Why "expedition"

[El Agreb]

You go caving for the weekend in the Dales but on expedition to Matienzo. Why?

What makes an expedition an expedition?

Is it just the mode of transport required to get there, crossing water or taking a plane perhaps?
Does this make a couple of days in Clare an expedition?
Or a trip down P8 for those of us who live on the other side of the channel an expedition?

Is pushing in the further reaches of long deep caves not an expedition if it only takes you 30 minutes from home to get to the entrance?

Do you have to spend ????days underground? So no more surface prospecting?

Is it finding metres of new passage?
Is Dan's "Earth Leakage" now an expedition, no longer the results of evening digging trips?

If it is not exploratory does this mean that the standard expeditions to the PSM or Berger are no longer the clubs expedition?

Is the word "expedition" just used to boost the egos of the participants.

Perhaps one needs to be in receipt of a Ghar Parau grant for it to be an expedition but does that mean if one self finances even though you might be pushing caves in Sarawak it is not.

Perhaps unless you are lucky enough to have a cave in your garden everything is an expedition.

So what is an expedition and what is a caving trip?

 

[cap n chris]

Er, is a caving trip when you visit something you know is there and an expedition is when you think there is something there?

 

[ian.p]

I think you could use either term for a caving trip/expedition if your of underground on an adventure what you chose to call it be it an expedition or a caving trip is entirley up to you. 

 

[graham]

When discussing his visits to Mulu with Mr Willis, I always used to use the word "holiday". 

 

[menacer]

I googled Expedition and got this.
Definitions of expedition on the Web:

    * a military campaign designed to achieve a specific objective in a foreign country
    * an organized group of people undertaking a journey for a particular purpose; "an expedition was sent to explore Mars"
    * excursion: a journey taken for pleasure; "many summer excursions to the shore"; "it was merely a pleasure trip"; "after cautious sashays into the field"

I decided that it shouldnt be an excursion to matienzo, as the thought of spending 2 weeks in the pouring rain cold and damp wasnt really my idea of a trip taken for pleasure... 

 

[Imo]

I would call something an expedition if it requires a team, logistics and planning to achieve a pre determined objective: e.g. to push the depth of a cave in Spain, to bottom the Berger in France, to make a first ascent of a peak in the Himalaya.

If the activity in question does not require a lot of planning and preparation, then to call it an expedition, would be quite grand. Expedition implies days of effort in quick succession, with a build up of preparation/training.

So for example the 3 day DofE 'expeditions', which to most experienced hillwalkers would be a fun 'trip'; to the novice group in question really are an expedition.

 

[Maisie Syntax]

       * an organized group of people undertaking a journey for a particular purpose;

Surely not applicable to caving then?

I recall a wise man once offering the suggestion that an expedition is only really an expedition if you are paying a little man to carry your gear on his head for you.

Actually, I recall it being a little more specific than this, but in these post carol thatcher times, it may be prudent to provide the abridged version only.

Dear Snowcard.............

 

[AndyF]

Q. Why "expedition"

A.When you are trying to get someone else to pay for your holiday...... 

 

[cap n chris]

Er,... more accurately, shouldn't that be "when you are trying to get someone else to pay for about 5% of your holiday"?

 

[graham]

Er,... more accurately, shouldn't that be "when you are trying to get someone else to pay for about 5% of your holiday"?

Hmm, 5% of the holiday may be relevant but 100% of the cost is usually what is being chased.