Comment: Trip Planning - Choosing your travel companions wisely.

Mick,

Very valuable comments. From our experience I'd suggest a lot of big trip planning comes down to ensuring there are NO SURPRISES when the party must be self reliant. I'm thinking of remote area trips. I reckon ownership of the trip by all participants is very important. We all do a lot of vehicle preparation, but in my opinion the success of the trip depends largely on the people preparation.

It's important to have the members of the group get to know each other so that out on the track there are NO SURPRISES. Even the simplest things can become irritants – agree before departure on early starts, early stops; agree times of breaks during the day; agree on whether it is the travel or the destination that matters; etc etc. Flexibility is important, but keeping everyone informed of changes even more so. (“Did I forget to mention that we’d be skipping morning tea today?” just doesn’t repair the damage to individual ownership. On a recent trip during a day of mind numbing corrugations we (without consultation) concluded that a lay day was essential to check the vehicles, rest ourselves and regain the will to proceed – we’d become so committed to this lay day that we overlooked discussing it with our companions, an unforgivable omission.)

There is a limit to people's patience in tiptoeing around a self appointed alpha male such as you've referred to Mick. Taken out of their accustomed environment, many people experience a change of personality, and not always for the better.

Like you, I don’t know how to pick amicable travel companions, but you certainly know when you’ve got it wrong!

Having a mechanism for defusing issues early is very desirable. One good technique we’ve seen is a round table around the campfire. Under a rotating chairmanship, every person is invited to offer their impressions of the day without being interrupted or talked down. What they liked, what they disliked, what really got up their nose. It’s a great leveller and if people are willing to be frank, a great way of meeting potential issues before they become issues. It helps with NO SURPRISES.

I’ll be very interested to see your material too Phil.

Cheers

John