burningcam.com/travel-notes/

Bring a bike.
Sleep during the day.
Cigs.
Dust.

Part IV. Coming Home

Consider your departure time.
Off the playa.
Cleaning the playa off your stuff.
Dealing with life.

Part I: Preparing to leave.

What to bring:

ARF (the Artists’ Republic of Fremont in Seattle) have a good list: www.arfarfarf.com/burningman/items.html

The official BM site has a pretty good first-timers guide: www.burningman.com/first_timers/

Fellow Vancouver burners Chris ’n’ Rick have a lengthy list of useful and fun stuff: burningcam.com/travel-not...s-rick.html

I should add that Chris and Rick do recommend quite a pile of gear and if you’re a BM virgin you might find it a bit overwhelming. Never fear - you obviously don’t have to bring so much stuff! Everyone has their own way of doing things beyond the simple survival basics. But if you want to go to Burning Man in style then Chris ’n’ Rick are your guys!

Travel insurance:

Remember that your Canadian health coverage does not even come close to covering the insanely high cost of being hospitalized in an American medical facility. If you don’t have some form of travel insurance I’d strongly recommend you pick some up for your trip. It’s dirt cheap at a few dollars a day, and totally worth it.

Remember that you are travelling to a pretty wacky event where all kinds of strange things can happen and go wrong. People have died at the event, and car accidents in transit to/from the event happen yearly. American conspiracy theorist (black helicopters and cow mutilations, primarily) Jim Keith died in a Reno hospital - under very mysterious circumstances, we’re told - after breaking his leg at Burning Man.

Would you rather pay a few dollars a day in health insurance or several thousand dollars (US) a day for a hospital bed? Not to mention the cost of getting airlifted out of Gerlach to Reno, in a regular helicopter or a black one. Think about it. Most travel agents and places like BCAA sell travel insurance that covers the US. (okay, admittedly getting third-party health insurance probably won’t help you if you’re being assassinated by men in black for knowing too much, but hopefully you won’t be in that category)

Car rental:

A popular way to get to Black Rock is to rent a car. Even if you own one it’s worth considering, as it’ll mean less wear and tear on your own vehicle. It’s not a cheap way to go, but it’s convenient, and can be okay if split amongst two or more people. Here are some points to keep in mind.

Rent from a Large, Evil Multinational Corporation, as they have offices everywhere and roadside assistance if you break down. Small local operations can’t help you if you get stuck in the middle of nowhere.

Make sure you can take your rental vehicle to Nevada. Many car rental firms have bizarre restrictions. Like you can’t take the car out of BC. Or you can rent a car in Seattle but you can only drive it within Washington State and Oregon. Be sure also that the car rental contract says you can take it into the US, as you may be asked to prove it at the border.
Note that some car rental firms such as Budget are taking the Big Brotherish step of placing hidden GPS (global positioning system) position sensors on their cars, which means that they can tell immediately if you cross a border you aren’t supposed to. Ugly. Very, very ugly.

Go for a car rental firm that offers unlimited mileage. Sometimes it works out OK if you rent from a firm with mileage limits, but you can be badly burned if you calculate wrong or decide to take a scenic detour. National is one firm that’s crappy this way, with their crummy daily mileage limits.

You might want to not mention any Burning Man stuff if you rent from a city full of burners - some rental firms have been known to deny rentals to people going to Burning Man, because of damage issues. Technically when you drive on the playa you’re taking the vehicle off-road, which might be an problem as well, so whatever you do don’t mention that you’re going to be driving off the road onto on a flat dry lakebed made of corrosive alkaline clays.
Of course, if your car rental company has a hidden GPS system onboard as mentioned above, you could be in serious trouble since they will be able to tell immediately that you drove the car to Burning Man and may bill you thousands of dollars extra accordingly. This has happened to at least one burner before, apparently. So check carefully and ask a lot of questions.

Don’t buy the damage insurance sold by the car rental firm, as they charge insane amounts like $15-30 a day. Instead get supplemental car rental insurance via ICBC. It’s something like $4 per day. But whatever you do, get some insurance. If you don’t you’ll have some minor ding that will be inflated by the rental firm and you’ll end up paying $1000 to get it fixed. Note that some car rental firms will be jerks and insist on charging you more for rental if you don’t accept their overpriced insurance policies - check first. You may need to bring the ICBC insurance paperwork with you when you rent the vehicle to prove you’re insured.

