Travel is boring

I know that sounds like a spoiled brat thing to say, but hear me out. It feels like everyone goes to the same places. They take the same pictures of the same things. They eat at the same places and post the same pictures of the same food on the same social media platforms. There is very little in the way of unique or immersive experiences. Its all just whatever Instagram tells us is a vacation.

With all there is in the world, there has to be something better than the 9 millionth selfie with the Eifel Tower. Right?

My contribution to the millions of pictures of the Eifel Tower. First visit to Paris - November - 2013

For a long time, I thought my travel experiences were not "blog worthy" as I didn't really do all those same things. I mean of course, I went and "saw the sites" - but the majority of my trips were spent doing other things. Not popular things, but stuff I enjoyed.

To give an example, on my second trip to Paris for our Honeymoon (will post about that too! Why not!), we just got bored with the crowds and the hyped up experiences I was trying to follow along with on Social Media, we took a bus out to a typical Parisian neighborhood.

There I found an outdoor market, like a farmer's market almost, where no one spoke much English. With a lot of pointing and smiling, I managed to order some herb roasted baby potatoes, a head of lettuce, a lovely tomato that an elderly woman with a burlap carry bag full of produce picked for me with just a smile and a pat on the arm, some rotisserie chicken (this was before I was vegetarian), and a loaf of fresh bread (this was before my Celiac diagnosis ruined everything).

An image from the market. I didn't take this (photo credit below).

Photo from Pariseastvillage.com - I was too busy being there to take pictures. :)

I loaded this up in my backpack and we walked through the neighborhood till we found a park. Note: there are a lot of parks in Europe. A lot. I got an old bed sheet from a thrift store at some point, and we laid it out in the grass and sat on it eating this simple, amazing food.

Food from an open market in Paris, France - 2014

We watched as the local people enjoyed the surroundings. Children played and bathed (yes bathed) in the stream that ran through the area. There was a group of teenage girls shaving their legs by the little waterfall. We were some of the only tourists in the spot.

Waterfall in the park where teenagers were shaving their legs. Paris, France 2014

There were people playing games, sitting around on blankets, listening to music, making music. There were no less than three artists painting on canvas. There were crusts of baguettes getting picked up by the breeze and birds dashing for the delight.

Just a park in a neighborhood in Paris, France - 2014 - Can you spot the lady painting her toe nails? :)

It was one of the best travel memories I have ever made.

I just felt like I was part of Paris. Just sitting on a thrifted sheet eating this ridiculously amazing picnic lunch. I didn't speak the language, but the experience soaked into me. I really was so immersed I forgot to take pictures of everything. I got a few snaps, but mostly I was too distracted by what I was seeing, feeling, smelling, tasting, hearing, thinking - all my senses were just wound up in the transformative moments I was living.

This has to be what travel is about. Transformative experience.

A Blog about Immersive, Sustainable, Travel on a Bike

Thus enter this blog. In many ways this is for me. I want to remember the trips I have taken. The idea, of course, is to make them as memorable as possible, but time is an erosive force in all our lives. I know I will remember moments, but I want to remember all of it.

I also want to encourage creativity in traveling for myself and others. I hope that my small voice can help a couple people choose to do something off the beaten path. I want to find ways to experience the world without contributing to over tourism and pollution. Writing about these things helps keep me on the right path. Accountability if you will.

I invite you to join us as we cycle around Europe and who knows, maybe the world :) I promise it won't all be instagramable but it will be amazing! We are not professionals at this, in fact we are new to cycling in general, so I expect that we will make mistakes and have completely hilarious disasters. All the more memories and ways to help your trip go a bit better by avoiding our blunders!

Travel is boring, adventure is not!

So, why cycling?

Cycling was not always the plan. I have always hiked and walked. Even before moving to Scotland when I lived in the states, I would attempt to get out every weekend and hike. Of course, in the US you have to get in your car and go drive somewhere to hike and often bike. I spent a lot of time doing that.

When we immigrated to Scotland (another post), I gave up my car and never looked back. Public transport is amazing here and you can walk anywhere. And walk everywhere we did! I walked about 90 miles a week. No matter the reason we were out, it was walking to a bus or a train or directly to my destination. It was/is amazing. Every weekend, we would spend Saturday walking 18 miles to Edinburgh along the Union Canal stopping at an incredible Japanese Korean eatery just off the Meadows, called Cafe Andamiro, and taking the train or bus back.

Then something happened. About a year into living this lifestyle, my feet started to hurt. I ignored it thinking they were just complaining about the use. This went on for a couple months. If only I knew what I know now, I might of been able to save myself. That new pain was not just sore feet. It was plantar fasciitis.

Being that I ignored the signs and kept walking, I basically injured myself. Its been nearly a year since that happened at the time of writing this, and its still not better. That whole story is for yet another post, but the reason we cycle is because I am permanently injured and so cycling is my new mode of transport. Plus its cool.