The things you own end up owning you
It's odd how much that works for hiking, biking or just when you leave
for a trip and you wonder what do you need to carry on. You fill your backpack with everything come to your mind, we are cautious and it is wise foresee unexpected and possible incident. But what happen, at then end we get a luggage full of stuff and extremely heavy. Not counting all the other things that were indispensable and we had to let out. The result is an adventure that will soon appear as a nightmare, overwhelmed by the weight of what we carried with us.
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Some high-tech gear developed for bike travel |
So there are two strategies: remain minimal and count on our expertise or plan carefully what we will expect and stick to our schedule. By my point of view, since there are no limits at what it could happen, I prefer the first approach. I like the feeling that I can manage unexpected situation and transform problems. But for doing this you have carefully know what you have and pay lot of attention to what there is around you and how elements interact. It's extremely easy how a situation can degenerate quickly and threat our life. You are walking quietly in a trekking and then lose your balance, step badly on your foot and sprain your ankle. In a moment everything change, and many alarms start to ring in your head. Anxiety and lose of controls become always stronger. That could cause several other errors worstening the situation. Of course the reality of this example is very different in the case we are alone or we are with other people. So a good approach to the unforeseen events is to reduce the risk of bad consequences in case they will happen. If we are with a friend he will help us to go back. If we bring with us a mobile phone we can call rescue. And so on and so forth.
So, it's a chemestry of self-confidence, knowledge, thoughtfulness and forecasting of possible bad circumstances of what could happen that minimize the risk of incidents. And of course of good luck, even if I don't like leave my life in the fate's arms!
Route and planning
 |
Now
with Google Maps I think some of the adventure of exploring the world
with a paper map has disappeared. Now you can access at lot of
information and can have a preview of almost every spot of the civilized
world. This has reduced the imagination and its power of prompt to set
forth for a trip or a personal expedition. Just because the unknown has a
magical influence on our mind and attract us toward him with a magnetic
effect. This is why humanity has continuously attempted to explore the
world always further. I still like to rely on paper maps both for some
kind of sentimentality of old ways and because doing so I still feel
that sensation of be an explorer that is trying to discover the unknown
world with the mind rather than with internet.
So
the approach to traveling could be very different if you are planning
too much or you don't plant at all and let you see what will happen
without any schedule. I think planning it's all about safety. You have
to stick to a plan because you know your equipment, your skills and your
limits and you have to manage to get to your goal trying to use what
you have. Create a virtual route before attempting in doing it is a game
of strategy, fantasy and concreteness. And of course of bravery. In
planning usually we are very bold and daring, that's the funniest part
indeed! But concreteness it's the key point to transform fantasy in
reality. So it's about knowing oneself and one's own limits and skills,
one's own equipment and how to use it. Then the territory, the weather
forecast, the people we will meet and every small possible detail, well,
all this belong to the realm of unexpected and is not under our
control. It keeps changing and many times accident happens because we
were too much sure about our ideal plan, and the reality instead was
very different. Planning is a subtle mixture of knowing oneself, of
being stubborn and of foresee every possible scenario. And at the end of
feeling if really it is our way and our moment in starting the
adventure!