The people we encounter and share time with are what give our travels that extra dimension. I discovered this in the very first week of my solo travels around Europe, three years ago. A place can be stunning and interesting, but actually getting close to someone who lives in that region and swapping stories with them gives me so much more.
Unlike most cycle tourers, we discovered Warmshowers before we ever started travelling that way. We were in Vietnam three years ago, rethinking how we wanted to travel — tired of depending on hitchhiking or local transport to get around, wanting to be completely self-sufficient.
We'd started getting interested in bike touring when we crossed paths on a road in Laos with a Belgian cyclist who'd been in the saddle for over a year. His smile said it all. He lived on rice, but he looked genuinely happy.
Digging into how bike touring worked, we discovered Warmshowers — the Couchsurfing of the cycling world — and registered to see if there was any way to buy decent bikes in Vietnam to pedal back to Europe.
Unfortunately it was around that same time we discovered that a decent bike — one that can handle the weight of full kit on Asian roads without constantly breaking down — costs serious money.
Our plan changed. We went from researching bikes to trying to earn and save money. We considered going to Australia but ended up in England, and forgot all about Warmshowers.
It wasn't until we started cycling through England in winter and Scotland by bike that we remembered this wonderful way to meet local people and enjoy their hospitality and conversation after a long, hard day in the saddle.
Cycling through England, we found wonderful hosts
- Will and his girlfriend had escaped on tours around Europe several summers, and with them we swapped stories of getting stuck in the middle of nowhere, pitching the tent on a footpath, under a bridge or by the side of the road.
- Jonathan overcame a back injury that had forced him to give up mountain bike competition, but he's still cycling on a recumbent bike — the only way he can keep his balance — with ambitious plans like riding to Turkey. True to form as an Englishman, his trips always have a challenge element and he fundraises for a charity.
- Ralph is pushing sixty but still pedalling like mad and completely luggage-free. When the mood takes him, he jumps on the bike and heads off with no warm clothes and no sleeping bag, intending to sleep in a barn — even in the middle of winter, shivering by a fire with no sleeping bag and no warm layer, wearing the same clothes he rode in.
Now that we're cycling around the world and started it in the dead of winter, we decided to try to spend evenings and nights with local people whenever we could. Otherwise we'd just be passing through regions and countries without ever really getting under the skin of a place. Without discovering what it's actually like.
Warmshowers hosts on our round-the-world ride
- In London we spent a night with Sam and Francesca, who quit their jobs and spent a year travelling almost in a straight line from London to Cambodia, with a couple of flights involved. Nine months after finishing their trip, Francesca gave birth to their daughter — their new adventure.
- In the south of England we met Julie and Mark, a married couple with grandchildren who escape every year with their bikes to America for a few months. This year they'll complete their circuit around the United States, having already ridden both coasts and crossed the country from side to side on one of their previous trips.
- In France we met Alain — a very French Frenchman who laughed at us for the obscene amount of kit we were carrying. Retired now, he uses his freedom to travel by bike. He's been doing bike trips for 15 years, going with little more than the clothes on his back, including one journey through 14 countries.
- In a French coastal city we came across a young couple: Sandrine and François. A couple of years ago they returned from cycling Japan and Korea for a year and three months respectively — on Japanese bikes, and with their dog. No rush, taking it slowly, discovering the country and learning the Japanese language and food.
Unique experiences through Warmshowers and Couchsurfing
And it's not just stories — it's special experiences we'd never have had if we hadn't met local people. In Lithuania, through Couchsurfing this time, a couple took me to an old prison supposedly haunted by the ghosts of former inmates.
A couple of nights ago, through Warmshowers, our host took us to a closed cinema he has keys to, and we enjoyed a private screening just for us.
Even when members of these communities don't speak English, it's still possible to connect over shared interests. Last week I managed with un peu français and sign language to communicate and swap stories with our hosts, who fed us until we could barely move and looked after us like we were their own children despite the language barrier.
