What does self-support mean during touring? Please, justify each item/action you take/do to qualify to be self-supportive during touring. My problem is independent touring around the world. The term self-support per se means no extra luggage, among other things, because you cannot carry them.


  UPDATE I will award the bounty to person who makes my hope possible: I
  want a new clearer community wiki
  -format so that no-one will get credit and everyone are free to make edits,
  without creating duplicate answers and
  keeping this question clearer and more
  accessible for future users. If there
  is no willing mod, I will reward the
  bounty to a person that makes the
  largest contribution to find
  self-supportive tips on this site or
  other sites, appropriate to touring.


Discussion in meta here.
Self-Supported Touring

I do most of the obvious things - I have a hammock, stove, basic first aid and bike repair equiment, carry food and water etc. As I often tour in places where there are no shops and that motor vehicles can't go this is necessary. I do get food parcels and other necessities posted to me and pick those up along my route. Having a cellphone/internet device makes it easier to arrange those drops. I use a digital camera rather than film, but that's become the norm.

Extra or unusual things I do:


carry a small solar charger to recharge my phone and music player
eat roadkill from time to time (it's free and environmentally friendly). In NZ where it's legal I've also carried a slingshot to kill pest species and eat those too.
use a hammock rather than a tent because it's more flexible and less obvious, so it's easier to free camp
wear long sleeved shirts and pants rather than using sunscreen (personal preference, but also more sustainable/self-supporting)
use a liquid fuelled stove (in NZ) or fires (in Australia) rather than disposable gas cartridges to get more cooking per kg of carried weight. It often hard to find fuel for a cooking fire in NZ even when it's legal to use one.
I use public transport to get to and from tours. Or I just ride from where I live. Since I don't own a car that's easy for me, but I meet a lot of people whose "cycle tour" involves driving further than they ride.
shop mostly at supermarkets rather than tourist shops or corner shops to save money. In Australia especially it can be 1Mm or more between supermarkets. So I often carry food for a week or more between shopping expeditions.


My experience is limited to countries where I already speak the language and have citizenship rights so I haven't faced any of those issues. But my tendency is to learn the language etc anyway, and since I'm a geek citizenship has not been especially hard to get. When you're young a "working holiday" visa is often easy enough to get and is worthwhile (since it lets you work legally).

I do cycle tour as a holiday, I regard it as a break from my normal life. I usually quit my job, stop renting somewhere to live, give away or sell my spare possessions, and go ride my bike for a few months. I've worked hard to get into a position where that's possible.

I don't usually prepare physically for a tour, I just pile up the stuff I need and go. The first week is slow and hard, after that I get fitter and start riding further and faster. Usually I lose ~5%-10% of my bodyweight while touring and come back with more muscle as well. I suspect that means I'm fat and lazy...