THE FIRST 24 HOURS OF YOUR TRIP

THE FIRST 24 HOURS

Nothing makes a bigger impression on a family embarking on an adventure than the first 24 hours, and nothing is more atypical as to what the rest of the trip will be like.  The first 24 hours is like your first day at school,  overwhelming, confusing, scary and sometimes even slightly disastrous.  If the rest of the school year was like that, children would refuse to go.  The same is true of adventuring.  Like the child plunged into a strange classroom, you're presented with a whole new environment in which to function.

 

By some twist of fate, we've discovered that we can almost assume that first day will be anything except fun.  If we're bicycling, it always rains, even in places where rain happens about twice a year.  If we're going somewhere hot, it's cold when we get there.  The year we went to Vail, we missed a connecting flight, went stand-by with about 100 shouting hikers, landed in the wrong place and arrived at our destination in the middle of the night.  In Avon we spent the night in what must be the most abysmal pension ever in operation.  There was laundry in the tub, cigarette burns in the carpet, holes in the bedding and a clientele that never, as far as we could ascertain, went to sleep.   

Despite the fact that it was June, when we arrived in Colorado it did everything except snow on us.

In terms of adventure travel, coping with the first 24 hours is an art form.  The following is a list of guidelines for getting you through what can be the roughest stage of your trip.  Short of going on an organized tour, this is an unavoidable situation, so the best thing is to be as prepared as possible.

Prepare for bad weather - even if you're heading for the tropics and the weather predictions are 90 degree temperatures with clear skies, have your rain jackets ready.  Mother Nature likes to spring surprises on newly arrived tourists.

Be prepared to pay - the first 24 hours are always the most expensive. You're new to a place and have no idea how the system works.  Locals know this and act accordingly.  Don't worry about it or think things will always cost this much.  There will be plenty of time for economizing later.

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