“You live your life and tell me it can’t be done, I’ll live mine and show you it can.”
Georgia Through the Lens
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Georgia: Where Wine, Friendly People, and Beautiful Camping Meet
“Your legs are not giving out. You head is giving up. Keep going.”
Georgia is one of those countries which every world touring cyclist talks about because inevitably it ends up on someone’s “top countries to cycle though” list. And now I know why. Georgia is absolutely wonderful due to its beautiful mountains, quaint villages, and it’s extremely hospitable people. Though I have experienced kindness throughout every country during this bike journey, Georgia was something different. Here, it wasn’t just a few individuals who stepped out of their way to help you out, but rather it seemed that every single Georgian wanted nothing more than to make you feel welcome and at home in their gorgeous country.
Zero Patience for Ignorance
“A society has no chance of success if its women are uneducated.”
Today as I was walking down by the sea a man who was walking in front of me kept looking behind him to see if I was still there. He wasn’t smiling like the wonderful Georgian guys I buy my kebab from everyday, in fact, he had the same sort of disgusting look I saw so many times on Indian men as they turned around to ask me for porn. Was I being paranoid, I wondered, that any time a guy now looks at me for more than two seconds I automatically assume the worst?
The Not So Exciting Week
“To do nothing is the way to be nothing.”
These last two weeks have been boring, really boring, since we have been waiting around playing what we frustratingly refer to as the visa game. Since my brother and best friend are coming to join us in Istanbul for Christmas, and since we can only get a three month visa for Turkey, we have to wait until mid October to enter the country in order to be legal throughout our whole stay. Since we had already spent two months cycling and visiting just about everything throughout the small country of Georgia, we decided to just go find somewhere to work along the Black Sea until we were allowed to enter.
Date Nights on a Budget
“Sometimes I think a soulmate is the person who can make you the most “you” that you could possibly be.”
Though Hollywood has done an awfully good job showing us what a date should look like – dinner at an overpriced restaurant followed by an expensive dessert – Kevin and I have taken a much different approach. The point of a date is not to impress the other person, as Hollywood may want you to believe, but rather to spend time with them, so turn off your computer, leave your phone at home, and find something you both enjoy doing together.
Traveling With Children
“There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million.”
The most inspiring travelers are not the ones who break records, or go the fastest, but rather the ones who continue to travel as a family once they have children. I (virtually) ran into my first cycling family three years ago while I was doing research for a paper I was writing about “road schooling,” and quickly fell in love. Here was a family with twin eleven year old boys who had decided that their boy’s middle school years would better be spent cycling from Alaska to Argentina, and boy were they right.
What’s Next: Balancing Travel and Home
“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”
“What’s next?” Besides how do you pay for it, and what do your parents think, after I explain my multi year journey to people “what’s next” is often the next question in line. And I get it, at only twenty years old I’m already doing the sort of expedition most people would never even dream of, so what will I be able to accomplish by thirty, or fifty? Well, as much as a life of perpetual expeditions and travels sounds amazing, there are other things in life I want, and Kevin and I have recently decided that after South America we will put a little pause in our traveling lifestyle in order to establish some roots as well.
South America, Here We Come!
“It was amazing how you could get so far from where you’d planned, and yet find it was exactly were you needed to be.”
That’s right, instead of making our way through Europe as we had originally planned, I just bought two flights out to Buenos Aires where we will begin our year long adventure through the Andes! (When I told my best friend that on a complete whim only hours after first voicing the itinerary change idea I bought the tickets, she responded with “classic shi move!” so, as you can see, changing plans just seems to be what I do best). We have many reasons for this drastic itinerary change, some of which I will cover below, but first off, a huge thank you is in order. I was able to buy these two plane tickets with the money I have earned along the way from writing for another blog as well as the money people have donated throughout my trip in support of this blog. So, a huge thank you to everyone who has helped me out because without you flying to a whole new continent wouldn’t have even been on the table. In return, I promise to deliver as many beautiful pictures and cultural stories I can once we arrive, and trust me, cycling through those gorgeous mountains is bound to bring a whole lot of adventure!
A Disaster of Dinner and Dishes
“I’m old enough to know better, but young enough to do it anyway.”
It’s 22h36 and I just got off my sixteen hour shift at the hostel we have been working at this past week for free room and food. I started at 7h00 sharp by serving breakfast to over forty tourists before cleaning (dishes, sweeping, etc…) and preparing dinner with the wonderful but way overworked cook. Then, at seven, we served food to the tourists once again before, doing more dishes than I ever thought possible. Though we have worked at quite a few hostels here in Georgia already, this one was very different because it had a kitchen, and therefore, way more work that needed to be done.
Call Out to Turkey!
“A wise person knows there is something to be learned from everybody.”
It’s incredible how many people – from Bulgaria, to Thailand, to France – have emailed me inviting us to stay in their homes when we pass through their country. These invitations, and staying with locals in general, is definitely our favorite part about the way we travel but unfortunately I haven’t kept a comprehensive list of where the people are who have offered. Because of this I’m going to start giving a little shout-out before each country, and since we will be entering into Turkey in a week, here is the Turkish shout out! Kevin and I would love to cook you breakfast, do the dishes, or work in the garden (etc..) as a thank you for your hospitality, in fact, we insist! Feel free to comment on this post or send me a private email letting me know where you guys are at, and after looking at a map, I’ll get back to you with an approximate about when we will be there.
The Wandering Nomads 