A solo expedition. Should I...?

Well, Miklukha-Maklay, Afanasy Nikitin and others went alone... And, even,

IMHO, you shouldn't. For example, I apologize for the naturalism, going to the toilet and at the same time looking after your clothes is somewhat inconvenient.

Very much depends on how long you are going to go because you can get bored and go crazy

depending on where to go

A lot depends on how long you are going to go because you can go crazy out of boredom

There's usually no time to be bored on a trip.

I prefer to travel around the country alone.In principle, this is basically how it turns out.

you can drive alone (I just did it myself), but if possible, it's best to avoid it. In addition to the elementary danger of breaking a leg on the route and being left without help, there are a lot of household inconveniences. In addition to collecting insects, you have to do absolutely everything yourself. It takes time and, more importantly, energy. Yes, and there are often situations when it is better to make different decisions after consulting. Boring by the way also happens. Especially if you are not lucky with the weather and fees. After 4-5 days, you start talking to the trees.
And it is also noticed that one collector collects not half as much as a pair, but even less..

vitalbata, if the question arises "is it worth it", then it's not worth it.

Last year I didn't have a partner and had to go alone.
I went to Italy for 1 week in the Alps, it was my first expedition to this country, without knowing the language. I arrived, chose a place, put up a tent, the first day I was afraid to leave it unattended, I caught it nearby.
At night it started raining heavily, it was very creepy, and as luck would have it, a bunch of wild boars came in, I didn't sleep all night
, and in the morning everything around the tent was covered with pigs.
The second day was easier, I got used to it, got acquainted with the native ones, and somehow communicated with gestures. The third day left the tent and went far away, came nothing was stolen left everything in the tent except money and documents.
In general, the trip was a success. Of course, it's boring to be alone and not safe, I mean if you get hurt, there's no one to help.

if the question arises "is it worth it", then it's not worth it.

Well, since it's such a disaster, it's better to be alone...

vitalbata, if the question arises "is it worth it", then it's not worth it.

You shouldn't be so categorical.
If a person has little experience and experiences certain psychological difficulties before traveling alone, this does not mean that he is not interested, and everything should be abandoned. A person asks for advice so that "the first pancake is not lumpy." And that's right. (From my point of view).
I will say for myself:
Do not be afraid of anything, develop a route and go. There are many more good people than bad ones, especially in remote mountain settlements. People there are much simpler and kinder. They will always help you and won't take any money.

Traveling alone brings a completely different feeling than in a group, etc. Honestly, I can't imagine how you can walk in pairs or even more whiplash-in a crowd.
It all depends on what you are trying to achieve.If there is a mass gathering, then take as many people as possible(distraction is terrible), if unity with nature and other feelings-retire.
As for injuries-in the end, you need to have a head-do not take any chances for nothing.And accidental injuries are rare.It hasn't happened to me yet.
Local population-do not go into hot spots,here the crowd may not help.And basically, people in the world are kind and friendly, they really have the habit of cutting a tourist's hair,but you need to get used to it.
Conclusion-the classic and best option is to go together.

Thanks ea for your answers and thoughts. In my own country, Lithuania, I travel without problems, as everything is familiar; nature, people's manners, everyday life, possibilities, etc. The country is small, I have driven almost all of it and everything is familiar to me. If anyone has a desire-come, there will be no problems with accommodation.
You can make an expedition to a neighboring country, let's say to me, to Latvia, Poland, Sweden... Nature is almost the same, but will be happy to communicate with the local people, if there is a need...
I agree, it's not safe to travel alone, anything can happen. I somehow don't think about it, I try to avoid unpleasant situations and dangers abroad.
I think that the most dangerous solo expeditions are remote countries where EVERYTHING is unfamiliar and alien. It can be the tropics or even deserted places.
I'm not afraid to go alone and be alone. I ask about such expeditions because maybe someone knows such a taste of putishevstviy.

Cool taste.Indescribable sensations.Only here it is not given to everyone.

Romance is romance,but driving alone is technically more difficult.You are not so mobile, because you are constantly tied to luggage, which is often not limited to a school backpack.And a considerable part of the necessary camping gear is needed both for you alone and for a group of tourists,but it is easier to carry them in proportion to the number of people.I don't think it's worth talking about various injuries,emergencies,illnesses,etc.We are not cyborgs,and everything happens in life...There is a well-known case from Central Asia,where an entomologist almost died in delirium after being bitten by a snake for several days, and there was no one to help.
So if you are planning to visit really remote places, without settlements, a partner is necessary.Another thing is that it can be more difficult to find it than to develop a route...

I think the optimal number of people on the expedition is three. More and collect is not easy and the bazaar-station turns out, as there are many different opinions for everyone. But three like-minded people can be brought together more easily, and pluralism of opinions is present and functions are easily distributed.

