Frozen lakes, memorable encounters, and personal moments. Traveling across Europe on two wheels

We were on our honeymoon in Norway by car when saw an older guy on his bike pedaling up a pass in 4 degrees in the wind and rain. We slowly passed him in our warm car, looked at each other and both thought, "This feels kind of wrong, doesn't it?" This guy is rocking it and we're sat here all relaxed and composed in the comfort of our vehicle. We're still young and active - we should try something like this!

We'd been planning a trip around the world for half a year, but this experience gave us the idea to do something by bike, and if not now, then when? Traveling by bike brings you so much closer to the people and the culture, plus it's the perfect speed for us.

Basically, there aren't that many places here in Europe that you can consider truly lonely, as there are people living everywhere. We thought we'd find it once we arrived in Finland, but even that wasn't the case. Southern Finland at least has houses and supermarkets every few kilometers. We'd probably say Lapland has been the loneliest place so far. 

We've just come to the end of the season and all the skiers have gone home, so it's really dead. And as spring here really isn't actually warm, as you might expect, there are hardly any tourists in the area. There are also very few towns here, and so you often find yourself cycling through kilometers of forest and fjell... and even over frozen lakes! That was really a crazy feeling!

On average, we do 76 kilometers and 500 meters of altitude, and ride a little over 5 hours each day. For us, it doesn't feel that fast and we also like to take very long breaks: two or three hour-long stops for coffee, just to admire the landscape.

It was a bit harder at the beginning when the days were shorter, but now we're getting up to 18 hours of daylight, it's really relaxed. And since Poland, there's been hardly any altitude difference. We encountered the most hills in Croatia, Greece, and along the Albanian coastline - and of course, that's when you also notice every kilo, but that makes the descents all the more satisfying. 

Where to even start! The best moments have been when we've met other bike travelers. For example, we once met someone who had a cat with him, and here, in Scandinavia, we keep meeting up with the same cyclist again and again - and sometimes travel a little bit with him. It's always awesome to have such encounters as we're all sharing a common experience, and these people can understand the same highs and lows that we feel.

For us, the bad times have often gone on to turn into really great experiences.  We had 12 days of rain in Albania, for example, and were struggling to find a place to sleep, but then a hotel owner let us stay in his bungalow for free. These situations have not been uncommon: terrible to start with but then turning out to be really great. It makes the overall experience more intense. 

It's hard to say which were the most beautiful stages of the route, as almost all of them had their own charm somehow, but if we had to decide, we'd probably say Crete and Finland.

For bike travelers, I don't think we prepared well at all, both in terms of factoring in different currencies and roaming charges or managing our fitness. I mean, we were fit before, but hardly ardent cyclists. It's best to just go for it and let the journey itself be your training. If you're not yet feeling fit, then you just do 30 or 50  kilometers at the beginning and handle things as you go. What we prepared the most was our equipment. We spent a lot of time getting this right, because your equipment is key to having a good experience, especially when you're dealing with extreme temperature fluctuations.

Planning itself was first to know which countries we wanted to go through. We had actually planned to avoid the winter, so we started in the south, but yeah, here we are sitting in the snow. After roughly working out the geography and weather we then asked ourselves which sights and parts of the individual countries we wanted to see. Then you have to also try to plan individual days, but you just can't know in the morning where you'll end up come the evening. It depends on so many different factors (headwinds, spontaneous stops, longer lunch breaks). We just open Outdooractive in the morning, and look at the cycling trail network, but first plan with the activity "road bike", because this way we get on the road faster. If we then find that the road is too busy, we switch to long-distance cycle route planning and opt for bike paths and side roads. It's been a super experience and we've been very pleasantly surprised by how well it's all worked. You can also search for huts on the way and enter them as a waypoint.

Simon: I actually brought my travel guitar with me. Others wouldn't bother, but I personally consider it a necessity, but that's probably also because I earn money playing music at home. I'm in a band and we perform at weddings, birthdays, and events. We have a couple of gigs lined up when we get back and I have to keep my fingers nimble and stay in practice. 

Deborah: I took way too many clothes with me. I sent some things back home with a friend while in Turkey and then in Bulgaria I sent another round of things back. It's all been more balanced since then. Regarding Simon's guitar, I think it's worth it, because it makes a really nice atmosphere in the evening, especially if you have a campfire going. Everyone has that one "useless" item, like a drone perhaps. 

Our bikes alone weigh 16 kilos and with luggage on top they weigh around 30 kilos. When it came to food, we were extremely hungry at the beginning without any experience, because we didn't want to starve (a problem for all long-distance cyclists). But we got away from that quite quickly and now buy fresh food every day. That also saves a lot of weight.

On the subject of showers: this is completely overrated...In southern Europe we used to bathe in the sea, but now we clean ourselves like cats: a quick wash and go! Once we 'washed' in the snow. It works, provided you dry yourself in front of the fire.

We rarely sleep in accommodations.  So far, this has only happened nine times. There, of course, we enjoy the shower all the more. It's crazy how such little things gain a new appreciation.

In terms of the local people, we'd definitely say Albania. They were incredibly friendly and open-minded. They were always so enthusiastic to speak to us and we've even had dinner invitations. For scenery, it would be Finland, because we are huge fans of Scnadinavia. We even saw reindeer and moose tracks. Greece and Turkey were also incredibly beautiful. The sea, the mountains...

The difficult times have often been weather related. A headwind is one of the worst things because you can't keep going and you waste a lot of energy. Persistent rain is also exhausting and wet weather makes you cold.

We learned that you have to hang on and keep going because this too will end. Focus on the simple things: the encounters, the breathtaking nature along the way.

Even with time management, you gradually become more relaxed. You learn that you always end up finding a place to sleep and that the weather gets better one day or another. Then we learned that a lot of things happen in the head. The approach is crucial. 

The secret is to accept the worst, because when things get better, everything gets even better. Just like back in Albania...