Hi Reggie, none of the companies have said anything to me about doing so. Why don't you drop the most likely candidates a quick line. You may find that if they don't have any in stock they might order some in!

With luck the companies are all picking up on this anyway but belt and braces...

Very cool with your comment about supporting the companies who are coming. We are repeatedly told that the event wouldn't be as good without all the kit to look at, and the guys on the stands to talk to. Nice to have the chance for some in depth conversations isn't it. Always easier to know you are buying the right stuff then eh.

Excellent news last night! Iain and I were talking things HUBB UK through with Grant and Susan - Grant's health is good; they'll both be with us all at Donington!!!!

We will arrive (if the channeltrains runs on time) on wednesday somewhere in the late afternoon - early evening - and if needed we can still lend you 4 hands after we set up our tent (as this will become a ritual for the next 6 months as the HUBB will be our official start for "a ride"...)

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Find us on Facebook or have a look at our website on wanderingsouls.be.

Superb!!! What better place to start your trip! And your tent? Your new Home!

Help? Yes please! We are still short of some helpers!!! I'll be posting on that shortly.

Looking forward to seeing you guys!

Volunteering? We still need some

If any of you guys are booked but haven’t signed up to volunteer, could I ask you to have a think about it. If you’ve been before then you’ll know how important people volunteering a few hours is with making the event happen with a friendly relaxed atmosphere.

And those hours are also a brilliant way of getting to know people if you’ve never been before.

If you’ve still to book, you’ll see the place to sign up to volunteer when you are booking in. Pre-Registration for Adventure Travellers - HUBB UK 2013 Donington Park

We are looking for a total of 150 volunteers – many hands make light work. Thanks VERY much to everyone who has given a thumbs up so far.

All we need is for just 20 more people to say yes to helping for a couple of 2 hour slots and the roles are all covered. That’ll be a ‘Phew’ moment.

The Crews we are short of people on are:

The Gate Crew – You’ll be the first point of contact that people arriving will have. As we are at a new venue and as so many people haven’t been before, this crew will make the difference between people being instantly welcome and knowing what they have to do next – or feeling like a square peg in a round hole.

Campsite Crew – This is a new Crew and its happening as a result of the move to Donington Park Farmhouse Hotel. It’s a much bigger site for us to play with and on and there needs to be a centre of information and a base for heading people out in the right direction. HUBB Zone? Presentation Rooms? Vehicle parking? Quiet camping area? And so on… The Real Ale bar too of course!

Skills Course – This course is aimed at building new motorcycle overlanders skills and we need a few more people who are skilled riders and good teachers to be able to help out.

Raffle Tickets sellers – We have some absolutely brilliant prizes lined up for the raffle – many thanks to everyone who is contributing a prize and I need to say that most are coming from the Adventure Travel companies that are going to be with us and to the ABRAC riders. Thanks all! But the money we collect in aid of Prostate cancer will be down to two other things – How easy it is for people to snag tickets, and how deep we are all prepared to dig! : ) Fancy flogging some tickets? Your help makes all the difference, and because people that come to an HU event are the sort of people they are, it’s not a hard task.

Presentation Crew – Last but not least. If you have really good IT skills and are used to setting up powerpoint presentations and the like then we could do with a few more people on this crew. The one thing is that you’ll be doing a fair number more hours on this crew but the bonus is that you are right there in the presentation rooms when it’s all happening. Many of the presenters are first timers and your job in part will be to help them get set up and make sure things run smoothly so they can concentrate on their presentation.

Fancy a go? Brilliant! Thanks very much! Here’s the Join the Volunteer Crew - HUBB UK 2013 Donington Park

This presentation from John May is going to get you thinking hard. For those of you who've been to HU before, you’ll have met John running the Slow Bike Race; he’s doing that again this year too!!! But I’m sidetracking!

John’s presentation is on a vital subject that too often doesn’t get thought about in anything like enough depth by travellers in the trip planning stage.

As John says, ‘Before doing a big trip we tend to spend loads of time and energy planning the route, thinking about what bike to take, picking the ideal tent and so on. But what scuppers most trips is the people stuff. We tend not to really consider the questions about why we are doing it in the first place and who to go with. Picking the right travelling companions is much more important than picking the right stove!’

This presentation is designed to join a lot of hugely important travel dots! Planning to travel with other people? Don’t miss this!

What is this about? Is it a practical hands-on course with your own / hire bikes or presentation / class-room style?

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Elaine

Striving to live the ordinary life in a non ordinary way

Hi All,

Thanks very much for all the "get well soon" messages over the past week or two - really appreciate it. Healing up well now and getting back into the swing of things.

Sam's away for a few days at a rally in Paignton, so I'll be picking up where he left off earlier with updates and highlights about the event.

The presentation schedule is coming together and we're hoping to get a provisional version online in about a week or so for everyone to look at and start planning what sessions to go to. All the presenters need to see it first though (early next week) to make sure I haven't made any schoolboy errors.

Cheers

Iain

The Skills Course will be taking up a large area of slightly-sloping grass field at the venue (next to the HUBB Zone) and will be laid out with a variety of simple obstacles.

It'll be open twice a day, with supervision from Cogs Underwood and his volunteer crew, on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

The idea is that anyone with a motorcycle who wants to practice their slow-riding skills can spend time going round the course on their own bike.

It's specifically a slow-riding/skills area and not a race track.

Hope that answers the question.

Cheers

Iain

Hi Sam,

well I searched everyone of the websites of the exhibitors and not one had the Helinox chair.

So if I can't buy one from them can anyone else direct me to a UK seller (not Ebay) for a Helinox Chair One?

Regards

Reggie

Amazon, Blacks, Complete Outdoors and others. Plenty show up via a Google search.

Jupiter's Traveller, and Pecha Kucha presenter, Claudio Gnypek from Germany is going to be recording a couple of podcasts during the event - made up of interviews with overlanders.

If you have an interesting story to tell and fancy being immortalised in audio, look out for Claudio wandering around with microphone in hand.

The other day I posted about a winching and recovery workshop, plus a Carnet masterclass from the RAC.

We've just had last-minute news that neither of those sessions will be going ahead. Circumstances beyond our control 'n' all that.

There's always a silver lining though.... the spaces vacated in the schedule will be filled by Grant Johnson giving a workshop on motorcycle ergonomics and Ed March reprising his highly-entertaining Malaysia to UK presentation.

Ed will also be stealing the show on the Friday night with a brand new presentation about his recent C90 adventure to the Arctic Circle.

Hi Iain,

ordered, ta.

Regards

Reggie

Just popped up to say thanks to everyone who has volunteered to help since I posted my request. Brilliant!!!

We now need just 7 people who don't mind doing 2 shifts of just 2 hours! Any takers? PM Me please so I can have a natter about what's to do.

It's the best way to meet people and of course you'll get that warm glow that will come from helping for a few hours