Location: Czech Republic
Km on the clock: 1,390

Just a few kilometers after entering Czech Republic I made my first 1.000 kilometers on this journey. It took me only two weeks of time. I know I could have been way faster but since I stayed in Hamburg, Berlin and Dresden for a few nights I was happy to be here by now. It’s was the second time ever in my life that I cycled that far. Two years earlier I cycled the length Germany on my old mountain bike. It also took me two weeks but it would have been way longer if I had stayed in the cities for a couple of days like I do now. Additionally, I had to keep moving every day to be back at work on time.

This time is very different! I basically have unlimited time which makes this trip way more enjoyable and I got another bicycle which is more made for bicycle touring. I really had no idea before that there are such big differences in sense of bikes. Reaching the 1.000 kilometers mark I thought: I wish I had that bike already two years ago. That would have done my life so much easier. But at that time I just took all the equipment that I already had and just head off. That's basically what I also did in preparation of this trip - besides the bicycle.

Just the next day I made it into Prague where I stayed for a few nights. Prague was the first place on this trip that I was really excited about to visit. I was here before and always liked it. As soon I got connected to some free Wi-Fi I booked the cheapest hostel that I could find. Getting there was quite a challenge because the address provided by the website wasn't correct. Fortunately the host picked up the phone right away when I gave her a call and sent me the directions via text message.

I met Matt from the U.S. at the hostel. He's also a long term traveler and we clicked right away. So we spent the evening's together and explored Prague's nightlife. Throughout the days I mainly did sightseeing which included lots of walking. At times I found it even more exhausting than cycling the days before. :D

Although Prague is such a touristy and crowded place, I enjoyed every moment - especially walking alongside Vltava River and discovering the markets. But the best thing about this city are probably the street artist. They're just everywhere and it's a lot of fun to watch their performances. Here I liked the buskers most.

The day I left Prague I made it almost to the city of Votice. It was a hot and partly rainy day. So I had to put on and off my rain clothes numerous times. Although I didn't get wet from the rain I got wet by my sweat anyways. Sometimes I was even wondering about the sense of putting those clothes on and off all the time.

I followed the cycling trail signs between Votice and Tabor which turned out as the hardest ride that I ever did in my life so far. All the time it was only going up and downhill. To be honest, going downhill is a lot of fun! At one point I even reached a speed of over 54 kilometer per hour. However, going uphill with a gradient of up to seven percent isn't that much fun. Especially with a fully loaded bicycle and if it feels like hours reaching the top. At times I made my way up the hills with an enormous speed of not even 7 kilometers per hour. As I reached another top of many that day I didn't even know if I should laugh or cry. I was just so happy that I made it up but at the same time I was already so exhausted and I could already see the next steep hill which made me want to cry. I rolled down the hill and tackled the next one.

That day I made only 70 kilometers - usually it's 80-100 - but I was more exhausted than any other day before. It took me one more day to leave Czech Republic and make it into Austria.

If you enjoy reading this blog then please support my fundraising campaign to equip two school class rooms in Darfur, Sudan. Cheers!

Location: Nova Bystrice
Km on the clock: 998

The day started with a little disappointment. I just entered the small town of Nauen and stopped at a supermarket to buy some snacks for the day. I took of the handlebar pannier and the little bicycle computer off the bike before I entered the store - as I always do. Apparently I pressed one button of the computer for too long and reseted it through that. Shit! I'm such an idiot. I must have had 625 kilometers on the clock by then - probably even a little bit more. While sitting outside the store and having a little picnic I thought: Does that mean I've to start over? It still counts right? Oh well, seems like from now on I've always to add those kilometers. :D

I arrived Berlin sometime in the evening the same day. I brought a bottle of wine as a gift which my friend Vivian and I had for dinner as we were catching up about what happened in our lives over the past few years.

I spent the next day with some sightseeing. I felt good to be in the capital again. It's been already a while since I've been here. There's so much history around here so that someone could stay here basically forever to explore it all. However, I left Berlin already the next day being excited to keep going to Czech Republic and its capital Prague.

and I pedaled for three days through the southern part of Brandenburg and Saxony until I entered Dresden. One night I pitched my tent at the Inline-Skate-Bahn in Brandenburg. It provides broad cycling lanes and the tarmac of most parts is like new or is about to get renewed. It's just great fun to ride around there. While I was setting up my tent I heard some noise in the bushes nearby - maybe 15 meters away from me. I walked towards it to take a closer look and discovered a big fat wild hog. It ran immediately away when it scented me. I thought: Oh great...at least this time I know what kind of animals are around me at nights and as long it doesn't try to get into my tent while I'm sleeping then everything is cool!

