Touring luxuries

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
stu1102
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Joined: 24 Jun 2013, 8:38pm
Location: Beeston, Nottignham

Re: Touring luxuries

Post by stu1102 »

Our favourite 'luxuiries are the SAWYER MINI WATER FILTER and a very small Vango Stove

1) “A lifetime of water at hand.”

blurb..

'Our most popular filter just got smaller and lighter. The Sawyer MINI Water Filter is rated to 0.1 micron absolute, weighs only 2 ounces, and filters up to 100,000 gallons! This award winning system is reliable and easy to use.

The MINI can be attached to the included collapsible drinking pouch, inline on a hydration pack, on a standard soda bottle, or simply use the included drinking straw to drink directly from the water source. How is that for versatility?

Image

http://sawyereurope.com/water-filtratio ... ter-filter

We have drunk from Lochs, Rivers, Puddles, you name it we have drunk from it using this and were still alive...


2) A very small vango stove fits in the palm of my hand in its little box a great little stove. It only weighs about a 100g and folds up very small

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vango-ACXSTOVE- ... ango+stove

Image


you really cant beat taking water from a loch and serving up dinner:

Image
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horizon
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Joined: 9 Jan 2007, 11:24am
Location: Cornwall

Re: Touring luxuries

Post by horizon »

andrew_s wrote:
horizon wrote:By definition though, if it's a luxury it doesn't get taken

Not at all.
Any "nice to have" item that you know isn't essential and that you could do without if necessary is a luxury.
I'd argue that Chat Noir's smartphone falls into that category, though I don't suppose he'd agree, especially if he's one of the 50% of the population that suffer from Nomophobia.


I'll concede on this - I still can't get my head round it though :D . It may of course be that something like cycle touring (mainy camping but even staying in a hotel after a long ride) accentuates all of life's experiences: what is normal and taken for granted suddenly becomes an utmost luxury. Maybe poorer people have these experiences all the time. But maybe also the searching for luxuries in today's world is a pointless exercise - first of all you have to go without and then you realise that even a simple thing can be a luxury.
When the pestilence strikes from the East, go far and breathe the cold air deeply. Ignore the sage, stay not indoors. Ho Ri Zon 12th Century Chinese philosopher
AndyB
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Joined: 21 Feb 2007, 12:24pm
Location: Lancashire

Re: Touring luxuries

Post by AndyB »

We like to take a small game or two - Yahtzee is good as it only requires 5 dice, but some other small games pack pretty small - we like San Juan, Mapominoes, and have taken Carcassonne too. A bit more sociable than a book when you're touring as a family.
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horizon
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Location: Cornwall

Re: Touring luxuries

Post by horizon »

I think we're redefining luxury here ... :P

But that's a good thing IMV.
When the pestilence strikes from the East, go far and breathe the cold air deeply. Ignore the sage, stay not indoors. Ho Ri Zon 12th Century Chinese philosopher
greyingbeard
Posts: 851
Joined: 24 Mar 2015, 10:41pm

Re: Touring luxuries

Post by greyingbeard »

Arabic and Swahili phrasebooks, youll need them as soon as youre off the ferry in france, cant be too careful with all these funny people around, it wasnt like that in my day
:wink:
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Sweep
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Location: London

Re: Touring luxuries

Post by Sweep »

I really like the look of that water filter stu.

Where did you get yours?

Rough price?
Sweep
stu1102
Posts: 108
Joined: 24 Jun 2013, 8:38pm
Location: Beeston, Nottignham

Re: Touring luxuries

Post by stu1102 »

hi Sweep

I bought it from Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sawyer-Products ... ter+filter

There is an extensive review of it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1CKzht ... qyqderycnx

hope this helps
jgurney
Posts: 1212
Joined: 10 May 2009, 8:34am

Re: Touring luxuries

Post by jgurney »

I'm tempted to argue that it is the touring itself which is the luxury.