Speaking of vehicle damage, do a circle check and examine the car in minute detail before you drive it off the lot. Make sure every single tiny bit of damage is recorded, or else you might get hit with it when you return the damned thing.

Work out in advance who’s going to drive the vehicle. If someone whose name isn’t on the rental agreement is driving the vehicle in case of an accident you could be seriously fucked. (eg: ICBC’s insurance will cover drivers other than the person renting the vehicle, but only if they’re on the agreement.) Note that some car rental firms (eg: National) charge you a daily surcharge for adding another driver to the contract. This is bullshit, but there you go. Ask first.

Scout out the rental location if possible. For example, in 98 and 99 I found that the Avis location on West Broadway has a very limited selection of vehicles. However, they have very nice V6 white Chevrolet Malibus with CD players. So for the same amount as a crappy little four-cylinder Cavalier or whatever I got a perfect desert road trip vehicle. Plus Malibus have TONS of cupholders! Bonus! If you can’t do this, try specifying in advance (when you place your reservation) what type of vehicle you want within your price bracket - eg: white (less hot in the sun), CD player, V6 engine - you might get lucky. No guarantees of course.

Don’t arrange to pick up a rental car from an airport location. Most major airports charge surcharges to car rental firms which you end up have to fork out. It’s also a nuisance getting to most airports. It’s often simplest to find a rental lot just outside downtown or wherever.

Don’t rent a tiny car - it’s false economy for highway driving. The cost savings just aren’t worth it. For only couple bucks more a day you can get a midsized car that’ll be far more comfortable on the long haul down to the desert and will be slightly safer in the event of an accident. Try to get a V6 engine if you can - they use more gas, but are much nicer on interstates and high road passes. Plus a bigger car can accommodate all your shit.

Don’t rent an SUV either. Three reasons. First, they’re massively more expensive to rent than a car; second, fuel economy is absolutely miserable and third, they’re not as roomy inside as they look. They’re optimized for high road clearance to make the driver feel more important and stuff. If you want to sleep in your vehicle rent a minivan and take out the back seats. The fuel economy will still be pretty bad and it’ll also cost way more than a car, but at least there’s more headroom. The only advantage of an SUV is if it rains and the playa turns to mud the chances of you getting out in an SUV are slightly higher than a two wheel drive vehicle. But it’s no guarantee - if the playa gets hit with really heavy rains even 4WD vehicles get stuck.

Get a BCAA membership. Many car rental firms will give 10% or so discounts to BCAA members, so if you rent a car for a week and a half it can actually be cheaper to buy a membership than not have one. Plus you get free maps from the Broadway office and additional roadside assistance options if you get stuck. Handy. You might want to consider their second-tier membership rather than the base level (I forget the names) as you get more towing distance to the nearest garage. Sadly, BCAA advocate anti-environmental and pro-car policies to governments, which sucks, so you may have moral qualms about this.

This is probably obvious, but you need both a valid driver’s licence and a credit card to rent a vehicle. When you rent they will put a hold on the rental amount on your card, so make sure you have enough to cover that. In most places you have to be 25 or older to rent a car.

Book months in advance, as it’ll usually be cheaper than renting at the last minute. Most places won’t charge you to book and will only charge you with no-show penalties within 24 hours of the rental date.

Cut a spare key. I’ve never rented a car which has stamped DO NOT COPY on the car key, so there’s nothing stopping you from going to a hardware store and having a duplicate made. If you are travelling with other people give the key to another person in your group so hopefully at least one person will be able to unlock the car when you lock yourself out. It’s easily done with an unfamiliar vehicle under unfamiliar circumstances. Chaining your keys to your belt is another good idea.
Note that some carmakers embed computer chips in the key itself. You may be able to make a physical duplicate (which can at least unlock the doors) but it won’t start the engine. However, getting into the car at least is better than nothing.

Allocate several hours of time to de-playa the vehicle when you get home. See the section on vinegar water at the end - it makes cleaning much easier.