After Jeremy took me on my first bike tour from Boston to the White Mountains of New Hampshire back in August 2020, I was completely hooked, but after a year of Zoom school in 2020-2021, I got serious about it. Over the summer of 2021, I spent six weeks backpacking on the Pacific Crest Trail, followed by an eight-week bike tour across the American West.
I loved traveling in a group, but I was also craving some solo travel. So for two weeks in early winter 2022-2023, I cycled on my own from New Orleans, Louisiana to Nashville, Tennessee, along the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi. Along the way, I experienced quintessential Southern Hospitality and learned to love a part of the country that’s often stigmatized and stereotyped where I come from in the Northeast.
I think bike touring is a perfect pace of travel, and is unique in its ability to introduce you to new people and cultures. I’m excited for this trip and the highs and lows along the way!
My first bicycle adventure was in 2019 when my friend Shalom and I decided to spent three weeks riding across Italy. At the time, we didn’t know anything about this style of travel - in fact, we thought we might have invented it!
Since then, I’ve ridden over 5,000 miles on bike trips throughout North America, one of which was over 3 months long. However, ever since I finished that first trip across Italy, I’ve dreamed of taking the “big trip,” - the trip I quit my job and move out of my apartment for, the trip I don’t buy return flights for until I feel ready to come home, the trip where I just… “go!”Luckily, this quickly became a shared dream with Penina, and we decided to cycle from Portugal to Vietnam together!
During this trip, I am conducting a photography project about the people and places we encounter. I plan on turning this into a book and publishing it after the trip.