Guys! Here the conversation is a little off the mark. This is again a dispute between amateurs and professionals. First of all, we can't officially go one at a time, just stupidly, according to the safety technique. Secondly, we have no desire to catch someone, and therefore there is no competition, for a professional it is much more important to have
a half-millimeter hole than a whole (antennae, claws, etc.) super-duper beetle (I don't know and I don't want to know these commercial beetles).
In the Alps, it may be possible to leave a tent, come to us-bugs in bulk, only tents will have to be taken just in case 5-6, for a week.

I have a little experience of solo expeditions. More out of necessity, it is difficult to find a partner, for various reasons. You can go alone, it's okay. And so as not to lose the tent... - as little contact with local oborigens as possible.

The number of partners (co-travelers) depends on the experience and personal qualities of these people. If you yourself can soberly assess various situations and respond appropriately, "feel the mood" of aborigines and, as taler aptly noted, "in the end, you need to have a head - do not take risks for nothing", then you can travel alone.

I've been in situations where it was obvious that the company was redundant... disagreements, conflicts, sharing of time, routes, and responsibilities ...

This post was edited by Adamov - 24.06.2010 23: 12

Quite a few trips I made alone (see the branch "Bikes") and normally. It is especially good to work alone on short trips....

Last year, the oldest botanist (taxonomist, field scientist, and philosopher)took a WELL-deserved rest at the Department of Botany Volga Region - Alexander Adrianovich Solyanov (my teacher is a florist). So, he went on most of his trips and expeditions alone! I brought him rare plants to the herbarium (which he managed) of I. I. Sprygin and he told me a lot about his trips and adventures...

Its basic rules were:
1. Do not go into localities unless absolutely necessary (well, for bread or food when pressed if).
2. Try in every possible way to avoid meetings with ANY people!
3. Spend the night if possible only in the forest, steppe, etc. but not in populated areas, even if invited...

Well, I will not talk at all about his strange actions with our modern logic-like, without the need to build a fire, drink water from a river, stream, puddle... In general, a colorful personality is one of the jokes that annoyed him greatly (being a convinced materialist and atheist) when he passed (having no other opportunity) through remote villages, often old women seeing a gray-haired man in black and with a stick (which he pushed aside the grass stand) came up, bowed to the ground and asked for a blessing, taking him for the wanderer...

This post was edited by Penzyak - 01.07.2010 10: 15

The only expedition in Russia-Primorye 1993. Broken 2 ribs, complete failure. Traveling alone in countries like Russia is stupid. In Sweden, Lithuania-why not...

The only expedition in Russia-Primorye 1993. Broken 2 ribs, complete failure. Traveling alone in countries like Russia is stupid. In Sweden, Lithuania-why not...

I totally agree. Russia is very dangerous. Starting with the disgusting "organization of space security" by the state (...roads with "traps" for non-local drivers ... ) ... rescue measures) and ending with the "human factor".

Take into account...

Quite often I go alone in the forest-from weekend hikes to two-week hikes(Only in Russia). For me, it's better alone, but only where there are fewer people, for example in the mountains. Even if you meet someone, the attitude towards you is completely different. Scumbags don't go to the mountains or far into the taiga. The villages are worse, so there is a minimum of communication. And in general, I have a habit of looking around more often - I see a person, hide a net, and sometimes I leave myself if I haven't been noticed yet. Well, preferably a small self-defense weapon(just do not show it especially until there is no specific danger). By the way, it is advisable not to have something particularly eye-catching - long hair, earrings in your ears, "a parachute dragging behind your back..." Here only the lazy will not get to the bottom.

As for "safety techniques" here of course you need experience, well, knowledge, for example, I take a small reference book with me something like "Safety in a tourist trip" there about different cases and ways of providing first aid-from a snake bite to fractures and poisoning. A first-aid kit is required. If possible - means of communication.

PS Recently I went with a group that is not related to insects - completely different feelings and the collection is very small, But safety and constant communication. But this is closer to the rest

About the parachute is cool . I also try to avoid people in the forest, or if I hear company, you never know what's going on in people's heads. Once I was met by a man with an axe. What do you do (and he answers) butterflies catch (as it is a little excited) - well done, and went further.

I also try to avoid people in nature, because there was less contact with them. I especially avoid youth companies.
When fishing at night, it is more difficult to avoid attention. If I use a strong lamp of 500 W, then this light attracts not only moths. Men came in jeeps and asked me what I was doing here. It is good that after a short conversation, everyone understood and left, wishing success.
And there were also those who did not understand the meaning of catching moths and called the police. It's good that even though they were reasonable and understood me, they were also surprised. "- At night...butterflies...when all the people are asleep, you're doing some nonsense..???" When the third time people called the police, they said: "This is the one who catches butterflies at night, we already know him. It doesn't do anything bad... "

.. the police were called. It's good that even though they were reasonable and understood me, they were also surprised.

