“A society has no chance of success if its women are uneducated.”
Though we are traveling as a couple, you really only hear one side of the story since I happen to be the one recording it all. Because of this, Kevin decided to write a post for y’all to enjoy, a sort of insider look into a few funny stories I may have left out.
You have heard our stories, seen our pictures, and experienced our adventures through the words of Shirine, but there is another side to our trip which has been left out. By giving you a glimpse of our life through my eyes I hope to bring to light some comical and interesting behind the scenes information.
Last march when I met up with Shirine in Nepal I took on the task of bike maintenance and navigation. These tasks are definitely much better suited to me than Shirine since it has been an ongoing joke that she could get lost in her own apartment. In fact, when remembering the cardinal directions, she has to recite the phrase “never eat soggy waffles” (NESW). Sometimes when we have time to kill I make Shirine lead the way back home (usually only a block away) since it’s amusing to see where she ends up taking us. It’s definitely not the most efficient way back, but I have found it to be a good way to see the city.
I arrived in Nepal only to find her bike held together with a scarf and medical gauze, which was creative, but not exactly what I had in mind. The squeaking, grinding, and ticking coming from her bike did not bother her but certainly drove me crazy. When I ask her how long it had been doing this, she told me that she had never even noticed it. Shirine’s philosophy had always been “ride it until it doesn’t ride anymore,” and “it’s alright if I don’t know much about bike mechanics because there is alway someone around to help”.
We all have our strengths and weaknesses. Shirine, for example, is extremely talented with languages and the social aspects of traveling. On countless occasions I have turned my back for just a sec only to find that she has already made friends with a dog and three cats, and the owner who inevitably ends up inviting us in for dinner. When we are looking for new friends during our travels, she is the perfect social butterfly to deploy in order to met all kinds of people. No cow, goat, sheep or pig goes by without a good singing to or conversation. I can’t count the number of times she had tried to adopt different animals along the way… Even baby cows!
If anyone has anything else they would like to hear about from his perspective, or anything more technical related to our gear, let us know and he could write another guest post!
The Wandering Nomads 
Highly amusing and enlightening, I for one would like to hear more. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you kevin for the little insighs. You both make good team together. Pleasure reading you and hope to read from you about your experiences.
Lovely to read Kevin’s point of view and seeing him totally in love …
I loved hearing Kevin’s post! Encore! Hugs! Suzanne
Love hearing Kevin’s perspective in fact I thoight the post kept going and was sad to see it ended. I love how he describes you because I share so many of your personality traits, open to the world and anything that comes your way. I share your philosophy on bike mechanics although I will shortly become a member of CAT in Eugene. After my trip I have Tue hardest time telling cardinal directions and say “Never eat shredded wheat!” Kevin, keep writing!
Kevin, how often do you maintain your bicycles? Hopefully this doesn’t happen but have you had your bike break down and you don’t have parts and you’re far from town? Do you MacGyver your bikes? 🙂
He tries to lube them ever week or two, and clean them every month or two.. And besides that, jus fix things on the to.
Devin and I are in the same boat with me writing the blog (with the exception of his video updates) so it was great to read the other half of the story 🙂 love it!
Great! I always wonder what other couples do (like if one writes or they both do..)
On the techy side, it looks like Shirine rides a long haul trucker, but Kevin is on a Troll. Perhaps there’s a story on how you two ended up on “different” bikes. Also, I’m curious about gear that you packed, but learned you didn’t need, gear you learned that you should have packed, and then what happened to the whole gear spectrum when Kevin showed up. The recipe for two people is probably not simply 2x one person.
That’s a good one, I’ll get into the gear stuff a bit later, but in the short, it involves us still packing two stoves, me selling my tent in Nepal, and a few extra doubles like bike pumps and such which we have gradually been giving to other cyclists in need.