“It always rains on tents. Rainstorms will travel thousands of miles, against prevailing winds for the opportunity to rain on a tent.”
What happens when it rains? Well, you put on your rain gear and just keep pedaling. And in all honesty, it’s not that bad cycling in the rain – sometimes it’s even a lot of fun! But the camping? Well… That’s a whole different story.
“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”
Yesterday when I asked for input about how I could improve my blog, the comment which made me think the most was from a German girl I met a few years ago in South America. She told me (very kindly) that sometimes my posts could be frustrating because it seemed to her that the only way to happiness in my eyes was my way – cycling around the world – and that sometimes it irritated her because she was happy with her life even though she isn’t currently traveling. And I couldn’t agree more. Happiness, success, and dreams are all extremely personal journeys and I certainly don’t think that everyone should begin living their life as I do (though, if you are at all tempted, feel free!).
That’s right, this time it’s your turn to talk. Though I tried to do a survey a few weeks back, I somehow didn’t add the little buttons people have to press to answer the questions so I took it down after I realized it hadn’t worked. So I’m trying again, without the survey part. What would you guys like to see? This blog is for you, so help me out!
Why do you read my blog? Do you like the cultural stories I share, the photos of mountains, the cycling and gear posts, or the posts about how travel changes you and how to travel as two? Do you like posts which motivate you to travel, which teach you how to live with less money, or which share different cultures through homestays and cultural exchanges? What would you like to hear more about, and what would you like less of? This blog is for you! I know everything that has happened and don’t need to read about my own ideas, so if there is something you want to see/learn more about through my eyes, this is your time to speak out!
Also, a huge thank you to everyone who has supported me so far along my journey. This blog, which started out with a whole five followers (four of whom were family) now has over 1,200 “email followers!”
“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.”
I am where I am today because my parents let me lead the way to the milk store fifteen minutes away from our house, so that by the time I was ten, I could go there on my own. I am comfortable in my ability to travel because my parents always made my brother and I walk in front of them through every terminal so that by twelve, they had enough confidence in me to let me fly alone, unaccompanied, to visit friends in a neighboring state. I felt no qualms about leaving to backpack through South America alone at eighteen because my parents had prepared me by showing me through their examples – from how to do my homework to how to run the dishwasher – before expecting me to compete these tasks by myself. If I ever needed help, of course I could ask for it, and if I ever felt scared, of course it wasn’t forced, but by expecting me to do certain tasks by myself when they felt they had given me the necessary tools, I was able become the self-reliant and independent person I am today.
“On the loose to climb a mountain, on the loose where I am free. On the loose to live my life, the way I think my life should be.”
Since I have already spoken about the wonderful region of Sveneti, here are some beautiful pictures from just two days of riding through the area.
“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”
After the rocky pass we ended up straight away in the first village in Sveneti, the most popular mountainous region in Georgia. The 2,100m high town claims to be the highest inhabited village in Europe (which seems funny after visiting towns over 4,300m in the Himalayas), but what makes it truly spectacular is the beautiful glacier covered mountain right next door, and the 1,000 year old stone towers which are still standing tall.
“I love the feeling of being anonymous in a city I have never been before.”
What constitutes the perfect pass? A paved gradual incline without much traffic, and two friendly Georgians waiting at the top to give you a handful of grapes. Needles to say, by the time we completed a short downhill to the lake below, we were in very high spirits.
“When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.”
After we set out from Tblisi we hit a very different sort of desert/arid landscape which proved to be quite pleasant because we opted for the small country roads instead of the scary highway nearby.
“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.”
The hostel we worked at in Tblisi brought me back to my time backpacking through South America few years ago. Unlike the more elegant guest house we worked at when we first arrived in Georgia, this large and busy hostel was filled with the younger “backpacker” type rather than the 40+ year old two-week vacationers. Though Kevin immediately labeled the place as “too hippy” (possibly because we had to take off our shoes at the entrance or because the person working there had flaming red hair and liked to juggle) we both quickly found it to be a wonderful place to meet like-minded travelers (including a hitchhiking solo female and two other cycle tourists) and cook a whole lot of food in a kitchen.
“Half the fun of the travel is the aesthetic of lostness.”
Coming into Tblisi was downright frightening. It wasn’t the four lanes of fast moving traffic which caused us to panic as you may expect, but rather the cars which were zooming on and off the highway at each and every exit. When people find out that I cycled across India, a country notorious for its chaotic and ruthless roads, they inevitably exclaim something to the effect of, “but the roads are so busy and dangerous there” which I now find amusing because in reality cycling in India, or in any developing country for that matter, is actually a whole lot easier and safer than in North America or Europe.
The Wandering Nomads 