I’m quite sure this won’t be the end of articles written about my long-distance cycling trip in local newspapers, but most probably this will be the one and only article written about it in a Brazilian newspaper! And I owe it all to Maiara!

Me and blogger Jens Lüdecke from Overlandtour met on Viking Grace (cruise ship going from Stockholm-Turku) this summer, as I was on my way home from TBEX (Travel Blogger Exchange) and Jens on a blogger trip to visit the Finnish archipelago. We had a nice connection and a week ago Jens published an interview with me on his blog www.overlandtour.de.

Ayllón is a village which lies 140kms North of Madrid. Situated in the province of Segovia, this place is known for its nature and historic buildings, which include churches, monuments and palaces. What’s less known is the history behind the name of the village. That’s why (on the day I flew to Brazil) I was lucky to visit Ayllón with José, who has a very unique relationship to its name. 

If someone told you you could cross Europe for free, while in the meanwhile getting to know local cultures, would you? What if the deal also included meeting wonderful people and seeing places that you just haven’t had the time, money or huge interest to visit? Places that you’d like to see, but for one reason or another, would just never book a plane ticket to go see. Well, good news: you can! As a proof, I went across Europe with strangers.

The anticipation of a flight for me is the anxiety of who will sit next to me on the plane. I don’t particularly enjoy flying per se, but I love imagining the people I meet at the airport and my future travel companion (I guess I’ve watched one American movie too many, but I often think I’ll meet someone I’ll fall madly in love with…and nope, has never happened).

A bicycle really is all you need if you want to meet people in another country (disclaimer: these pics don’t really look like it, do they?). And I’m not saying this solely out of my own experience, but also from the experiences of those who have cycled around the whole world. So, why cycle Latin America? Because A bus or a car is great if you want to go from point A to point B, but a bicycle is what takes you to all those middle places between point A and B.