selecting trip members, yes or no?

[Picaro]

They take you on as a member of the party, let you spend time prepping, then drop you for undisclosed reasons?

To me, that is just lack of character from poor quality folk. Not the sort I'd like to take on elements of risk with.

[wayno]

yes well does make you wonder about these everest summiters....

[GPSGuided]

Elitism. Simple elitism. Only the individual can decide whether that's what's desired.

[photohiker]

Just do your own trip wayno, and don't take any offers from this dis-organiser again.

I've skiied Ruapehu. I especially liked the waterfall section and also the mad landcruiser trip at the beginning and end of each day

[Solohike74]

I was recently at a cafe in Southern NSW, where our group was meeting and setting up our plans to drive to the start of the walk. A recent acquaintance persuaded me to travel in his vehicle rather than go with one of the others as I had previously arranged.

This recent acquaintance had only 1/4 tank fuel and proceeded to hit me up for cash not long after we got started. Now I've been in the carpool boat before, but I have this feeling he just tried drafting me in so he would have someone to hit up for cash (he's a disability pensioner and not all that well off). By way of background, turns out the others when told the story said I should have stuck with them and they weren't really that inclined to ask for anything. Turns out I joined the others for my trip home.

He'd put me up for a night at his place, which was in quite a mess, and asked some question (said joking but think he was a bit hopeful) about whether or not I was going out to shout for tea. I'd done my shopping at Nuggets Crossing as planned to self-cater, had said this when in Nuggets Crossing. He picked up no stuff there, and at dinner time said he had nothing could he eat with me. I only had extra to feed him as my plans were to cook the extra and put it in a container for lunch on the road the next day.

He was I think more than a little disappointed, and didn't want more than one light turned on in his place as he reckoned it's send him broke "we have the highest electricity rates in Australia" despite that any going broke might be more to do with running a heater all night in his room while my room had no heater accessible.

As for selecting trip members, this recent acquaintance is likely to be dropped from any future vehicle sharing plans of mine.

[wayno]

yes there are a few of those around,
i have found the odd club member who regularly "forgets" their trip money,,
i dont mind giving someone a free ride if they are short of money, but you wonder if they are lying about forgetting, and if thats the case then they are just using people and not being up front.
what i find with some people who don't work much is they don't care how long they take on a trip and don't care if they drag out getting back on the road to get home when the rest of the team have work or study commitments the following day and need to get home in time for a decent nights sleep. consider the people you're tramping with and their requirements... sure you're going to get home late sometimes but try not to drag it out unecessarily.