Bulletin #12 – Accommodations

April 14th, 2015

Accommodations

The Tour is split between 3 main types of accommodation; indoor accommodation, wilderness camps and organized camps. 

On the vast majority of rest days we will stay indoors. By indoors we mean hotels, but it can also mean a hostel. Our goal for all of these is for them to be clean and comfortable – and most of them are. However depending on the area some will be more basic than others.

Wilderness camps (we refer to them also as bush camps) are pretty much as they sound. We pull off the road and camp in a field or bit of desert etc. There are no facilities, so we rely on our own water supplies and food.  We provide shovels for going to the bathroom, the tour leader will give further description of the technique of this once the tour has started. The experience in these camps is as varied as the different landscapes on the route. Some are in forested locations with lots of shade and maybe a stream nearby to wash off in. Others can be right beside the highway in the desert sand with only the shade from our canopies. Be ready to enjoy the best of them and persevere through the toughest of them.

What we call an organized campsite varies from the occasional “official” campsite where they exist, to the more common campsite beside a restaurant/truck stop/in a school field, etc.  The majority of these have running water, toilets and sometimes showers.

Here are a few tips for when we stay indoors:

Type of Room: In any given hotel we may have a variety of rooms ranging from air-conditioned suites to standard rooms. That means that in many cases, not everyone will have the same class of room. We will do our best to balance out the better rooms over the course of the tour and ask you to be both understanding and generous regarding rooming assignments.

Beds: We attempt to book twin bed rooms for those sharing that are not couples, but occasionally you may end up with one double bed instead to share with your assigned roommate. It may also happen that we have triple rooms or another type of dorm room. This is only done when absolutely necessary and no other options present themselves.

Location: In some places it may turn out that we occupy two separate hotels depending on the size of the group.

Roomies: If you wish to be placed with another rider for the trip, please email us with your choice.

Room charges: If you use the telephone, take a meal, drink or charge anything to your room, please make sure to settle the bill with the hotel the night before we depart as to not create any delays during our checkout.

Baggage: Remember to always check your rooms…and then check it again. Once we have all left town, it will be very difficult for you to retrieve any items left behind.