BICYCLE TOURS & MOUNTAIN BIKING

BLUE MARBLE TRAVEL Oakland, New Jersey United States www.bluemarble.org
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Overview

Their ticket prices include the things you need, and that most charge extra for, such as the bike, or the train tickets and hotel nights that get you to the trip. But they also offer a la carte extra services that only some guests choose.

Blue Marble doesn't spend a fortune in hotels, because you don't spend much time in them. They do focus on the meals, the bikes, route research ... the important things! And they shop well.

Travel is independent and flexible. You aren't bungied to their idea; they help you live your own. Groups are small, an average of 10 to 15 people, so it's easy to be autonomous.

And did you know Blue Marble Travel was green LONG before it was fashionable?

Blue Marble liberates you from the hassles: finding a room at night, getting on the right train (NOT a van!), figuring out which map to use or the best bike routes. They offer plenty of adventure, but not the bed-bug-and-big-truck variety.

They know the wines on the list, the trains that allow bikes, the little hotels with good showers, etc. You are free to make the most of your experience - explore your surroundings, admire breathtaking scenery, dine, shop, or just chat with your companions over a glass of wine in an out-of-the-way bistro.

The Means
Blue Marble bypasses chain hotels in favor of family-run inns - pretty in the country, central in the towns. They prefer a 17th century courtyard to an in-room TV. Charm and good food, rather than capacity, characterize the restaurants.

They avoid standardization in general and prefer a modest meal followed by a splendid one, to two "average" meals. Meals are special events, and a focus of their trips, especially in the Latin countries. Except in Norway, choice is never lacking, but Blue Marble prides themselves on their ability to show local cuisines, often very different from that in North America. Breakfast (continental) is included except on overnight trains, generally at the hotel. Most dinners are included.

Biking
Blue Marble uses quality transportation. Their bikes are purpose-built 21-speed road tourers, designed for the biking done on these trips. And even when not on the bikes, journeys are interesting and fun. Travel as Europeans do, on trains and boats - not in the cocoon of a charter bus on an industrial autobahn.

The bikes (with which you often become friendly) are a means to an end. The rides are beautiful and easy, unless you want it otherwise, and there's time to stop and explore - though never enough. "Base routes" start off slowly, for those who haven't been on a bike since the training wheels came off, and gradually work up to a daily average of 30-40 miles, depending on terrain, and on the sights that compete for your attention. Doing more is always possible - coordinators propose "long routes" for the ambitious. Trips integrate one or more "loop" days, which allow you to do as much or as little biking as you please.

Blue Marble backs up their routes by running along little rail lines. Conductors have welcomed aboard more than one sleepy cyclist, seeking nothing more than the opportunity to forget prowess at the lunch table, the bicycle safely out of sight in the baggage car. These things happen.

Staff
Your trip's coordinator serves as a center of information, helping with city orientation, ferreting out concerts and theatre performances, and calling attention to special sights or hidden pubs that guide books miss, and that an individual traveler would stumble upon only with the greatest of luck. They don't make you do things; they help you do what you please. And the administrative hassles that inevitably arise are theirs to cope with, leaving you the freedom to enjoy your vacation.

Their Favorites
Blue Marble offers over 40 routes this year, plus many variants and combinations. All the trips are great, but they have a natural preference for long trips. They permit a degree of understanding of today's Europe that is simply unattainable in less time and with less material for comparison. Blue Marble believes this so strongly that they subsidize extra weeks on favorite itineraries. It's time you changed jobs anyway.

"Excellent trip - the scenery was incredible. I got to pick apples, plums, grapes, and feed cows and sheep, speak broken German to lederhosen-wearing old men who didn't understand a word I said. Where else could I have so much fun?"
Austrian Alps & The Danube Trip Member

"I'm one of those people who said I would never do a 'bike tour', but now I would return to do another Blue Marble trip in a heartbeat."
Swiss Cycling Trip Member

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