In our country, the police are something else. When meeting a policeman, it is advisable to behave in the same way as when meeting an unfamiliar dog: do not look in the eyes, do not make sudden movements, do not raise the tone in your voice, do not run and do not wave a stick. There are different types of policemen, including good ones, but it's better to be safe.

I also try to avoid people in nature, because there was less contact with them. I especially avoid youth companies.
When fishing at night, it is more difficult to avoid attention. If I use a strong lamp of 500 W, then this light attracts not only moths. Men came in jeeps and asked me what I was doing here. It is good that after a short conversation, everyone understood and left, wishing success.
And there were also those who did not understand the meaning of catching moths and called the police. It's good that even though they were reasonable and understood me, they were also surprised. "- At night...butterflies...when all the people are asleep, you're doing some nonsense..???" When the third time people called the police, they said: "This is the one who catches butterflies at night, we already know him. He doesn't do anything bad..."

It is best to say that you catch butterflies pests of the forest.And soil traps for rodents. The stupid agrarian consciousness will not have any more questions.

This post was edited by rpanin - 29.06.2010 01: 41

Parachutes speak... That only in trips with us did not happen...

Night fishing (Middle Volga region) in July, in the Zasursky forests on the edge of a pine forest and the outskirts of a God-forsaken village. One o'clock in the morning-we see a car eating, a gas truck pulls up and a group of people in camouflage and with Kalashnikovs at the ready falls out of it...
A silent scene - we stare at them, they stare at us... You know what they asked... "You haven't seen a cow here!???.... Both laughter and sin! It turned out that a cow had been stolen in a nearby village and a search team was urgently called from the district center... In the bummer-the guys saw the light, something white and shadows, they thought right now we'll cut down shashlichkov for free and tick ourselves for detaining a group of zladeyevs... The good guys turned out to be-they laughed, smoked, and drank beer...

Or... in the evening, we return from a day tour along the forest and floodplain meadows. Sunset, afigennaya beauty....
Suddenly we see something unimaginable (I even pinched myself) and impossible... At the edge of the forest, leaning against a tree, stands an Indian in all the finery of a red warrior: a suede jacket, trousers, makasins, an impressive feathered headdress, war paint, and a tamogawk sticking out of a pine tree... and without a peace pipe!?? (well, we think we got caught, right now he will say, like - "Damn pale - faces-drive the fire water..."). He looked, looked at us-we looked wildly at him (and at the same time at the edge of the forest - is there an ambush of redskins?), and slurring his tongue (the leader was under a fair shafe) asks - "Ir.. guys, let me smoke ... ir.. "

  

Don't be afraid of anything, plan your route and go. There are many more good people than bad ones, especially in remote mountain settlements. People there are much simpler and kinder. They will always help you and won't charge you any money.

Pay attention to this parting message.Well said.Be afraid of wolves....
But since the geography of your desires extends all the way to Papua Guinea, it is very difficult to advise something.Preferably narrow it down to at least a continent)
If I'm not mistaken, there is a thread on the forum where people from different parts of the world offer to stay and catch fish, why not take advantage of this opportunity,then write a report.

When was the third time people called the police

I wonder why people are so stressed out by a man with a net looking at a lighted screen that they have to call the police so many times.

I wonder why people are so stressed out by a man with a net looking at a lighted screen that they have to call the police so many times.

Well, in general, this is probably a normal reaction of the average person - to report suspicious (from his point of view) behavior to the right place - and then suddenly what this "looking at the screen"is up to. Or some kind of psycho, God forgive me

In a spiritless consumer society, where reading huts, chess tables and aircraft modeling pavilions are not found in every city park, only those who only eat (including alcohol) and sleep are absolutely not suspicious. If a person is still interested in something other than these and a few other biological functions, and this is externally noticeable, then the majority of mammals are naturally suspicious of this. The main specific problems of such a society also leave their mark on the reaction of the population. Today, it is not recommended to publicly pull out a triangular bag for butterflies or a syringe for injecting ammonia from your pocket. Or forget in the subway on the bench throttle for the 400th DRL-ki... The smaller the differences from mediocrity, the calmer the encounter with it. There are, of course, some exceptions, but the trend, alas, is this. I remember with a smile how I walked along Komsomolsk-on-Amur twenty years ago with a plastic bag with two nets in it; the nets were from Soviet podsachki, for a ruble or something apiece, and had no handles, only pipes. The policemen took the double tubes sticking out of the bag for the trunks of a sawn-off double-barreled shotgun... Well, what else could they think of?

