From: zetedog@yahoo.com (Todd) Newsgroups: rec.climbing Subject: Re: What gear to take on a world tour? Date: 14 Nov 2002 06:55:13 -0800 I've worked "ground support" for two different European trips buddies of mine have undertaken (with two completely different levels of satisfaction), and might be able to offer some suggestions to help with the trip. The first year I helped a couple of friends of mine in college that went to Europe from Mid-April to the end of August. The two guys that went planned out every detail, and left me with two huge three ring binders of every one of these details, from copies of maps, phone numbers, pre-purchased tickets, topos, addresses, etc. They planned out all of their traveling days, rest days, extra bad weather days, non-climbing days, and stuck to their schedule pretty easily without feeling that they didn't have time to explore and sight-see. Some things that really helped this trip: They met people from the states at two different times in Europe. They met one guy in France to do some moutaineering. The guys started off their trip doing this type of climbing, and hooked up with the third for thier last trip, and were able to send their mountaineering equip home with him, and he brought over their rock stuff. They then started the rock climbing portion of the trip and mostly stuck to sport stuff, but supplemented it with a set of nuts and a single set of cams. They had plenty. I am pretty sure they used doubles, and were stared at in most of the parts of France that were bolted. The doubles came in handy for several of their trips to other parts. They two original guys then met another buddy for a little bit of rock climbing/sight seeing. The other guy brought over their "backpack around Europe" equip, and took home their rock stuff. The two original guys then headed to northern Europe (England, Ireland, Scotland via Amersterdam), and had a tourist only trip to finish up. They missed out on some climbing, but didn't mind (get to that later) These guys mostly stayed in hostels, as previously mentioned. They took a very light and cheap single wall tent, just in case, and relied on it when they were in Ireland and Scotland. They planned it out so that they stayed in a "real" hotel every 10 to 20 days, and found that if they contacted the hotel way in advance, the hotel would hold a package for a couple of days until they arrived (for a nominal fee). The guys kept a plastic bin with them and would mail it to the hotel a few days before they went to that destination. It normally worked out that they would arrive in a destination, climb and live in the hostel for a while, get burnt out on climbing, mail their climbing stuff ahead, and sight see/ travel to the next destination, spend a real night in a hotel, eat a real meal and clean themselves up, and start all over again. I worked ground support and talked to them every 7 to 10 days to make sure they were on their schedule (they lost track of the days several times) They also mailed back souviners, trip reports, and film to me, which I took upon myself to develop, helping myself to live viarously. I also had to read thier iteneray to them a couple of times, wire them money (planned, they didn't take all of it with them), and a few other chores. It took a decent amount of time on my part, but it was pretty fun. These guys seriously spent 2 solid months planning this out. This trip wen really well, and is still talked about. The second trip didn't quite go as well. I helped a second set of guys out in the same way, only they had a "loosely" planned trip. They thought the cost of the hotels, mailing, etc would be too expensive. End result was the guys ended up arguing alot over what to do next, spent about the same amount of money as they had to pay to store their climbing gear, they had also planned to met another guy in France, which they showed up two days late for, and a host of other problems. They still had a good time, but lost the friendship of the guy that they met in France, and these two guys aren't as good as friends as they used to be. So my advice on these things: 1.Plan as much out as you can in advance, arguing over the Fodors travel books at home is much better than in Europe. 2.Try to segregate your trip into climbing and non-climbing parts. The first guys didn't get to climb in England, but they had already burnt themselves out climbing in france anyway, which is much better anyway. 3.Ship home what you no longer need, it is not really that expensive 4.Have a buddy as mission control that knows your itinerary. This really helps to have someone to turn to when problems arise, and if your going for more than 2 months, they will. Like the time I had to call their next hotel to move the reservation back a day becuase one of them gots arrested in glascow. Some one responsible, but probably not a parent, as they will always be a parent and act as such. 5. Ditch the climbing gear