The generosity of people
It is not always easy to knock on random people’s doors and ask if we can pitch a tent in their garden… You have to overcome yourself to show your vulnerability, and fear of failure and you must trust human kindness. Humans are amazing! Full of love, empathy and compassion.So far we have not only stayed on farms but at many different places and met many different people. It’s one of those cliches that bike travellers often mention but they are very right. The random and not-so-random encounters with people is what make our journey so special.
The people we have met so far in Germany, Austria and Croatia have welcomed us to their houses and made us feel at home, feeding us over great conversations and providing us with moral support. We are so grateful to have had this experience and could not have wished for a better one!
In Germany, we were lucky as we knew quite some friends and family members to stay at. We also met some new people like Emil in Xanten on day two of our trip. A few days later we made use of WarmShower an app where you can meet fellow cyclists and can stay at their homes. Through this app we met with Ralph and Maike in Bingen Dromersheim, We also met Christopher and his mother in Deining. Germany marked the start of our trip and the experiences that we got through the people we met there gave us a lot of energy to begin our journey!
In Austria, we had some difficulties finding wild camp spots due to the huge amount of privatized land. So we had to gather all the courage to just ask whether we could stay at people’s houses. We discovered the true generosity of people. Such as Helga and Christian who live near Linz and Elisabeth and her family who we have randomly met. We have also used the WarmShower app two more times and met David in Vienna and Manuel in Feldbach.
On the first day in Croatia, we were invited to a birthday party by the family members of Manuel. Yes, the same Manuel that we met in Feldbach, Austria. What a small world right? We also got to meet Dario through Manuel who welcomed us warmly. We stayed for a few days with Kruno who lives near Sisak and who is working on building a house from all-natural and local materials. We also met a very cool, motorcyclist from Norway who we had a wonderful conversation with. Then on the way to the Croatian mountains in the heat of the day we met Jelena who offered us Byrek and something to drink in her garden. Later that day, we pitched a tent in the garden and the owners made us dinner, woke up at 5 a.m to make us breakfast and gave us a package for lunch! Can you imagine this level of kindness???It is a joy to live in a world full of people. All it takes is the courage to say hello…We are extremely grateful for all the encounters we have had so far and are looking forward to the future ones!
Wishes from Tirana, Albania!
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Lukas & Aisha