Adventure Trip Planning and Polish Sausage

By Jaime Alonso

The Leaders

There a number of steps needed to plan a successful adventure trip. First you need preferably two people to step up to be the main organizers; the grand Pooh-Bahs, the Big Kahunas, the boss persons. These should always be core persons on the trip. People who come every time and have a significant stake in planning a trip. Its helps, if the organizers can actually stand each other; hopefully they have similar thinking on destination and purpose of trip. They should preferably be conjoined twins or Vulcan (the mind melded thing) or be in constant contact with each other and the group continuously prior to the trip. The twins must be assertive, able to make decisions and communicate them to the group clearly; so although being democratic is nice being a dictator is more efficient and effective. It helps to select options and minimize waffling. The main advantages of two leaders are - sharing tasks, spotting each other when work or family commitments take precedence and the all important, bouncing ideas off each other, before presenting them to the group.

Being the leaders of a trip can be a thankless job; they unwittingly take on the role of group therapist, balancing the needs of all members and often take on the majority of the work. There is some conciliation; as the leaders you have a significant influence on where and when your trip will take place.  As leaders, make sure you get what you want out of the trip. Congratulate yourself for a successful trip; be satisfied with the sense of accomplishment and subtle appreciation from the group. There may not be parades down Main Street but a few thankful emails can be gratification enough. Hey the twins may even want to organize the next trip. 

The Fear of Commitment

The leaders or conjoined twin’s most important decision will be to pick a date. Pick a specific weekend and duration; then get people to commit. People can change the date but let everyone negotiate that change with the group. People who do not commit are persona non grata. The most important answer the twins must know is – yes, you are coming or no – you are not. Maybe means no; I’ll think about it means no; I’ll check with my partner later means no. Too often people propose dates and destinations without ever committing; then bail. The group ends up going somewhere unwanted. Committing has more to do with family commitments and getting the ok from their partner. People have busy lives. Possible conflicts must be dealt with up front. We plan 3-4 months ahead. People need to book time off work, arrange baby sitting and plan the trip within their other holidays.  The great thing about planning ahead is once the date is set in stone, partners and family members understand to plan around that date. Secretly, partners make their own plans taking advantage of dumping their significant other for a long weekend, often planning a better trip. It’s good to spend some time apart cultivating outside interests and it can bring some appreciation back into the relationship.

It’s said there are three levels of commitment; marriage, baby and then mortgage. So once the date and destination is set, get a financial commitment or at least an understanding of the costs and reimbursement to the group if someone cancels for unforeseen reasons. With these major decisions out of the way you are on your way to a successful trip and adventure.

Delegating

If your sanity is important, the next step is delegate, delegate, delegate and trust the person will do the job required.  With email there is a tendency to communicate too many options. What do you want for dinner, do you want mustard or horseradish, what kind of wine do you want; Blah, Blah, Blah. The options are endless.  So ask the group questions and get recommendations, but people are responsible for carrying out their own tasks and reporting on its progress. Someone once send out a list of 10 dinner options; guess what, everyone picked something different. People sometimes what to be sheep and want to be lead, maybe not to their death but certainly to a good meal.

Assign someone to logistics, the driving and meeting places for cars. This can generally be left to a week prior but be careful with this -  one of the major stumbling blocks will be who’s vehicles will be used. Our trips put thousands of kilometres on vehicles; be clear about owner reimbursement and please, please share the driving. A six hour driving trip can be exhausting for a lone driver; everyone should take a shift.

Someone needs to be responsible for collecting the bills and dividing up costs. I highly recommend everyone bring a cheque book to reconcile at the end of a trip. The car ride is a prefect time. You’ve got six hours! There are great simple programs on IPod type devices that allow a quick allocation of shared costs. Divide up the costs and email everyone the breakdown for their reference. This will help alleviate any misunderstands. Trying to reconcile weeks after a trip will guarantee someone will pay too much. Do it when it is fresh in your mind. You want to remember a trip because you reached the summit - and not because you paid more than your share.  

The gear list - someone needs to be responsible for this important item. We have a number of lists honed and perfected over the years. Getting the list wrong can make a great trip, miserable. If you don’t have a tested list, get one from an experienced tripper and discuss the list with the group. Everyone must take responsibility for the final list and its outcome.  The person responsible for the gear list is allowed to delegate selected items. But insure everyone understand, these assignments are mandatory. Being short of cooking fuel is maddening, especially if you actually planned for the right amount.

Divvy up food and food prep; if you are responsible for a meal, it means, you shop for it, pack it and prepare it. Give everyone specific meals and let them choose their menu item. If they can’t cook, they can’t come on the trip. What did they think; we were going to wipe their ass as well. Everyone knows how to cook something. If not, now’s the time to learn. The - Can’t cook, can’t drive, can’t read a map people; you don’t want these people on your trip. They’ll expect everyone else to do the work and then stiff you for gas at the end of the trip. I’d suggest they bring their mother but better yet bring her instead. She is probably more fun and yes – a better cook!

Our general rule is, bring good food - no great food. The main social events will centre on meals. Do something special for every meal! For breakfast bring out a fresh orange to share; for lunches bring out some prosciutto and some fancy mustard; for appetizers, have martinis with real olives; for dinner make risotto or paella.

On one canoe trip, someone responsible for lunches, uncoiled a 3 inch diameter, 6 foot piece of polish sausage; then proceeded to cut 1 foot sections for each person to eat; everyday - for 5 successive days. On day one, and each successive day, we burped up smoked garlic sausage. Every bump or strenuous exercise we tasted sausage. On the final day, we opened our packs, pulled out the rancid piece of meat and stared at the greasy lump in despair, each shuttering at the thought of lunch. All at once we looked at our chef and threw the sausage at him. Take note. The most important rule on adventure travel is - no polish sausage. Not even if you’re Polish!! Happy trails!