Who Are We?
The World According to Blue Marble
How We Got Here
Blue Marble was founded in 1986 by a bunch of grad students who otherwise would have had to find real jobs. Our idea was to appeal to a fun, relaxed, intellectually curious crowd: people we wanted to travel with! The trips were conceived with that group in mind, and the biking was a means to an end (though we like biking, at least usually)....
So, Who Are You?
Well, you are some (maybe most) of the following.
- Young, or young at heart.
- Interested in the aspects of a culture best seen from the countryside: villages, farms, open markets....
- Active. You don’t have to be a cyclist, but you enjoy doing things that don’t require a mouse and a keyboard.
- Social, but independent. You like interesting company, but aren’t afraid to sunbathe on the château lawn while others go in for a visit. Or to find a little restaurant with a friend while the group has dinner at the hotel.
- Curious. You like exploring things and places different from those you know.
- You are a gourmet, and enjoy the use of your five senses.
- You are open and tolerant: of other people, customs, cultures....
- You’ve travelled before and done the “If-It’s-Tuesday-This-Must-Be-Belgium” thing; this time you would like a less superficial contact.
Who you aren’t is also revealing...
- You don’t have stacks of money, and what you have, you like to see spent well. But this means selection, not privation. After all, you can afford to go to Europe.... Only, curling up for the night on a train station floor while some idiot strums Simon and Garfunkel has lost what little charm it may once have held.
- Your day isn’t ruined by finding something closed for lunch, or by finding yourself elsewhere on the map than where you expected to be.
- You aren’t excited by picky detail, even if you handle it well.
- And perhaps you would “never consider” taking a group trip. Our “organized anarchy” should make you reconsider.
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Who & Where Are We?
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Our Philosophy
We create our own website and write our own catalogue (it shows, right?). But at least you don’t pay for expensive marketing to people who don’t go on trips. If you go, you’ll find the funds you gave us used for your trip!
We don’t sink a fortune in hotels, ’cause you don’t spend much time in them. We focus on the meals, the bikes, route research… the important things! And we shop well.
Travel is independent and flexible. You aren’t bungied to our idea; we help you live your own. Our trips are small, generally 10 to 15, so it’s easy to be autonomous.
Yet we liberate you from the hassles of solo travel: finding a room at night, getting on the right train, figuring out which map to use or the best bike routes to follow. We offer plenty of adventure, but not the bed bug or big truck variety.
We even help you reach and leave your trip. “Access Packages” are available if you want them, so that you don’t have to spend hours trying to figure out where (or what) Finse is.
We know the wines on the list, the trains which allow bikes, the little hotels with good showers.... You are free to make the most of your experience: explore your beautiful surroundings, dine, shop, or chat with your companions over a glass of wine in an out-of-the-way bistro.
The Means (food, lodging…)
We bypass chain hotels in favor of family-run inns: pretty in the country, central in the towns. We prefer a 17th century courtyard to an in-room TV. Our restaurants are characterized by charm and good food, rather than capacity.
We avoid standardization. We prefer a modest meal followed by a splendid one, to two “averages,” and we accept the dips in the road as the cost of the marvelous peaks.
We use quality transportation. Our bikes are purpose-built 21-speed road tourers, designed for the biking we do. And even when not on the bikes, our journeys are interesting and fun. We travel as the locals do, on trains and boats – not in the cocoon of a charter bus on an industrial autobahn.
Biking
The bikes (with whom we often become friendly) can be your purpose, or, on the contrary, a means to an end. The rides are beautiful, and easy or challenging, depending on your goal. You can even change your mind each day. There is plenty of time to stop and explore – though never enough.
Our “base routes” start off slowly, for those who haven’t been on a bike since the training wheels came off. They gradually work up to a daily average of 30 - 45 miles (50 - 70 kilometers). Distance depends on terrain (if you’re under water, we keep it to about 7 leagues), and on the sights that compete for our attention. Doing more is always possible: coordinators propose “long routes” for the ambitious, and trips integrate “loop” days, which allow you to do as much (or as little) biking as you please.
We back up our routes by following country rail lines, and giving you daily information on how to jump on the train with your bike. Railway personnel have welcomed aboard more than one sleepy cyclist, seeking nothing more than to forget prowess at the lunch table, the cycle stowed safely out of sight in the luggage compartment. These things happen.
This system of back-up has several advantages. First, it saves you money. You only pay for it when you use it, and not much even then. Second, it is not around to spew diesel fumes in your face as you cycle up hills that would have been pleasant but for some excessively cheerful soul leaning out the window of a truck to offer you juice. Third, it is less constraining. You go where you please, when you please, and have back-up where you find yourself, rather than having to ride in circles around the "mother ship" at a compromise pace that is almost certainly not yours.
It also allows you to bring along a “training partner.” “Training” in this context refers to the vehicle, and not to any particular athletic preparation. If one of your party absolutely cannot be convinced to bike, s/he is still welcome... our trips show off their surroundings in a pretty special way, and we fully understand the desire to share it with those horrified by the prospect of turning pedals.
Details are here.
Staff
Your trip’s coordinator serves as a center of information, helping with city orientation, ferreting out special events, calling attention to sights, and sharing hidden pubs and restaurants that guidebooks miss, and that an individual traveller would stumble upon only with the greatest of luck. We don’t make you do stuff; we help you to do what you please. And the administrative hassles that inevitably arise are ours to cope with, leaving you the freedom to enjoy your vacation.
Our Favorites
We offer over 40 routes, plus variants and combinations. The innovative will find a discussion of
connecting trips, offered at discounts.
All of the trips are great, but we have a natural preference for the long ones. They permit an understanding of continental Europe that is unattainable in less time and with less material for comparison. They have been life-changing experiences for many of our guests, and for us. We believe this so strongly that we offer extra weeks on favorite itineraries “at cost.” It’s time you changed jobs anyway.
