To be frank, I’m not exactly sure what led me to take
this trip. It kind of just seemed like a good idea, at least better than
anything else I could think of. So why not?
Of course there are a lot of different ways to
travel, but, for me, biking’s the way to go. Yes, it’s slow, it’s raw, it’s
difficult, but it’s also awesomely rewarding. It forces you off the beaten
track and leads you to corners of the world that most people will never see,
even if they want to. There’s really no getting around it, when you can only
travel 50-100 miles a day, you’re destined to get stuck in some strange places
and weird situations. You’re guaranteed to leave your comfort zone, sometimes
way more than you want. I really do think that adventure doesn't exist until
you are completely in a state of discomfort. When you’re truly unnerved, that’s
when things start to get interesting. Adventure is great for adventures sake,
but I think it can also be a pragmatic source of education, on the job training
if you will. So in that way, I have been trying to justify this trip to myself
as an educational endeavor…
I’m not doing this for a cause, a charity, or to
otherwise be portrayed as a Good Samaritan, and I don’t have any sponsors, nor
people that I have accepted donations from; I’m doing this trip completely for
me, by me. You see, I believe that you
always have to have something to look forward to, a goal that you’re working
towards achieving, even if it’s small or trivial. Without an objective, life
can seem cliché and purposeless. For the better part of three years, this trip has
been that goal, my goal. Whenever I’ve been bored, fed up, or feeling like my
life is stalling, I can find meaningfulness in planning my bike trip. Even
right now, I’m writing this post weeks before me departure date, because it
makes me feel productive, like I’m working towards something interesting and
important. Whether or not anyone else thinks this trip is worthwhile, there’s
no denying this trip has provided me with self-motivated ambition. This trip
has become my thing, my challenge, my life.
So to conclude, forget about all the bull shit I just
wrote in the previous paragraphs, and just know that I fundamentally want to
bike across Eurasia for one reason; it sounds like a lot of fun. A job can
wait, a family can wait, but I haven’t really convinced myself that this trip
can wait. I may never again have the physical strength and schedule flexibility
needed to do this. The time is now.
For more information about my thoughts on biking, you can check out my other website, here.
For more information about my thoughts on biking, you can check out my other website, here.
