It's been a while since I had a WarmShowers guest stay at my place, but now that finally normality has returned even to this slow-paced way of traveling the world, I guess it's about time touring cyclists started appearing again. For those who don't know, warmshowers.org is a network for people who like to go on long-distance bike trips to host each other, where they occasionally need a place to stay (that may or may not include a warm shower).
I have met a great number of awesome people both by being hosted on my own bicycle journey, as well as hosting fellow bike travelers here in Mexico City, on their way across the continent. You can check them out in this series. However, all of that was years ago, and then suddenly everything stopped for quite a while. Recently I started getting a few requests, just when I happened to be not at home at the time, until finally I got back into the hosting saddle!
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Stefanie and Niels: On a Very Special Type of Honeymoon
My guests for the last few days was a couple from Belgium, who have recently gotten married, and decided to go on the kind of honeymoon they considered most ideal: traveling around the world on their bicycles. Their logic is simple to follow: the amount of money the average Belgian couple spends on a two-week honeymoon is the equivalent of the average cost of four and a half months of bike traveling, in first-world places like Canada or Europe. (Traveling in the US or Latin America is even more cost efficient!) Since their savings for this dream exceeded this, it was completely feasible for them to be gone for a couple of years.
Picking the Most Spectacular Routes
So they quit their jobs, sold their belongings, geared up for the trip... and were immediately confronted with the lockdown of the 2020 pandemic. After navigating their way through temporary living arrangements and short distance tours in Europe, in the Spring of 2022 they were finally ready to embark on their big journey. It took them northwards through Scandinavia, then via the Faroe Islands and Iceland over to Canada, from where they have been heading South. Far from choosing the easy coastal coastings, they prefer going on adventures: Riding on (and around) the Continental Divide of North America, they visited the most spectacular national parks in the Rocky Mountains. From Utah they skipped over to San Francisco, and rode through California, followed by the Baja California peninsula in Mexico, of course also on the divide.
The End of a Journey? Or Just a Break?
As much as they are enjoying the pleasures and challenges of bike touring, having been gone for so long does take its toll on you, and by now both cyclists are starting to feel it. Most of all, it is their friends and families at home they're missing, including their godchildren, who are growing up without even knowing their godparents. So they have decided to do one more month of cycling in Mexico, before flying back home to Belgium for a while. In their last weeks they want to experience riding through the mountains surrounding Mexico City, including the Pass of Cortes, leading them between our two volcanoes. Finally, they want to cycle from Oaxaca City to the coast, where they are looking forward to a bit of relaxing beach holiday.
An Impressive Online Presence
Not only are Niels and Stefanie eager bike riders, they are also happy to share their experiences in various ways with the online community. Their well-designed website offers a plethora of information, not only on where they've been, and what they've seen on the way, but also on what gear to use, how to prepare for such a journey, and what to expect in the countries they have visited. In other words, if you are interested in going on a long-distance cycling trip, but don't know what you'll need, check out their Roads to Movement page.
I Wanna Go Too!
As it tends to be case, hosting cyclists on their long-distance tours always gets me excited about going on another journey myself. Or I should probably say, continue my trip that I have stopped more than four years ago, just before the Mexican border. Having these wonderful guests stay with me may be the last sign that touring is again an option, so it's only up to me to actually get back onto the bike saddle, and start pedaling again. Thank you Stefanie and Niels for stopping by and inspiring me!