The two days in Dresden went by really quick. I stayed at a hostel in the Neustadt. Lots of other travelers from all over the world stood there as well. So I hung out with them in the evenings to chat and have a drink whereas I used the days to explore the city. It has also already been almost a year since I was here. Last time I came with a friend to spent a weekend and just to have a good time.

I was excited but also nervous when I left Dresden. Today would be the day that I'd leave Germany and enter Czech Republic - excited about all the adventures that will lay ahead of me outside of my home country but also nervous how I'll get along in a country where people don't speak my language and probably not even English unless I'd be in the cities.

I pedaled alongside the river Elbe and could already see Czech Republic on the other side of it. I was wondering if I was also already in Czech and I just missed the border sign. I stopped to ask two ladies biking the other direction - one in her twenties, one in her fifties - if this was already Czech Republic and if there'll be some sort of sign at the border. The younger one answered with an American accent: "No, this is still Germany but Czech will come very soon. However, there's no sign which says that you're entering the country." A bit disappointed that there wouldn't be a sign to take a pic as proof that I really made it through Germany and will enter the next country I kept going for a few more minutes until I reached the border with a quite big stony sign stating that I'd enter Czech Republic now. How can someone miss that? :D

If you enjoy reading this blog then please support my fundraising campaign to equip two school class rooms in Darfur, Sudan. Cheers!

Location: Somewhere in Brandenburg
Km on the clock: 612

It's 30th June 2019 at 11 am. I just arrived at Flensburg Hafenspitze (tip of the harbor) after already cycling 20 kilometers from my mom's. The Hafenspitze was the official starting point of my traveling the world on a bicycle journey.

It was a hot and sunny day with up to 35 degrees Celsius and the last chance to say goodbye to Family and friends. As the bells of a nearby church were ringing at 12 o'clock it was time for some last hugs and kisses and time for me to leave. Now there was no return and the dream finally came true.

It was that hot that I needed a first break after already one hour 20 kilometers outside of Flensburg. I even felt that exhausted that I took a nap on a bench in front of the church in Satrup. :D

The next days I made it through the hilly eastern part of Schleswig-Holstein. Some hills were that steep that my maximum speed was in between 8-10 kilometers per hour and quite a pain in the arse. I realized that it would time some time to get used to a life on a bicycle. Going downhill on the other hand was fun. I reached speeds of up to almost 40 kilometers per hour and made me forget of the frustrations of going uphill immediately.

I spent the first few nights either on campsites or with family or friends. After staying in Hamburg at a friends place for two nights I headed east towards Berlin alongside the river Elbe. Originally I planned to cycle down in direction Prague from here but I got invited to stay with another friend in Berlin for a few days. I didn't see her for a few years so it would be great opportunity to catch up after such a long time.

From now on I camped in the wild every night. That was the adventure that I was looking for. Especially the first night somewhere in nowhere behind the embankment was a bit spooky. I woke up in the middle of the night hearing some grunting right next to my tent. The same creature also seemed to repel its horns on a tree next to me. I didn't know how to react. Should I make noises to chase it away? Or should I keep quiet and wait until it's gone? Since I was simply too tired to chase the beast away, I decided to stay quiet and tried to fall asleep again. That plan worked out pretty well. I guess dealing with the noises of the nights is something that I also have to get used to. :D

If you enjoy reading this blog then please support my fundraising campaign to equip two school class rooms in Darfur, Sudan. Cheers!

The bus ride down south towards Saranda went slow. As experienced before, there's no chance for cars to go fast on the curvy roads alongside the coast. But that's more than okay. The views are just beautiful and totally worth it to take some time. The bus stopped at a small restaurant half way which gave me the opportunity to refill my water bottle at the hose outside. It's been another hot but beautiful day and of course the bus didn't have air conditioning. Drinking cool water from the hose felt like heaven to my throat and soul.

Another 1.5 hours later I arrived in the coastal town Saranda nearby the border to Greece. Since I started collecting flyers of hostels since the beginning of this trip I also got one of a place in this town. I heard other travelers saying good things about it before. So walked from the bus station towards the city center. The hostel was easy to find but unfortunately it was fully booked. However, the receptionist told me where to find another hostel nearby. Two boys, probably 13 years old, insisted escorting me to the other hostel. I expected them to ask for a tip when we arrived. However, I didn't even have the chance to give them something. Instead, and to my surprise, they just ran away the moment I hit the doorbell. Since the hostels entrance was in a quite sketchy side road I expected something unpleasant to happen now anyways - like getting mugged. I felt some nervousness coming up inside of me and were watching out for someone or something strange around me. However, no one was waiting for me around the corner to mug me. It was just two nice boys who were happy to help me. Shame on me! Just expecting the worst!

