Burning Questions

Frequently asked questions about our trip

Which countries are you going through?
See previous entry, although since Dgym got back from a weekend in Bratislava we've added Slovakia to the list. It wasn't far off our original route, and it sounds really nice.


Are you going to camp?
If we have to. We're bringing tents, sleeping bags and associated paraphernalia, so we can. However, one of us is a little more keen on camping than the other - I'll let you guess which is which :) Camping is cheap, and if we're buying and carrying the kit, we may as well get lots of use out of it (dgym: I disagree, I don't try and get as much use as possible out of a fire extinguisher, camping gear is for emergencies). On the other hand, there is the need for comfort after a hard day's cycling, and to recharge our laptops as well as our legs. It'll probably just depend on what we feel like doing.


What, on a pushbike? Not one with a motor?
A solar-powered vehicle would be nice, all donations welcome. But as for petrol power, we're more the eco-friendly kind of hippie - no crawling down the motorway belching smoke from a psychedelic VW van stuck in first gear for us.


Can you speak any other languages?
A fair bit of French, a little bit of German (ich habe keine kasekuchen), a couple of words in Spanish, and not much else.


What made you want to do this?
It started with a combination of "We're sick of England, it's expensive and overcrowded. We could sell our house now and use the profit to buy a nice house abroad without needing a mortgage" and "Programming jobs in the UK suck. You have to either live in London, commute into London, or put up with a really pants job outside of London. We're both bright programmers, if only we had the opportunity to work on our own projects" and a little of Hel thinking "Ooh, I'm all itchy for some travelling, and my poor touring bike has never really been touring (OK, so my racing bike has never raced, and my mountain bike has only been out four times, none of which were even within sight of any mountains).

Full time jobs don't leave much time for traveling around and checking out countries for potential emigration. So we decided to ditch everything and just do it. It's not as radical as it sounds - we were planning on selling the house at some point, and neither of us were particularly enamoured with our jobs - even so, it took a while (for me at least) to realise that the house and job are things that are supposed to help us, not make us feel trapped. (At least not until there are kids to make you feel trapped properly!) It also took a little persuasion from Dgym in the form of "Let's cycle it". That was easy.


Have you been training?
Er, not really. Read about Anne Mustoe, a former headmistress who cycled around the world. She hadn't cycled in 30 years, yet she just got on her bike and did it, getting fitter as she went along. We're not quite that out of practice - I've been using a bike on various commutes for about five years and even Dgym has been known to ride occasionally. We'll try to do a few more rides before we leave. But there's no rush, so we'll just pick it up as we go along.


So, when are you leaving?
Alright, alright... we know where we're not wanted. We've just been informed that Dgym's getting his trike on Friday. So with any luck, and a bit of organisation, we'll get going next Friday.


I'm so jealous! Can I come along?
If you can keep up...