Ask Lonely Planet: Keen cyclists set to climb ev'ry mountain

Bike tours from Tibet to Nepal take in spectacular Himalayan scenery. Photo / Jim Eagles

My wife and I, both in our mid-50s and keen recreational cyclists, would like to join an organised group to cycle from Lhasa, Tibet, to Kathmandu, Nepal. We have visited both cities and trekked the Annapurna circuit before and so know a bit of what we are letting ourselves in for. Can you suggest the best time of year to do it, and any companies that do this trip or where to find more information? We don't want to take our bikes with us, so a company that supplies bikes would suit us.
- Peter Baker

Lonely Planet's Sarah Bennett & Lee Slater write:

A bike tour from Lhasa to Kathmandu would see you cover more than 1100km under your own steam. It takes in spectacular Himalayan scenery, but you'll be in for some strenuous climbs.

To give you an idea, Lhasa is at 3490m above sea level, while Everest Base Camp is at the dizzying height of 5200m.

There are a handful of operators running this trip, all of which can be found on the internet. According to the information provided to us by one of them, Makalu Adventure, which has taken more than 1200 people on this epic journey, you must be in good physical shape and capable of biking up to seven hours non-stop over "not easy" terrain for several days. The whole trip is about 22 days, 15 of which you'll spend cycling.

Operators encourage you to bring your own bike, provided it's up to the job. You can rent decent bikes in Kathmandu for about US$20 ($24) per day, or buy a new one in Lhasa and sell it at the end of your trip for about half of what you paid for it.

Tours run from May through to October, although September is considered a great time to ride. Whoever you choose to go with, be sure to request a full itinerary, details of what you need to bring and what support and cover is provided.

Telco deals for travellers

Several friends of mine received huge bills after roaming around Europe in person and on their phones. I'll be doing a similar trip and wondered what European telco offers the best roaming deal - the best I've found is the 3 network in the UK, which works out about $2.50 per megabyte ... much cheaper than Vodafone New Zealand's obscene $10-per-megabyte deal.
- Tom Smith

If you take your current cellphone overseas and opt for roaming, your calls will be routed via an overseas network instead of your home operator. This is convenient but expensive, because despite EU regulations aimed at capping telco charges, there are very few good-value roaming plans for frequent travellers.

One alternative to mobile roaming is free or cheap WiFi. This is increasingly common, with many hotels providing it as standard. With a WiFi-enabled iPad, or other tablet or netbook, you can Skype for free, as well as check your emails and download attachments.

If you do want to use a cellphone without incurring obscene fees, the first thing to remember is to text instead of call and avoid using the internet if you can.

If you're staying in one country for a reasonable length of time, pre-paid SIM cards bought in that country are a good option.

An advantage of this is that callers are more likely to ring you back - call costs are higher if they have to ring you on a foreign number. The disadvantage is having to change phone numbers each time.

Local SIM cards are readily available and typically cost $30-$40, with credit normally loaded on them. Network prices vary, so shop around. Check out prepaidgsm.net.

An alternative is to buy a global SIM card, which may be a little more expensive but allows you to keep the same number in almost every country.

Bear in mind that some GSM handsets will only operate on a specific network - they won't work if you insert another carrier's SIM card. Buy an unlocked phone; otherwise they can usually be unlocked for a fee, or sometimes free.

If your overall usage will be low, the convenience of a global SIM should outweigh the cost. If you'll be using your phone a lot, you're probably better off buying local SIM cards.