I don't really want to add much to the practical information that others have given as it's all pretty much on the nail but whether a breakdown becomes a disaster or just an interesting day is down to how you approach it. Notice I said breakdown and not accident. It's a different matter if someone gets injured or becomes ill. That takes priority over everything (in many cases you may not have a choice).

If you're away for any length of time everyone has good days and bad days and one of our rules of thumb has been that whoever is having a good day takes charge if there's a problem - even if all they can do is provide some sort of upbeat "we'll get this sorted" message. It's one of the advantages of travelling with other people.

My approach had always been to try and anticipate what might go wrong and work out in advance a kind of graded response depending on how severe the problem is. You have to be prepared to go to the end step on the list though. For example - the bike grinds to a halt in the middle of nowhere. My first concerns would be more about me than the bike - is it 50C in the shade or -50C in the sun and do I have enough water / warm clothing to spend any length of time in this environment. Only after I was happy about that would I turn my mind to what had gone wrong.

Just about every breakdown or problem will fit into one of the following categories -

1. I can fix this myself, here and now.

2. I need better facilities, a base, maybe some spares, some help moving the bike / car etc but I know what's wrong and can sort it out.

3. I need professional help, this is beyond me

4. This is the end of the road for it / me. All I can do is remove the tax disc for refund purposes and head for the airport.

Categories 1 and 4 are the easy ones - if a luggage strap has come undone or the bikes's gone up in flames your options are fairly straightforward - from the bike's perspective anyway. If its a burnt out wreck in the middle of the Sahara and you were on your own you really should have thought it through before heading off. Many years ago I had a bike catch fire in the middle of Athens. I jumped off and ran but someone came out from a local garage with an extinguisher and put it out. I got towed back to my campsite and spent the next couple of days rewiring it. In a more remote area I'd have let it burn - but, I was travelling with other so wouldn't have been stranded.

Ultimately though you have to be prepared just to walk away. I have gone off on so many trips where the interesting part wasn't where I was going but how far I would get. For last year's Elephant rally (a 1700 mile round trip) I went on a bike I'd riden six miles after it had been sitting in a garage for over 25yrs. My backup plan was a kindle and some movies on my ipod while I waited for the breakdown services.

If you're British the breakdown services are easy to use in the UK. One call and they swing into action (kind of). It's what they're there for. It's lightly harder in mainland Europe with language issues etc but it still works eventually. In both cases though, when you phone up, they're expecting to be told about some kind of problem. You don't feel as though you're putting upon the kindness of strangers - it's their job.

For many of us though, having to involve a total stranger moves us well outside our comfort zone. The realisation that, despite all my planning, all my forethought, I'm now dependant on someone taking pity on me. Every time I've been in that position I've had to move mental mountains to kick things off and subsequently been amazed by how generous people have been. OK, often (but not always) cash changes hands (even a couple of times from them to me!) but I've no problem with that as long as it's proportionate. The most important thing though is to be in charge of your own destiny and decide what you want to do