building objects, such as the gym equipment at the martial arts facility in China.

Work on those skills while on vacation so you don’t consume precious time.

When you return home, you enjoy the benefits of an increased skill level (such as earning a promotion at work) without losing any days doing it.

Base Camp

When you first arrive at a destination, you are dropped off at base camp. Base camp provides temporary housing for your Sims while they are on vacation. As such, it

contains all the necessary amenities, such as showers, a bed, and a place to prepare food. Each destination’s base camp looks different, but they all have the same amenities.

For example, the guest quarters at base camp in China are quite luxurious compared to the tents in Egypt. But, you can get a decent night’s sleep in each place, and that’s what matters.

Egypt’s base camp

China’s base camp

France’s base camp

While the bed and running water at base camp are important, perhaps the most interesting amenity at each location is the

Adventure Board. When you first arrive, be sure to check the Adventure Board for new adventures. If one is open and you accept it, the Sim you need to see for the adventure is then marked in map view.

However, you are not required to immediately check the Adventure Board. You can just laze about at base camp and take it easy.

Use it as a home away from home for trips when you just want to work on one of the new skills or do a little souvenir-shopping.

Ancient Coins

While most merchants take Simoleons, there is a special currency often used while on vacation: Ancient Coins. Ancient Coins are found while exploring tombs and are sometimes awarded when completing an adventure.

Look for Ancient Coins in piles on the floor in tomb chambers or inside treasure chests. Pocket as many as you can find, because while you can trade Simoleons for cool relics, the Special Merchant only accepts Ancient Coins.

You aren’t the only vacationer. Base camp is sometimes filled with other travelers. This is a great place to make new friends. Chat up your fellow adventurers while making breakfast.

The number of Ancient Coins found in tombs changes with each visit. Just because one Sim found 25 in a treasure chest in a particular room doesn’t mean another Sim will find the same amount in the same spot.

Markets & Merchants

As any traveler knows, shopping abroad is tremendous fun. You find items and objects completely foreign from the stores back home. These trinkets make for wonderful gifts as well as reminders of previous travels.

In World Adventures, there are plenty of merchants at each destination ready to relieve you of Simoleons in exchange for goods and gear. Merchants have all sorts of things for sale, from new recipes and books to relics.

When visiting the markets on consecutive trips, you will discover that inventories change.

A merchant may not have the same relic selection on your next trip, so if you spy something you like, you may want to splurge for it right away. It may be a while until you see it at a merchant again.

The market at each location is plainly marked on the map so you can make a beeline to it upon your first visit.

Markets are not just for buying stuff, though. Markets often double as social centers at destinations, too, just like the Central Park in Sunset Valley or the plaza in Riverview.

Socialize at the market with different Sims as well as shopkeepers and merchants.

These are great places to make new friends. And who knows? You might even find a special someone while shopping for trinkets and go home with the best souvenir of all—love.

Survival Gear

Merchants at all three locations offer a few of the same objects, such as tents and dried food.

These objects fall under the “general necessity” category: items you need if you plan on doing some tomb exploration and are not always near base camp or a vacation home.

Although these objects are called out in the new object catalog later in this guide, these necessities are important to know about right up-front.

Before going on an adventure that takes you into the underworld, consider stocking up on some of these objects.

Dried food: Time may effectively stop on a vacation, but that rumble in your Sim’s tummy does not.

Food is easily available at base camp or the market, but when you are in a tomb, you need to have something portable to nosh on.

If you did not bring fruit or something with you, then buy dried food. There are three kinds of dried food to pick from, each of varying quality.

The higher quality the dried food, the more expensive it is. However, quality equals satisfaction. Eating higher quality dried food results in a better Meal moodlet, which in turn can help keep your Sim’s spirits high.

Tent: Exploring is exhausting. Sims will get tired while out on an adventure. Sometimes it takes too long to get back to base camp before your Sim gets so tired it affects their mood.

Other times, you just don’t want to sacrifice time traveling to base camp—that’s time that could be spent looking for secret doors!

Buy a tent so your Sim can sleep away from base camp or a house. There are multiple tents. The more expensive the tent, the more comfortable it is for your Sim.

Shower in a Can: Let’s face it—the underworld is a bit dingy. Your Sim’s Hygiene will drop as they root around tombs for treasure. If they get stinky, they offend not only other Sims but also themselves.

Mood takes a hit. Avoid this with Shower in a Can, a portable bath. This canned shower only has one use, but it is just as good as taking a normal shower.

Camera: The Camera is not technically an essential object like food or a portable shower, but it is still an important travel item,and all general stores at each destination stock it.

The camera is required for building up the new Photography skill. Plus, photos are another good way to make some extra Simoleons on the side, which can fund future trips.

Special Merchants & Adventure Rewards

Each location has a Special Merchant. This merchant is not anchored to a physicalstore, but moseys around the marketplace at each destination from 9 AM to 6 PM.

Special Merchants sell Adventure Rewards, which are similar to Lifetime Rewards in that these rewards cannot be purchased with Simoleons.

Adventure Rewards are bought with Ancient Coins. Some Adventure Rewards cannot be bought until your visa is at a specific level, too.

Adventure Rewards are not like relics or other objects bought at the market. These particular items affect your travels. So save up those Ancient Coins!

You will undoubtedly want many of these rewards to use during your travels, such as the Mummy Snacks.

These snacks will keep a rampaging mummy off your tail. (What? A rampaging mummy will chase you? Oh, more on that in the Tombs 101 chapter.) Use this shopping list when browsing the Special Merchant’s goods:

Adventure Rewards