Well, we’re done. We
arrived back in our hometown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on August 21st,
508 days after we left. We haven’t
tallied the exact amount of mileage yet but it is comfortably over
57,000km. Regarding flat tires, there
were more than I would like to count but Trevor won that race with a total of 93
vs my 73.
The last bit of cycling through Vancouver Island was
pleasant. Sun was out and there were
tonnes of wild blackberry bushes. They
grow like weeds around the island and Vancouver. Funny when we had people approach us and ask
where we started and where we are finishing, we would answer straight up and
say we started in Vancouver and are going to Victoria and then back to
Vancouver. Usually we didn’t tell about
the little in between part right away because people generally ask more
questions after. But some didn’t and
would say something like ‘oh that is a nice little trip, well good luck’.
Since being back I have done a number of media interviews
and it has been a really cool experience.
First there was the newspaper article in the Vancouver Metro, and then
we did a TV news story on Global News.
Then I did a quick segment on the Bill Good Show and if you recall, we
listened to his radio show religiously en route so it was pretty neat for me to
go on the show. I then capped off this
media run by doing a live morning news show at Global TV with news anchor Lynn
Colliar. After the interview she said
some inspiring words to me and that I should seriously write a book. I have thought about that in the past but
never really considered I would do it since there is still more I want to
do. That said, I am now leaning towards
maybe trying to put something together because I think I have a wealth of tips
on how to travel on the dirt cheap! And
plus this world tour was a blast and I recommend it strongly to those who have
thought about doing something similar. Anyway,
with regards to all the media interviews, I plan to put all the links up in the
Media tab I will add soon.
Even with the media attention we received I never thought we
would be recognized out in public. But
that actually happened today at a McDonalds in Abbotsford. We were there with our mom and were immediately
approached by a group of people upon entry.
One of them asked if we cycled there and I was confused. Then she said she saw us on the news and
shook my hand. We were then welcomed by
other people and given thumbs up and just positive vibes. It was quite unexpected! The staff told us our coupons and money weren’t
good there and treated us all to a meal!
I have to say McDonalds was very good to us on this trip with their free
Wi-Fi and $1 any size drinks with unlimited refills. We did that a fair bit in North America.
Now that it is all said and done here is my list of my top
10 countries:
1. Thailand – Warm, cheap, excellent roads with wide shoulders
and a 7-11 every 20-30km. The chocolate
Ovaltine drink was a personal favourite in the land of smiles.
2. Malaysia – A continuation of Thailand but unique in its own
way. Great food. Southeast Asia is just awesome.
3. Australia – Best camping, beautiful sunsets and sunrises,
cheap and delicious milk, new flora and fauna.
Seeing the many koalas along the Great Ocean Road was super cool. Even though I struggled through the
Nullarbor, it was one of the most rewarding sections of this trip. You definitely look back at the tougher times
with fond memories.
4. United States – The most giving nation in the world. So many friendly and kind people who
supported what we were doing. Extreme
weather which wasn’t fun riding through but made for great adventure. The Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Colorado
Rockies, Mount Rushmore, Grand Tetons and Yellowstone provided some of the best
scenery in the trip.
5. Canada – Diverse terrain, wide shoulders, some great Easter
deals when we went coast to coast, lots of wildlife. The Canadian Rockies were the most
scenic.
6. Iran – Very friendly and hospitable people. Almost every day people would approach us and
want to give us something, help us out or take us in for the night. An interesting and vibrant country to cycle
through. Solid camping spots.
7. Chile – Beautiful Lake District, and climbing up Volcano
Villarrica was spectacular. Cycling the
Pan-American Ruta 5 was pretty nice with a continuous hard, wide shoulder.
8. Denmark – Great cycling infrastructure with lots of bicycle
paths. Visiting family was very nice
too.
9. Germany – Plenty of roads to choose from, nice countryside,
Lidl grocery shopping.
10. Uzbekistan – The annoying bureaucracy and rough roads has
now become overshadowed by the delicious, super cheap food. I became fat but the ubiquitous samsas and
the sweets I constantly snacked on made me one happy cyclist. The best pomegranates I have ever tasted were
around Gulistan. There were a number of
interesting cities to explore like Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent. Central Asia in general was very fascinating
to cycle through and a region I would like to return to explore further.
My favourite city to cycle in which is also a country was
Singapore. I assume there is no surprise
here, huh? Real good times with friends
and with the hawker sessions, ice kachangs, bandungs and kaya bread you really
feel like you are in culinary heaven.
My bottom 5:
41. China – Too much chaos for my liking. I like peacefulness and riding through the
country there was constant noise, pollution, and people in my face. Drivers wouldn’t obey traffic signs so it was
a free-for-all most of the time. The
coldness made matters worse. To top
things off I fell off my bicycle in Yunnan leaving me with a hematoma above my
right eye. It was closed shut for a
couple of days and took the better part of a month to fully heal. One good thing though was the red date
milk. They do their milk very well in
China I will give them that.
