Questions and Answers with a Greek Web Site about the Around the World Bicycle Tour and Nomadic Travel Lifestyle.
June 12th, 2009 by downtheroad and tagged around the world, bicycle, bicycle touring, bike, bike touring, cycling, touring, touring bicycle, travel1. Would you change your life for a lot of money and a big house?
We already gave up a lot of money and the opportunity to buy a bigger house to take this trip so these material things can not tempt us again. Before we left we both had good jobs and could have bought many nice things but instead we chose to travel the rest of our lives. Because we can always go back to our old lifestyle of money and material possessions we choose a nomadic life on our bicycles everyday. A big house and income only requires a bike ride to the nearest airport, slap down the credit card, and a flight home to Arizona but we will never go back. Seeing the world is the biggest house and freedom is the greatest wealth.
2. What keeps you going?
The opportunity to continuously see new things, meet new people, and to learn and grow everyday is what keeps us moving down the road.
3. Have you ever been to Greece?
Cindie has been to Greece but not on a bike and Tim has not been anywhere in Europe. It doesn’t really count as visiting a beautiful place like Greece until we have ridden a bike across it. Bicycle Touring is such a deeper level of travel end emersion into the culture. We would love to visit Greece and the rest of Europe some day and plan to, maybe several times, before this trip is over. The biggest obstacle to a European/Greek tour is the sinking US dollar and the strong Euro. Our day will come and we promise to visit. Any suggestions?
4. When do you get to write your books? On the road?
We do most of our writing during bad weather while we are confined to our tent with the computer on battery power. The editing and other work involved with publishing our books is mostly done while we are on 2 – 3 month breaks about every 18 months of travel. Tim made a short video describing how we work on our books linked to below.
http://www.revver.com/video/1449032/where-do-you-work-and-write-as-you-bicycle-tour-abroad-or-travel-overseas-while-working-on-the-road/
5. Do you have any other plans?
We plan to continue touring the world for the next 20+ years on bicycles then we will see what happens. When we are to old to travel on bicycles we will buy an old RV (caravan) and travel around North America the easy way. Tim made a video from a radio interview where this question is also answered
http://www.revver.com/video/1434441/retiring-from-many-years-of-travel-and-bicycle-touring/
6. Do you miss your friends or family?
Yes, but we never lived close to our families before we left. Now we get to visit more often and for longer periods of time. Our circle of friends has expanded to many parts of the world and they are all loved, missed, and revisited in due time.
7. Would you settle down one day?
We can not picture living in one place and setting down roots right now but eventually we will grow too old to travel and return to our (now rented) house in the mountains of Arizona, USA
8.Did you change as persons during your travel?
Obviously, traveling this many years is having profound affects on us but not in ways many would think. These changes are not static but instead happening slowly, as we experience more of the world and constantly reevaluate our values. Peering deep into ourselves is the true journey instead of the superficial line we draw on a map.
When we were on temporary trips the simplicity and freedom of a bike tour was a vacation from our regular lives of working, and surviving the rat race. Looking back at the years leading up to our departure we wonder how we juggled all the complexities of modern life. There were bills to mail, cars to fix, schedules to keep, bosses to impress, and a million other things to get done before the end of the day, month, or year. We used to say, “There aren’t enough hours in a day to do all the things that need to get done.” Now we have far less things to worry about and feel like we have all day to see what will come our way. After several years of living a simple life on bikes with our possessions being limited to what can be carried we have evolved into a very simplistic yet open minded way of looking at life. Everything is beautiful in its own basic way and the great weight of worry and stress has been lifted from our shoulders. We are free to explore, learn, and drift.
Before this trip we needlessly complicated the world around us by over analyzing everything until we found faults and became angry. Traveling has caused us to make peace with our surroundings. For example, in our own country, instead of seeing good and bad politicians and political parties we see a democracy and a healthy debate. Instead of seeing National Parks that need infrastructure upgrades we see pristine mountains. Obviously if everyone were like us nothing would get done but we have never wanted everyone to be like us. This is our dream and our reality; we have made it as painless as possible.
Another big change we have noticed is our growing freedom from “want.” During the years on the road, visiting rich and poor alike, the idea of “I want” will never be the same. We used to walk through stores and fight the urge to buy all the things we thought we wanted with that little piece of plastic in our pocket that promised immediate gratification. It was stressful to want something, ponder the consequences, and use restraint to deny the purchase or, give in to our desires and buy it and often feel guilty later. So many people in this world live on a fraction of what citizens of developed countries consider the bare essentials and yet find far more happiness in their lives. The most content people we have met in our travels all have a clear sense of the difference between want and need. After riding in their countries and staying in their houses we have learned to open our minds to new perspectives.
The answer is not to make or borrow more money in order to have more possessions because acquiring material things will never satisfy wanting more. There will always be something else to want. The secret to happiness is to be content with what you have and not want things you can not afford. It is much more fulfilling to feel fortunate when your work has earned enough to cover all your real needs and have something left over for extras. It is a shift in perception from agonizing over wanting something like a new TV to being excited when the household’s finances have gone so well that you can have something extra. The TV is no longer wanted every time it is passed in the store but rather an unexpected reward for a job well done.
This many years on the road have taught Cindie and me to throw away the big list of things we would like to own and be content with what we have. We now find happiness in the simple pleasures of life and don’t seek our identities in the things we own. It sounds so simple and idealistic but the results have been monumental.
9. Has anyone tried to follow you on your trips?
Many thousands of people follow our trip every day on our web site www.DownTheRoad.org and a few have rode with us for a few days to a few weeks at a time. Most of the time it is just the two of us. All are welcome to ride and camp with us but it is a hard life and few stick around.
10. As a couple do you stick to each other because of what you’ve seen and done together?
This trip with all the good, bad, and crazy experiences has drawn us closer as a couple. We have gone through it all together and survived because we are committed to each other. We have learned to work together as a team to overcome the endless challenges that we face.
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