Post-expedition blues suck. The hardest part of a journey comes once it’s over.
Took an overnight bus to Copenhagen to get away from Hamburg, Germany, for a few days. It’s so hard to beat the post-expedition blues, and hanging around in Hamburg after the finish wasn’t helping. Though I will be back in Hamburg to attend the convention from June 1–4.
Though it was cloudy, windy and chilly, the clouds added so much drama to the scenery. Had a very relaxing and touristy time in Copenhagen.
Danish people and their love for bicycles are just awesome. I wish the bus driver had allowed me to carry my tandem bike to Copenhagen. It would have been a blast!
I thought I would use the next few days to reflect on my journey and express my gratitude to some of the most important people who were very crucial to the success of Freedom Seat India to Germany! People who made this dream possible.
The most important piece of gear I needed for Freedom Seat was a tandem bike. While so many people showed so much hope about getting the tandem bike, it all fell through the cracks. That’s when I reached out to Rebecca Annan! Becs is one of the kindest souls and the best friend one can have. She wrote to a few people in New Zealand, which eventually got me in contact with Jeff Anderson of Jeffson Bikes! A master bicycle builder extraordinaire and an awesome human who has custom built amazing tandem bikes for adventurers all over the world.
With less than three weeks to the start, I called Jeff and explained the mission and the cause. He not only gave me an awesome discount, but he built a rock-solid tandem bike in under three days and shipped it to India. 3 days…
Within a week of making that phone call to Jeff, I had an awesome custom-built Jeffson Bikes tandem sitting at my doorstep in India. I was stoked to have an amazing bike hand-built in Middle-earth (Rotorua) for this mission.
I was so close to pulling the plug on the mission, but because of Becs and Jeff, the dream of riding from India to Germany to End Slavery Now was resurrected.
Becs, Jeff, thank you. You made Freedom Seat possible! My sincere gratitude from the very bottom of my heart! I’m truly blessed to have you in my life.
Final stamp of Freedom Seat!
Feels like the journey has officially come to an end. Rotary International Convention Hamburg 2019 was a huge success.
Kindness 🚲 is on its way to India on a 🚢 and I’m on a ✈️ to the United States of America 🇺🇸
The border control officer noticed that I was carrying panniers as my carry-on and asked me where I had been biking.
I told him that I rode a tandem bike from India to Germany, 5,500 miles, with strangers and friends to help pedal to end slavery. He laughed at first and thought I was kidding until I showed him the map.
He asked me about the trip and was amazed at the hospitality that was shown all along my way. He stamped my passport and said, “Welcome to the USA. Good luck with your adventures in the USA, and I hope you experience the same level of hospitality and kindness in the USA as well.”
So good to be back in the Bay after a very long time. A brief trip, but looking forward to catching up with you all.
13 countries across two continents, 8,646 km and 52,000 m of climbing. 180 people pedalled to get from India to Germany. One purpose: End Slavery Now.