Alex and I have quickly come into the routine of being completely, utterly and totally PC-addicted. Every spare moment of our time has been quickly zapped up with our eyes glued to the laptop, trying to move things forward as quickly as possible on our trek plans. Each day we wake up we vow that it will be a PC-Free Day, but those have been few and far between.
In theory - all that we are doing sounds rather simple. Build a website. Plan a trek. Try to get as much support as possible. The reality of the situation is really quite different. We do not have some computer guy building us our websites. We do not have some PR firm going out there to advertise for us. We do not even have our own company to organize the trek for us. It's just us.
Every little detail of our project rests on our shoulders and as time goes on, I am more and more grateful that Alex and I are even doing this together as if I did not have her - it would have just been me.
The other day Alex confessed to me that she did not think she was "fit enough" to do such a trek as what we are planning. I immediately agreed that I felt the same way about myself. With all we are doing in preparation, the one thing we have not exactly gotten to yet is preparing for it physically. Too many other details lie in wait before we can even get to that. Such as how we can get people and companies on board to help us. Not exactly an easy task.
Within our tent community, life runs in a constant hum of sharing, equality and acceptance. If the United Nations could see us - they would be proud. Each of us backpackers represent countries from all over the world. Countries with different backgrounds, histories, cultures and customs. And yet we all get along fine. It wasn't untill Alex and I started to branch out of our community for support on our trek that we realized just how much of a bubble we are living in at the caravan park.
Companies that say they represent what we are doing, that they advocate for what we are trying to achieve are the very companies that are taking their sweet time in getting back to us on whether or not they can support us. The outdoor gear companies that want to promote wilderness adventure state they can't fit us into their budget. The companies that stand by women's travel say they have met their quota. The very companies that want to "give back" to the community have all these ridiculous rules and regulations on how they can go about doing so. If only we could all just follow the Beatles when they said, "All we need is love."
The other day I even went to go and talk to the caravan park reception desk to see if they would want to be on board with us in regards to our new adventure. Cable Beach Caravan Park is, after all, where Alex and I have met. It is where we live and will be living until we go to New Zealand. It is our basecamp. Our starting point. The place where all our planning began. It only makes sense to see if we could partner with the caravan park. Afterall, what a great publicity opportunity for them as we would agree to write about them in our blogs, advertise for them and even write about them in the book I intend to publish at the end of our journey. However - after proposing our idea to them, the concept appeared to fly right over their heads as their only response was that maybe they'd be able to let us print 20 pages from their printers for advertising purposes in Broome. They are, afterall, incredibly busy this time of year and the current charge for printing a piece of paper is 50 cents. But even then, the receptionist warned me that there was no garantees of even just that - they would have to think about our proposal and get back to us. They can't just give out money to just everyone.
I went back to my tent after that and processed everything that had been said. Cable Beach Caravan Park was offering me and Alex to print $10 worth of paper. That's it. And they weren't even excited about what Alex and I wanted to accomplish in this journey. Didn't even give me a smile when I was talking about it.
Fortunatly, Alex and I saw it the same way and she recommended that we scrap the idea of sponsorship from Cable Beach Caravan Park and we'll try a print shop in Broome for support instead. Hopefully we'll get a better feel from them than the caravan park.
Outside of that, our time is filled with contacting magazines for support, researching newspapers, radio and outdoor gear companies. We've created a Facebook Group for our trek and have attempted to start going with Twitter (though I honestly do not understand the fascination with such an online program) - we are not doing this to get our 15 min of fame. We are not doing this for the spotlight. We are doing it to promote women's adventure travel, environmental sustainability and raise money for the Indigo Foundation.
If there is anyway you think you'd be able to help us out - do just that. And if you know anyone that would be interested in what we are doing - please spread the word! And for those of you who have already indicated your support - THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! :D
0 comments:
Post a Comment