Wandering around the World on a bicycle

I am writing you these lines from the inside of my tent, in the middle of the Bosnian mountains, after a long day cycling.

For the last 9 months we have been cycling around Europe, meeting random local people, speaking in different languages or mimicking for communication. Trying traditional gastronomy, being invited into their homes and tables, and spending nights sleeping under the stars, into the wild.

On January, Ilze and I set off on a journey to travel around the world by bicycle. A definition of our understanding of travel is required here: we are not visiting, we are not doing the tourist stuff, and we are not racing or ticking dots on a map; we are slowly moving around getting to know different places history and culture, the way of life of its people, living a nomadic life using a bicycle as transportation system.

Our idea is to travel around the Earth on a bike. Not on a straight and shorter way, but discovering our surroundings, zigzagging to neighboring countries, moving up and down on our way East.

The best plan is no plan

We don’t make plans, we live in the moment. Due to the winter season bringing the cold and bureaucratic problems to enter some countries in other parts of the World; we have some ideas and possibilities for our route. But we rarely make actual plans more than a few days in advance, and even then, we end up changing them way too often! The best plan is no plan. Living without knowing where we are going to end up tomorrow night, in which forest, beach or riverside we will set up our tent, who will we meet on our way and what new food we will end up trying out is part of our daily routine.

We believe in people, not in money, and we try to minimize our expenses to a bare minimum. During these last months we have spent less than 4€ a day. Quit smoking or drinking for a year and you would have enough to travel around the world!

Living on the road, cheaply, on a bike and in a tent; implies that those things that most people expect to be just there, at home, are needs we have to address and find ways to full fill.

Find food, cook food, get water, take a shower, do laundry, get into bed; every day. Those basic needs you have a few steps away back at home, are part of the adventure when you are traveling over foreign land without a credit card at hand. Even the more anecdotic parts of daily routine can become an adventure!