This hostel also didn't have a free bed available but the receptionist gave me directions to another hostel just a few minutes' walk away. He said: "It's a new place right at the stadium. I didn't hear anything about it yet, so I've no idea what you can expect there". This is how I ended at Hostel Hasta la Vista. Probably the best hostel in Albania.

Although they didn't have a free bed available for me, I convinced the host that I could just sleep in some niche in the corridor until he would have a bed available. Happy that I finally found a place to stay, I dropped my backpack in the laundry room. I spent the day on the beach just chilling, reading and jumping into the water here and there to cool down. I grabbed some beers on my way back to the hostel and sat down on its patio. Just a little bit later a guy with two huge bottles of beer under his arms appeared and asked: "Can I join you?" which I happily affirmed. We started talking about our travels and I realized very quickly that we're on the same wavelength. Nick just traveled all the way from Australia to Albania on his motorbike over the past 1.5 year. We kept getting more beers from the kiosk on the side of the road and throughout the night more and more hostel guests joined us until we had a party on the patio. At some point the host came up to me saying: "I've got some good news for you. I've a bed for you. Someone didn't show up. So you don't need to sleep in the niche on the corridor."

That was good news indeed. And since I knew that all the fun people were staying for a few nights I also decided to stay longer and kept having a good time and enjoying myself.

I found myself a bit exhausted and tired at the ferry station a few days later and thought I guess I enjoyed myself a bit too much the last days. But hey, it was totally worth it! I got the cheapest ferry ticket I could find and jumped on the ferry to Corfu.

As expected, I didn't catch the first bus in the morning. The night was just too short and I might had one beer too much. It was an incredibly hot day. The screen at a pharmacy stated 36 degrees Celsius and there was no single cloud to see on the sky. Knowing that the bus won't have aircon I didn't look forward to the ride to Vlore in Albania.

The first mini bus from Ulcinj to Shkoder didn't even have aircon, it didn't even have a free seat for me. Thus I had to sit on a box which was squeezed in between the seats in the aisle. That was definitely something else but comfortable. On the next bus I got lucky and got to sit on a regular seat. Gert - apparently named after Germanys "Bomber der Nation" Gerd Mueller - was sitting next to me. We talked about all the world and his wife until he had to get off the bus somewhere before arriving Tirana. Chatting to him definitely helped me to forget about last night's missing sleep. He even helped me to make sure that I would get on the right bus to Vlore. Cheers mate!

The ride seemed to take forever. Traffic is going slow in Albania, especially alongside the coast. There's only one main road with one lane for each direction. The landscape in this region is also very hilly which also forces cars to go slow. However, going slow also had the advantage to enjoy the beautiful landscape and its views.

About six hours later I finally arrived in Vlore. I hopped on a taxi which dropped me at a small hostel. A group of guests were chilling on the patio and a weed smelling cloud hang over their heads. This hostel was definitely a unique place. People of all ages were around. The oldest guest was around 80 years old. A guy from Philadelphia, USA traveling the Balkans by himself. Very impressive and inspiring! I hope that I'll be able to do that when I reach that age. After checking in and getting some dinner I finally got to catch up the missing sleep.

There are not really sights in Vlore so the hostel host recommended to spend the day on the beach. I asked him how to get there and if he had a free city map. He said: You've two options. Either you take the bus or a bicycle. Just know, the bus will drop you off at the not so nice city beach. If you go by bike then you could go to the nicer beaches outside of the city. That made the decision very easy and I rent a bike for the day. Unfortunately, he didn't have a map so he sat down and just drew one quickly for me. To be honest, I was a bit skeptical about its accuracy but to my surprise it was very accurate. I didn't get lost at any time. Amazing!

There are not many cyclists in Vlore. It actually seemed like I was the only one in town. It also seemed that car drivers are not too used to cyclists on the road. At one point I almost got run over... by a police car. Luckily nothing happened so I could continue my way and spent a nice and relaxing day on the beach.

Since I figured that there's not too much to do and explore in Vlore, I left the next day and headed down south to Sarande.