Global Adventure Challenges

[DiddlyDodds]

Posted this in General and no one has ever used this company so hopefully a better response here.

I have been searching the internet for a company who does the London to Paris ride and like the look of the company "Global Adventure Challenges"
Has any one been on a tour with them and if so would you recommend them or not.

Thanks

 

[hubbike]

I'm dubious.

I think you are paying a company for a 5 day cycling holiday. which is lovely, no problem with that.

From the website I gather you have to raise about £1700 for charity or pay £750 off your own back. Be very careful with the first option that you are not asking people to subsidise your holiday when they think they are donating to a charity. If you do that you are essentially defrauding them.

If there are a few of you planning to do this as a charity thing, why not do it off your own backs. It'll be much cheaper.. Many people do lejog in that way. Just take a credit card, book some B&B's, and don't take too much stuff. sort out train back from paris to calais, book a return ferry ticket. Trust me, it's not that hard to organise this sort of thing yourself? If you must have a support car, ask a friend or relative. You'll both have a nice holiday.

To play devil's advocate, is raising money for charity really your primary motivation? If so then you'll probably make more by getting a group of mates together and doing a volunteer bag pack at a local supermarket for 5 days... or organising a cake sale, jumble sale, charity dinner, etc.

 

[DiddlyDodds]

In reply to your reply hubbike we will be paying the £750 ourselves and then fundraising will be totaly seperate, i agree that when you donate none of it should be paying for the trip itself.
We did exactly what you advise on the the Coast to Coast earlier this year , cost us £100 each for hotels etc and we raised over £4000 (3 of us did the ride but used our connections at work to get our suppliers to cough up the main lump of the money)

I have no problem doing the same to do the London to Paris but we like nice hotels (did the camping thing for twenty years and had enough now) so it would be nice to let someone else do all the organizing and booking etc for a change.

The cost is not the issue , the trust worthiness of the company we give it to is.

And you are right in that the ride is first and the charity is second thats why we are paying up front.

 

[Gracie]

Hi
I did a trek to Nepal with this company in 2006 and the whole thing was absolutely superb! I was feeling pretty nervous because I signed up as a lone trekker and it was a pretty big deal for me, but right from meeting at Heathrow I felt very welcome and safe and was looked after amazingly well throughout the entire trip - it was my "once-in-a-lifetime trip" and Global Adventures made it for me.

I haven't done anything with them (or anyone else!) since then but they have a facebook page where people have left reviews and stuff - check it out https://www.facebook...nturechallenges

With regards to the previous person's comment about the charity thing... there is an option to pay for the costs of the challenge yourself and just collect sponsorship on top of this which is what I did for my local hospice, but they do make it very clear that the other option of raising minimum sponsorship means the costs come out of this so I don't think it's defrauding anyone!

 

[DiddlyDodds]

Thanks Grace for the comments and the facebook link

 

[kpautos]

how could you do it without a car unless you carry all your luggage with you?

 

[Spinney]

how could you do it without a car unless you carry all your luggage with you?

If you stay in hotels/B&Bs you only need a toothbrush and a change of clothes. And maybe camera etc - I did a four day trip with just one pannier.

 

[snorri]

how could you do it without a car unless you carry all your luggage with you?

Take a horse to carry your panniers?

 

[kpautos]

1 pannier for 5 days away is a stretch especially if the weather is very hot or wet but I hear where your coming from,
I am not worried at all as far as planning hotels,ferries ect as I have done that many times, I am worried about breakdowns ect as my french is not good, I know I could do London to Paris for less than £699 per person but there's a nice feeling of security if you go with one of these outfits , food for thought

 

[Stockie]

Hi diddydodds. I did l2p last September with global and it was brilliant. Everything was well organised food and snacks during day were great. Backup was excellent. Road directions were well placed and easy to follow. Only thing I had to do was peddle bike. Great experience met some great people and enjoyed it so much I have signed up to do the 3 cities ride this septmber.

 

[kpautos]

Took the plunge and four of us have registered for the 4 day London to Paris, it's the one that finishes at the same time as the Tour de France , it's going to be hard for me but my determination should get me through, It's not till next year so no excuses on the training front!

 

[tomshooter]

How did it go DiddlyDodds? Did you find a company on the end?

If you're looking for your next challenge, you could try London to Amsterdam with More Adventure.

It's a very transparent way of raising money for your chosen charity. You pay for the ride then raise whatever you can on top for charity. First class support, lovely hotels and excellent leaders.

Tom