40. Turkey – It was very hot when we cycled through. Lots of up and down hills. I was harassed and threatened in Ankara by
some dumbass punk. In the East we had to
dodge sticks and stones thrown by young boys and teens who tried to get money
from us. Many dogs would chase us almost
on a daily basis. BIM was good
though.
39. Kosovo – That incident with those young punks in Decan who
wouldn’t leave us alone at the school left me not liking the country very
much.
38. Turkmenistan – Tough slog through the desert with a whole
lot of nothing. Too boring for my liking
after seeing endless road with nothing around for 4 days straight.
37. Argentina – It had the makings of a great country, it could
have easily made the top 5 with its cheap yummy food, in particular dulce de
leche. But this one factor has put it on
the bottom and that is they have no hard shoulders. As such, there was nonstop nerve racking
riding throughout.
Trevor’s top 10 goes as follows:
1. Thailand – It is Thailand, nuff said.
2. Czech Republic – Cherry trees galore, summer started when
cycled through, quite roads.
3. Iran – Interesting country and the people are extremely
friendly and hospitable, really good bread.
4. Australia – Conquering the Nullarbor was rewarding, camping
with kangaroos pretty cool, and Aussies are open to walking around in public
barefoot.
5. United States – Being entertained by southerners and
battling daily storms and southern heat.
The Grand Canyon was a spectacle.
6. Malaysia – Almost as good as Thailand.
7. Austria – Almost as good as Czech Republic.
8. Canada – Only reason it ranks high is because he got to have
his personal mixes which included peanuts, raisins, chocolate chips, and jelly
beans. If it wasn’t for that, Canada
would have dropped big time due to the coldness.
9. Turkmenistan – Camping in the desert and the challenge of
getting through the country within 5 days.
10. Uzbekistan – He was annoyed going through the country but it
has gone way up in his rankings since leaving because of one thing:
samsas. Plus the sugar cube treats and
raisins he picked up from the Siob Bazaar in Samarkand were delicious.
Trevor’s top city was also Singapore and his reason is and I
quote, “Have you been to Singapore?” It
is an efficient and warm city, who could ask for anything more. It is the best of both worlds in that it has
both western and eastern influences.
Trevor’s Bottom 5:
41. New Zealand – The South Island in particular was depressing
and cold with unpredictable weather. It
was also expensive and there were too many broken beer bottles on the road
which most likely slashed and ruined his $85AUD Schwalbe Marathon tire.
40. China – Message to China: You don’t need to constantly spit,
blow snot out your nose and honk your horn.
Also learn how to drive.
39. Turkey – It was great in the west with a BIM in every town
where he could get chocolate hazelnut spread but as we headed east the
pestering kids wouldn’t let him eat his chocolate hazelnut spread in
peace. Plus the young boys in the east
that threw sticks and stones at us were a huge nuisance.
38. Argentina – Would have easily cracked the top 10 had it not
been for the absence of hard shoulders.
So Argentina: if you want to be a top country to cycle in, build hard
shoulders!
37. Kosovo – Wasn’t that bad but there wasn’t much there of
interest. Those punks in Decan were a
piss off too.
I thought after this trip I would be done with the adventure
travel game. But I am not so sure about
that. I would like to keep going if
possible and tick off more adventures in the coming years. Trevor though, might call it a day and really
focus on other things. But never say
never to anything. This adventure had
its ups and downs but on the whole it was an incredible journey that I
obviously do not regret doing and will never forget it. The thing that I will take most from this
trip is the friendliness and kindness of strangers all throughout the
world. I know the first attempt didn’t start
off so great but this successful go sure proved that there are more good people
in this world than bad.
This will be the last post of this blog and if
you were a regular reader or checked in from time to time, I thank you for your
support. It really made the cycling much
easier knowing that there were people following our journey. Until the next adventure, peace out!
Riding down Vancouver Island we passed all this shrimp
along the roadside. Very tempting to
pick up and eat but we didn’t do it. |
Taking a breather in Chemainus, a nice spot on the island
with many cool murals. |
Our first sight of Vancouver! We decided it would be nicer to ride in from
West Vancouver into Downtown Vancouver so we took the ferry over to Horseshoe
Bay from Nanaimo after going down to Victoria. |
Some art that I believe is rather new to Vancouver. |
I guess this would be the official endpoint of the
trip. I wanted to end it somewhere with
a nice view in the back so this is it.
The ever changing skyline in Vancouver really does impress me. |
Or maybe this is the official endpoint. Back where our official start of the first
attempt was: City Hall. |