It’s time for a new adventure…across the Balkans to Italy. Starting in Istanbul, Leighann and Steve meet with only a few bags of clothes and camera gear.
First stop… breakfast and some time chasing pigeons. Then it was down to business! Bikes, gear and everything else needed to get this show on the road. It was definitely tougher than it looked, who would have thought!
After all the gear was ready, it was time to enjoy a bit of Istanbul’s night life with their new local friend Safa before they have to pack the bikes to head off.
Logistically everything was perfect – just pack the bikes and start riding. Oh how they were wrong, if only Isaac Newton was there to comment on what happens when you put all the weight on the back of a bicycle…
After some interesting navigation choices and some spills on the bikes and with a little help from some friendly locals they made it out of Istanbul.
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[Applause] [Applause] [Applause] last year I packed up my life you know into a bag and when to travel the world for a year with no plan no but what care where I was going I just decided that it was time to leave it all behind I’ve always liked the idea of
Just being able to you know buy a one-way ticket to anywhere it’s not an opportunity you get to do in life very often if ever and so I took that opportunity and you know I went to the airport and I bought a ticket the next ticket out of the country and
For me it ended up being Singapore mainly because there’s a 17 flights out of Melbourne a day I think so chances where I was gonna end up in Singapore but you know that’s where I started and I got there and I was like holy crap how
I’m gonna make this work but you know I spent the time when I first got there to work out how to live out of a bag and you know how I was gonna eat and sleep and and just you know step by step I got better at it and now
And now life you know life is on the road I am a nomad and suppose I’m lucky in a way to have this opportunity and you know have a job that I can do remotely and you know be comfortable moving at this pace I know some people
Couldn’t couldn’t live out of a bag for a year or live you know day by day people want structure and routine and plans and maybe I was too I think that you want those things cuz that’s comfortable and you know what’s coming but I think maybe people spend too much
Time thinking about what’s coming and rather than living with what they have right now so I met Steve in Cambodia and came thought to be exact we were both travelling through and I walked into the hostel and there was this guy standing there had a whole crowd of people around him with his
Drone and of course I thought to myself oh yeah whatever it’s just a dress not that cool nothing to be excited about and he invites me over to play with his drum so I was like okay you know why not and flew the drone which was actually pretty sick I got an
Awesome picture then the conversation just carried on throughout the night and we both had talked about wanting to go up to bokor mountain the next day which is a really cool mountain that had old abandoned French architectural buildings from the 1920s so we rented scooters the next day
To go explore which for me is saying a lot considering I completely destroyed my leg and Bali riding a scooter so the next day we went riding up the mountain and come across this old church and this old hotel they’re all unfinished and of course they have no trespassing signs so
What do we do we trespass and it was really exciting just to go in that building and to feel like a kid again and just run around these stairs and just something that had never seen before it was super gleaming that day there were all these clouds and fog over the
Building it’s just perfect perfect scenic setting and of course tourists came through we were worried that they were the police so we’re trying to hide from them in the building it was just it was ridiculous fun and that was really it for Cambodia we both went our separate ways after that when I
Eventually went back back to the states he came through and he found himself in a little bit of trouble and get all new orleans with car skimming and so I wasn’t doing anything at the time I was under contract and was floating around in Naples Florida I
Said you know what screw it man oh I’ll come pick you up and I was originally planning to just take him to Richmond Virginia but I ended up taking them over to Savannah to meet all of my family and then up through Asheville and to Richmond and we just never stopped after
That we just kept going all the way all the way to Canada so and that was 27 days in a car together with someone I really don’t even think I’ve hung out with someone that long period even the boyfriends I’ve had friendships I’ve had I’ve never consistently been with someone
Especially in a vehicle for that long and somehow we we did not kill each other which is absolutely amazing and that’s really where our friendship started So 30 countries and seven continents and one hell of a year later I get back home and you know I just had a bag of stuff that I traveled the world with so home was kind of just another place on my list and I think it was only six weeks I
Was there and I was like how do I leave again I don’t I hadn’t stayed anywhere for longer than maybe a few days for a whole year with the exception of maybe one or two places where I had friends that I’d stayed for you know a week or
So so to be in one spot for six weeks again was kind of constricting and I felt really stuck and I was just ready to go and so while I was away last year I had this crazy idea that I could maybe I could ride a bike across the continent
And the more I thought about it the more I thought yeah this is definitely something I want to do but before this trip I don’t think I’ve ridden a bike more than ten kilometers in one go in my life and so we’ll see how this goes you
Know I’m here I still have no plan don’t know how this is going to work out I’m just gonna take the same sort of reckless abandon I traveled with last year and you know see what happens I’m definitely excited to start adventure you know new countries new people new
Places new challenges new adventure when he came back from Antarctica we were just talking and he was talking about how he wanted to cycle through Eastern Europe and I was just like hell yes man it’s a brilliant idea I’m all about it let me go with you
And so I did Here I am that was that – you got any cooks Lamia chiba-chiba Peter yeah Petit’s thank you I got it me yeah [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] it really wasn’t easy finding bikes in a foreign country there were so many things for us to take into consideration will the components held will the Vice last can they even handle all the way and is it a reliable brand I’d say it
Felt like searching for a needle in a haystack especially in a city that holds over 15 million people let alone a massive language barrier we managed to finally get the bytes fitted and with a few last touch ups we were ready to go And I think I think that’ll pick you something we finally have you we have key thing here we have everything we’re leaving tomorrow we are leaving tomorrow so for one last night let’s enjoy mr. wolf yeah We’ll put him on camera why not oh my god I didn’t like that I can’t work this fast This is fun He’s very okay Kohn’s gone what did this [Laughter] all of that when did he get some beer you know well the big place So here we are today we’re leaving Istanbul all we had to do was Peck the bikes and we could start writing finally it was that easy took quite the effort to get a gear in the bikes they wind up walking the first kilometer oh and one more thing about the packing
Unless you’re trying to do half standing back flip is absolutely no possible reason to put all the weight on the back of the bar lesson learned and yeah they’re taking off the little sketchy the shop corners are a little sketchy people in a little scooter this is the
Sketchiest run I’ve ever read the mats at any moment [Applause] oh there when the probably that’s a guy it’s a spark laughing yeah who might get there by sundown Yeah the traffic was also pretty hectic and a navigation led to a few wrong turns along the way Add a few more spills and we had quite the adventure At least locals more than willing to help you You
1 Comment
I vote for more complications of Steve dropping his bike!!