I also try to avoid people in nature, because there was less contact with them. I especially avoid youth companies.
When fishing at night, it is more difficult to avoid attention. If I use a strong lamp of 500 W, then this light attracts not only moths. Men came in jeeps and asked me what I was doing here. It is good that after a short conversation, everyone understood and left, wishing success.
And there were also those who did not understand the meaning of catching moths and called the police. It's good that even though they were reasonable and understood me, they were also surprised. "- At night...butterflies...when all the people are asleep, you're doing some nonsense..???" When the third time people called the police, they said: "This is the one who catches butterflies at night, we already know him. He doesn't do anything bad..."

Well, in the Baltic States, at least the people react civilly to the incomprehensible, so to speak, within the legal framework. Look the police are being called…

It's easier in Russia. About 5 years ago, I tried fishing on the DRL in a suburban gardening association with friends – I'm no longer a trapper there (as in antropugen in general). One of my hunts at one o'clock in the morning was unexpectedly interrupted by a pile of green apples (small, but strong ones) that flew in from the direction of an abandoned neighboring plot. The lamp withstood the blows, the cornice above it also got hit, on the screen fixed on the wall there were traces of several "shells"that landed next to me. After that, there was a moment's silence (I only had time to notice the movement of the bushes), and from the direction of the thicket came a low, muffled neigh and giggle…Underbred teenagers suffering from debilitating idleness had so much fun. But the story didn't end there. By the next evening, it got very cold and I didn't turn on the lamp (I don't catch the light in summer in this weather, it's checked - it won't be any sense), but, to be honest, I didn't have a special desire to feel like a target when you're in the palm of your hand. And I did the right thing by not going to catch it. Exactly at one o'clock in the morning (as scheduled) a strong crash on the iron roof of the house, everyone is woken up, crying of a frightened 3-year-old child sleeping on the second floor…In the morning, several stones and pieces of bricks were found around the house. Well, that's right, the "throwers" spent the whole day preparing for entertainment, and here such a bummer – the light is not on, there is no "object"..., should we drag everything that we have prepared back...?
I had to leave the same day. The owners were very afraid that the next night they might come with a sawn-off shotgun, break all the windows, or even "let the rooster fly". I didn't argue.

Yes, I almost forgot about the police. We called her dear! No one came. Either they didn't find the road, or the incident turned out to be insignificant (in fact, no one was killed or even injured, and the "boys" had already managed to escape a hundred times...). On the other end of the line, it came down to advice like: do not leave the house unnecessarily, do not turn on the lights, board up the windows, etc. But we hung up just in time.

Yes, tinplate...At Gaidar, Timur and his team fought with such"hooligans"...True, they also nailed stars on the houses.

Yes, tinplate...At Gaidar, Timur and his team fought with such"hooligans"...True, they also nailed stars on the houses.

asterisks probably especially helped hooligans.

Not only butterflies fly to the light, but also bottles, stones, UAZs and ZILs with drunken Slavs or Asians. 3 trips to Tuva this year are a test of strength. True, once in 1999, in Southern Mongolia, about 12 Mongols fell out of the UAZ, laughed for fifteen minutes over our affairs, and then handed us a bottle of vodka - and left. It also happens that way.

From the last trip with students (it was hot + 42 C "in the shade) to field practice in the Narovchatsky district (see my photos in the branch" Entomologist's Tales " and a bunch of photos in VKontakte on my nickname). I especially remember a lecture in the Narovchat river basin (where the writer Kuprin lived for a long time), read by a local "instructor" to our students.
Everyone was stunned by his final sentence:
- "In this heat, all the bastards crawl to the water!"...

This post was edited by Penzyak - 08/23/2010 16: 06

I went with my partner-Plutenko Andrey (Smolensk), at my own expense I drove him around China for 3 years, and then he robbed me... I accepted this freak as a Brother... I don't want to be disappointed anymore... I beat him in the face afterwards... Where's he going, asshole?
Since then, I have traveled to China alone for many years, Bhutan alone twice, Cuba, Sri Lanka and India (Nagaland, Assam, Meghalaya, Kerala, Tamil Nadu), and the Philippines...
I always communicate with local people and they accompany me, you can expect anything from them, and therefore you don't get disappointed - it's comfortable...!
3 times the guides robbed me (Bachan-Moluccas, Sikkim and Papua), then punished everyone, got pleasure...
What do you want?...

Pictures:

Laos__XI.2008.JPG — (3.57мб)

Uv. Viktor. I don't have anything bad against you, but you can read a lot about your trips on the Internet... What is your comment?
http://dinets.travel.ru/shadows.htm

...and it's beautiful here!
http://www.mir-klimata.com/archive/number2...icle/article21/

This post was edited by vitalbata - 02.09.2010 11: 24