The idea of travelling long-term started as a ‘what if?’ daydream but became louder and louder in our heads.  We wanted to travel for six months to a year at least, the biggest debates being money, stuff and time.  We had an apartment full of 7 years of our lives being entwined, from the modular couch we agonised over at a furniture super centre, to the TV we had debated size vs. living room space, to the photos loving printed and stuck on the walls.  Would we be able to give up our possessions?  The constant debate on how much we would need for the trip, and how much we would need for re-entry was at the forefront.  The budget affected which countries we wanted to visit, and how long we could travel for.

Scouring the net searching for budget travel I came across bike touring – self-contained travelling through countries, travelling slowly, simply and cheaply –  that was it!  What was our biggest cost of travelling? Accommodation.  What’s the cheapest form of accommodation? Camping.  How do we go camping on our own steam? Bikes.  But wait – why would we want to leave our comfortable, beautiful lifestyle, full of items and amenities?  It was the thought of one word…

Adventure

A lot of thought, debate, conversation, reading and researching went into the decision to leave our current lifestyle to travel.  A lot of thought, debate, conversation, reading and research will continue as we make our way through. Great budget and bike touring articles like the selection below, helped our confidence on the choice of bike touring:

The Cost of Touring – by Travelling Two

How to Bike Tour and Travel on a Cheap Budget – by Peter Van Glabbeek & Stephane Marchiori on CycloCamping

Budget Travel by Bike: How You Can Do It for $14 Per Day – by Jennifer Miller on BootsnAll

Europe (and the world) on 5 Euros (US$6.73) a Day – By Peter Ehresmann on Fueled by Rice

Looking forward to updating you on our trip, the countdown is on!