180 Days and Counting

“I travel a lot; I hate having my life disrupted by routine.”

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My tent has turned into my home, my bike into my best friend, and the world into my playground. I have no deadlines to keep or appointments to make. No stress or frustration to deal with. And my hardest daily decision typically involves picking what type of noodles I feel like making. I am living in an alternate universe, in a world where nothing can take me by surprise. I live in a world where seeing an enormous yak meander down the street, sleeping in a small stone hut with a tarp for a roof, and showering in a river seems perfectly normal… because it is. For the last 180 days I have been living the life of my dreams, cycling through the unknown on a quest to live and experience life around the world.

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Date A Girl Who Travels

“Maybe some women aren’t meant to be tamed, maybe they’re supposed to run wild until they find someone, just as wild, to run with.”

Date a girl who knows that time is more important than money, that experiences are more precious than things. Date a girl who knows the difference between a tourist and a traveler, and always choses to be the latter. Date a girl who reads instead of watches TV, who spends the night writing in a journal instead of texting. Date a girl who realizes that age is just a number, that simplicity is the key to happiness, and that life is meant to be enjoyed. Date a girl who buys the one way, not round-trip ticket, as she knows her travels are bound to last years, not weeks, passing through continents, not just cities. Date a girl who travels, a girl who sees the world as her playground and her life as an adventure.

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What Cyclist Discuss

“Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told to.”

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During my few weeks in Pokhara I was lucky enough to meet other cyclists, who, like me, are doing world tours. There were two couples (both Swiss) and a single Swiss man, all in their thirties, who have been on the road for varying amounts of time (one and a half to three years). The six of us hung out on multiple occasions, and even celebrated Christmas together. There seems to be an automatic bond between us cyclists as we are living the same lifestyle and can compare stories and anecdotes that “normal” people just wouldn’t understand. After the third or fourth evening together I realized that our conversations were quite different than those I have with other people, so I decided to share what an outing between cyclists looks like.

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A Little Bit of Camping

“Travel is not really about leaving our homes, but leaving our habits.”

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After a week off I was itching to get back on my bike. As the Swiss cycling couple I had been hanging out with had invited me for Christmas dinner in Pokhara, and I still had three weeks to go, I decided to set off with absolutely no plan through what I hoped were small mountain roads. I wanted to just get out, hopefully gain a bit of elevation and bring myself closer to the snow covered peaks, and most importantly, camp. Though lately I have been opting for the cheap guest houses rather than pitching my tent, I have missed the tranquility of camping and could not wait to curl up in my sleeping bag everyday.

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Cyclists Unite

“Life will just not wait for us to live it: We are in it, now, and now is the time to live.”

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By far the best part about my week long vacation in Pokhara, a very touristy town in central Nepal, was the fact that I met other cyclists like myself. My favorite cyclists, who I quickly befriended and spent every day and evening with, are a Swiss couple in their thirties who have been on the road for a year and a half from Switzerland to here. They are now taking a two month break (in which time their families will come join them), before they set out again to a still unknown destination. Talking with them about different places they have cycled through, including some of their favorites, the Balkans, Turkey, and Iran, has made me change my route as well (though that is a whole other story for a post later on). Another part that I enjoyed, and probably needed, was to meet someone else who understood. They know what it is like to be living out of your tent, camping wherever there is flat ground. They too have done home stays thought their journey. And most importantly, they understood just how difficult India was. After my frustration with India, with the men, but also just with the constant attention, it was great to hear how they too experienced the same thing, and how it drove them insane as well. No matter how well I explain the feeling, no one else will understand these things unless they too have lived through it, which they have.

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A Few More Cultural Differences

“Dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go; be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do.”

India and Nepal are very similar. Many of the differences I have previously pointed out – eating with your hands, squatting, no personal space, burping and spitting… – are the same in Nepal. Here are a few more (that apply to India as well) to add to the growing list.

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Into the Foothills: 5165km

“Live your dream and share your passion.”

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Just before heading into the mountains I did two different home stays. First, I stayed with a family who invited me in after I bought oranges from them. There were five children in the family, plus a cousin or two who seemed to live there as well, making for a busy household. They described themselves as Nepali middle class (everyone is very aware here where they stand in society), and though they don’t have much money to spare, all of the children attend (or attended) a private English medium school in order to ensure a future for them. The three girls did everything, the laundry, cleaning, cooking, and running the small fruit stand they owned. The two boys on the other hand just got to run around and play all day. I definitely think they got the better deal! I then stayed with one of their neighbors, a wealthier family who was very nice and made me feel at home without it being overwhelming.

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In A Day: The Nepali Valley

“There are dreamers and there are doers, but what the world needs are dreamers that do.”

Everyday is different. Sometimes I cycle all day, while other days I will only do a few hours in order to spend the rest of the day doing something else. And somedays, I don’t cycle at all. Weather also plays a large role. If it is hot for instance, I do most of my kilometers in the morning, whereas in the mountains it is hard to get motivated at six when it is still below freezing out. That being said, everyday is pretty similar in many ways too, so I have decided to show you what a “typical” day of cycling looks like for me in the Nepali valley.

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