Should there be separate subcategories for:
- items carried which count as luxuries (e.g. would be left at home if there was slightly more need to reduce weight or volume of kit)
- expensive extra services or consumables along the way, such as travelling first class on the train to the start, or buying gourmet lunches on route.
- enhanced versions of necessary items, such as a merino top when a cotton or nylon one would probably suffice.
- paying extra for lighter or less bulky versions of items, so more can be taken along or more distance covered.

Compared with the kit I had as a 1970's schoolboy cycle-hosteller (Raleigh Traveller with SA 3-speed hub, school sports bag bungee'd to the rear rack, jeans, trainers, thick cotton shirts, anorak), it seems as if virtually everything I take touring now is a luxury version.

On the other hand, for the modern 14 year old, being able to stay at a YHA hostel without an adult is an impossible luxury. :(
PJ520
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Joined: 23 Mar 2008, 3:49pm
Location: Seattle WA USA

Re: Touring luxuries

Post by PJ520 »

Binoculars for viewing wildlife and a fancy camera.
Here's what a difference a camera can make. Both these shots were of the same bird at the same time and location.

With my tiny Olympus
Image

And with a fancy DSLR weighing about 1 1/2 lb that a lad I met was hauling.

Image

Edit. On the original of the above you can actually see the read head of the condor. I reduced it to avoid hogging the page.
You only live once, which is enough if you do it right. - Mae West
PhilWhitehurst
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Re: Touring luxuries

Post by PhilWhitehurst »

My credit card
PJ520
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Location: Seattle WA USA

Re: Touring luxuries

Post by PJ520 »

PhilWhitehurst wrote:My credit card
Hardly a luxury, more an essential. Like spare tubes etc. even if you don't plan on using it. I was once on tour and my wife was taken ill, it would have been hard to get back quick without a CC.
You only live once, which is enough if you do it right. - Mae West
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horizon
Posts: 11275
Joined: 9 Jan 2007, 11:24am
Location: Cornwall

Re: Touring luxuries

Post by horizon »

Pete Jack wrote:
PhilWhitehurst wrote:My credit card
Hardly a luxury, more an essential.


Like most of the items on this thread? Hmmm . . . :?
When the pestilence strikes from the East, go far and breathe the cold air deeply. Ignore the sage, stay not indoors. Ho Ri Zon 12th Century Chinese philosopher
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andrew_s
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Location: Gloucestershire

Re: Touring luxuries

Post by andrew_s »

Pete Jack wrote:On the original of the above you can actually see the read head of the condor. I reduced it to avoid hogging the page.

Sorry to disappoint, but that's a turkey vulture
willem jongman
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Joined: 7 Jan 2008, 4:16pm

Re: Touring luxuries

Post by willem jongman »

My greatest pleasure is in not having things with me that I do not need. I like the weight advantage, but also the mental simplicity. So I do not take a chair or ipad. However, I do take a comfortable 450 gram Exped Synmat UL mattress, a Trangia 27 stove for a real meal, and an Ortlieb coffee filter for real coffee. I guess my only real luxury is a 3/4 litre stainless thermos that I fill with hot water in the evening after I have cooked my meal, so I do not need to light the stove in the moning for a big mug of tea and then a big mug of coffee. During the day it gives me nice cool drinking water. It is some 200 grams more than an ordinary drinking bottle.
PJ520
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Location: Seattle WA USA

Re: Touring luxuries

Post by PJ520 »

andrew_s wrote:
Pete Jack wrote:On the original of the above you can actually see the read head of the condor. I reduced it to avoid hogging the page.

Sorry to disappoint, but that's a turkey vulture
You could well be right I'm no birder. The lad I was with said "There's supposed to be condors round here" then I saw this bird and we both assumed it was a condor. Ah well. It still illustrates the point about cameras as well as my ornithological ignorance.

After a bit of googling round you're almost certainly right Andrew. Here's a bigger picture that shows what a nice camera can give you. I'm going down there next month with Mrs J and it'll be interesting to see what we see. As far as I can make out condors are white near the 'shoulders' and black elsewhere. It's still a magnificent bird whatever its species.
Image
You only live once, which is enough if you do it right. - Mae West
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