About us
Julia
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A biking bavarian
I was born in the beautiful and historical town Regensburg (Bavaria) 25 years ago (12.01.1982). After finishing school I moved to Stuttgart for studying, where I still live and (now) work. But somehow I don’t feel ready to settle down at a certain place. I was always attracted by travelling, whether in my first travel experiences by train (InterRail) through Spain, working in Guatemala, canoeing in Sweden or travelling to Cuba, Thailand or Vietnam. I am especially fascinated by countries where the problems of the people are not related to who is driving the biggest car or who has the fattest purse. Countries with habitants whose lives are indeed hard but who are happy about the small pleasures of life.
The bicycle however was never part of my former journeys.
The first contact with this kind of travelling I had during my studies, when one of my fellow students showed me a book about two guys, who were travelling around the world by bike. I was fascinated and deeply impressed by their photographs, their travelogues and simply the impression of how such a journey must be. Of course I had huge respect of the physical performance and the outdoor-life partly far away of any civilization.
Later on I got to know two friends of Holm who cycled from Stuttgart to the Lake Baikal. Due to them and their stories a bike trip got more and more realistic. It was no more just a book of two crazy guys. No, an adventure like this could really be made by “normal” people. Also by me??
The dream of a really long journey through different countries grew more and more and was sometimes a decided plan.
The decision to do the trip by bike was made in Vietnam. At this journey we (Holm and me) wanted to explore as much as possible on our own account – without guided tours…Therefore we were dependent on the routes and timetables of public transportation. Hours of sitting and waiting during the train and bus trips raised our desire of independence and self-determined travelling as well as more physical movement. Also the fast passing of the changing countryside and the people made the bike more and more attractive as mean of transportation.
Holm
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I was born on 21st of April 1982 in Heidelberg and grew up in a small village in the Odenwald, South-Hessia. In order to study I moved to Stuttgart, where I now live for 5 years.
I am dreaming of doing a world trip for a few years now. So far I made journeys within Europe, to Cuba, Vietnam and Siberia - most of them backpacking. Also this kind of travelling is fascinating – it is incredibly exciting and formative to escape our circumstances of life and getting to know other cultures, values and ways of life. To experience this without the pressure of time, travelling where you want, well…
But why the hell by bicycle? Well, that’s a short story for itself: Actually the plan was to hit the road backpacking again. But then two good friends of us, Mathias and Ingo, made a bike trip from Stuttgart to the Lake Baikal in 2005. That was the first time a bike trip came into play for my own world trip. When I was in Vietnam 2007, I had more and more the impression, that it is quite hard to escape the 'mainstream tourism', being dependent on public transportation and sitting too much. Bus, train, plain, central stations, airport – sitting and waiting all the time. Due to all these reasons the desire of a bike trip grew more and more. You're are self-sustaining, apart of the mainstream tourism, sort of real life, outdoor, you have action and on top of everything it’s cheap. Fortunately I didn’t have to convince Julia – she was immediately all for it.
You see, I have some experiences in travelling, but none in travelling by bike. I´m biking regulary, but in a technical point of view I just have basic knowledge. But I like challenges and I think with a basic fitness, (Ingo´s praised) ability of bearing pain, technical comprehension, my former travel experiences, good preparations and adventuresomeness I am not too bad provided. For sure we will have to improvise spontaneously – but this adds zest on the journey.
Helping? Often you speak or think about it, but too often you just stick to it. And as such a journey suits to attract a little bit of public attention, the idea of connecting our trip with a good purpose recommended itself.
We wish to all travellers, to those who remained back home, to friends, helpers and other interested people lots of fun at our homepage…