Instead of leaving for a two-week stay in a five-star resort in the Maldives, some bankers choose more adventurous options. How about a round-the-world trip encompassing six continents and 116 countries, covering 152,000 miles?

This was the holiday that Jim Rogers, co-founder with George Soros of the Quantum Fund, embarked on with his fiance in 1999. Four years later and safely back in New York, Rogers has written a book about the journey. The result, Adventure Capitalist, puts desk-bound financiers to shame.

Rogers, who retired from office work at the age of 37, says: I didnt want to wake up aged 75 to find people saying, He was a great financier but that was all he ever did.

Unfazed by such experiences as driving through war zones in southern Angola, Rogers is a believer in international travel that does not involve first-class flights and pre-arranged accommodation. He argues that someone has not really been to a country until they have had to cross the border physically, had to find food on your own, fuel, a place to sleep until you have experienced it close to the ground.

Travelling in this way teaches people a huge amount about how the world operates as well as a great deal about themselves, he says. As a result, they become more attractive employees.

However, Rogers trip was not entirely devoted to self-improvement. As well as introducing him to belly dancers, Nigerian princes and Spanish sherry matriarchs, it delivered a ground-level perspective on future investment opportunities.

Rogers argues that Russia is not a good place in which to invest as the countrys capitalism has gone awry. Instead of creating value for the future, its entrepreneurs are plundering the wealth they have. He writes: Not only has very little been added to the infrastructure, but very little has been maintained. Investors who have becoming increasingly bullish on Russia will not appreciate this view.

Mongolia may be a better option, Rogers believes. It has a well-developed digital infrastructure, having skipped traditional technologies and gone straight to mobile telephones.

One investment idea that appeals to him is schooling in China. You want to get rich? Go to China and open a chain of private schools, he argues, noting the importance that Chinese parents give to education. The more you know about the world, the better the investor you are going to be, he says.

At three years and four days, Rogers global odyssey lasted longer than the average corporate holiday entitlement, but lack of time is no excuse for sticking to the hotel sun-lounger.

Giles Leather, a stockbroker at Charles Stanley, has walked to the North Pole, climbed the Matterhorn and scaled Everest all during his annual leave. I tend to take all my holiday at once, he says. However, this can cause problems with human resources departments. During his trip to the Arctic, Leather and his companions were stranded in an ice storm, and holiday entitlements had to be extended by eight days until an aeroplane was able to fly in and rescue them.

Rogers and Leather are not the only financiers with a lust for adventure. Others include US private equity expert Richard Blum, who visits the Himalayas to do charity work; former investment banker Caroline Hamilton, a member of the first all-women team to ski to the North and South Poles, and Lewis McNaught, former head of retail investment at fund manager Gartmore, who runs an online travel magazine.

People who work in financial services usually possess two qualities useful for an adventurous existence money and motivation. According to McNaught, who left Gartmore in 2000 to set up Activepursuits.com, some bankers are part of a fringe element who want the ultimate risk, the highest peak and have got the money to afford it.

Affordability is paramount. Rogers omits to mention the cost of his trip, but climbing Everest can cost tens of thousands of pounds. Steve Bell, founder of Jagged Globe, which organises walking holidays and mountain climbing expeditions, says investment bankers are a target group. He says: Cost isnt an issue for them, and a lot of bankers are high achievers who arent satisfied to spend their holiday sitting on a beach.

Rogers and Leather insist their choice of career is unrelated to their wanderlust. Leather says he would do the same if he were a plumber. Rogers agrees. He says: If I had been a terrific hairdresser, I might still have made a lot of money and travelled the world.

However, Rogers acknowledges that many financial services staff should stay in the office rather than travel the world. Research analysts and traders are better off engrossing themselves in annual reports and figures on screens than conducting ground-level research in Chinese border towns.

For some bankers at least, relaxing by the pool may be the perfect antidote to what has been a difficult year.