Holidays, Weather, and other Useful Info
 

Reference/Resource Websites

The following are some websites I use when planning a tour. Do you have some you use, which you could add to this list?



Time and Date

I use the Time and Date site (http://www.timeanddate.com/) for several things, but one is to look at what holidays and observances are going on around the world. This infomation could be useful for cycletourists as well, so we don't get caught out if we're expecting everything to be open and supplies to be readily available on a certain day.

Holidays around the World
http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/

That site also provides some weather information around the world.
http://www.timeanddate.com/weather/


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Airline Baggage Regulations for Bikes

Another one I post frequently here is the Airline Baggage Regulations for Bikes webpage (http://www.ibike.org/encouragement/travel/bagregs.htm). Although it may not always be right up to date (airlines change their rules frequently) it can be a good place to start when making decisions about which airline to choose.

When you've had a look over the chart near the bottom of the page, and have selected an airline, always look up the bicycle baggage information on the airline's website, and if you've got any questions about it, contact the airline.

And then check again within days before you go ... things can change.


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Mile by Mile

Mile by Mile (http://www.milebymile.com/) is probably not an obvious choice for cycletourists because it is an RV site, but the Itineraries describe routes in great detail and post photos of the roads.

Sometimes they also list campgrounds, tourist attractions, and other things which cycletourists might find useful.


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Travel Guides

These can be a good resource when thinking about where to go for your next tour ... to give you some idea of what you might find when you get there.

Fodor's: http://www.fodors.com/
Lonely Planet: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/
National Geographic: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/


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Government Travel Advice/Information Sites

These sites have a lot of useful information for travellers. I would definitely recommend checking these before going anywhere. Your government might have a similar site as well.

Canada's Government Travel Information Site: http://www.voyage.gc.ca/index-eng.asp

Australia's Government Travel Information Site (Smarttraveller): http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/

The French Cycle Touring site has a list and details of permanent randonees to do in France. You usually apply for a route card from the organiser and pay a small fee 4-6 euros and they'll send you all the information:

http://www.ffct.org/index.php?id=586

The RAID Alpine is one of those that alot of people have heard of. Obviously it's in French but Google translator works well.

Thanks for that ... possibly a bit more appropriate for the Long Distance forum. :)


I was thinking less of websites for actual events, and more of the technical references that we use when planning a tour ... like weather information sites, visa and vaccination information, mapping information, information about bicycles on airplanes and trains, maybe a good site to look up accommodation information etc.

For example ...


Here's the Hostelling International website (Canadian version ... but it links internationally).
http://www.hihostels.ca/

Weather sites:

Australia ...

http://www.weatherzone.com.au/

http://www.bom.gov.au/


Canada ...

http://weather.gc.ca/canada_e.html

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/


Got any weather sites you use to see what the conditions might be when you travel in a new area?

Thanks Machka.....some great info. Can you recommend a good place to get Travel Insurance? I'm not having much luck and I'm wondering if I should risk going to through the US(and possibly South America)without any Insurance.

Here are 2 links to information about insurance for bike tours.

I've created an entire website full of information useful for planning a bike tour. It currently has over 2300 links, articles and my journals from all over the world (and a bike touring game).

I created this site because anything entered on forums like this one becomes buried after it leaves the first couple pages and the search mechanisms on these forums are not very good. Using google, or other text-based search engines, provides lots of links but you have to decide the relevance by visiting each one. In my experience, some are valuable, most are not.

I decided to have every entry on my site associated with a human selected topic and sub-topic (such as Tour Planning and Insurance for the above 2 links), which I hope provides a more direct access to sought information. I don't always locate things in the best places, but it is an attempt to use human intelligence, not computer speed, to find things.

I make no money on this site (in fact, it costs me about $300/year). I created for my own uses and as a service to the people who enjoy bike touring as much as I do.

1. No, don't risk it.

2. Try CAA: http://www.caa.ca/

Incidentally, CAA (and AAA, RACV, RACT, and other automobile associations) also have a range of other services which can be of some use to the cycletourist. Aside from insurance, they've often got quite a selection of travel information ... maps, campground guides, etc.


Banks also sell Travel Insurance.

Further information here: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...646-Healthcare

This is Tasmania's Alert site ... good for information about fires and floods which could affect a tour.

http://www.alert.tas.gov.au/Pages/Home.aspx


And even more specifically (one of the links under the Resources tab of the Tas Alert site), this page tells us about road closures around Tasmania.

http://www.police.tas.gov.au/community-alerts/