The main purpose of this chapter is to help you decide on a company, a location and a level of trip difficulty that you can handle with enjoyment. As soon as you can hike more than ten miles in a day, on a relatively level trail, and not feel particularly tired, you are ready for the world. Remember the 10 miles in 4 hours objective for your fitness training. Ten level miles are about equivalent to 6 miles of regular trail with an elevation change of up to 3000 feet. It is a rule of thumb that whatever you can do comfortably, can be doubled if you are pushed. If you can do six miles, with elevation gain and loss, easily and comfortably, you could do twelve if you really had to. Sure you would be tired, but you would make it. Almost all adventure travel companies organize trips in which the daily hiking distance is from 6 to 12 miles.
Be forewarned, the cost of these trips varies enormously, from a low of about $400/week to $3000/week or more for something really exotic. The more expensive trips are great if you are "spending your children's inheritance".
Why "Adventure" travel companies? Because regular travel companies, without the adventure adjective, don't usually have trips that involve hiking as the major mode of transportation or as a major activity of the trip. While it is true that you will enjoy any trip more if you are a good hiker, and therefore in good physical condition, we are going to concentrate on trips where hiking is a major activity.
We choose to join a group and go with an adventure travel company, rather than doing it on our own, when we are going to countries where we don't speak the language, where there are not good trail maps or guide books, and where the logistics would be difficult, especially in a foreign language. By logistics, we mean things like arranging transportation, renting equipment, selecting and making reservations in hotels, and hiring cooks and porters. We are happy to pay someone else to do these things for us under these circumstances. If you are in a country where you can't read the street signs, or where there aren't any street signs, it helps to have a guide.
Other topics covered in the book:
Selecting a trip; Contacting the company; Are you ready for it?; Coping with
the "language barrier"; Know what you are paying for.