What Inspired Us
We planned for our 25th wedding anniversary with a holiday in Prague and Vienna in 2017. It all started in Vienna, while we were casually cycling down the River Danube to the vineyards, and of course, with a couple of drinks at the vineyards, cycling looked fun and fascinating.
Our 1300 KM Journey - A Lifetime Promise & Journey
In Vienna, we cycled along the River Danube to the VIneyards and it was so fun and relaxing. We did not anticipate the difficulty of not forgetting our age, and we hurriedly made a promise to each other why not our next holiday would be on bicycles and little did we think that we were talking about a distance of 1300 KM. We did not realise that cycling a short distance after a couple of glasses of wine and cycling a long distance when you are strictly sober were two different experiences. Nevertheless, we were dead serious about our commitment, and so we purchased two hybrid bicycles and started practising vigorously.
We practised as much as we could until one day I had a fall in April while taking my dogs for a run, using my bicycle. My left knee was hurt and we could not practice for two months. For a moment, we thought our desire was diminishing. As some of you might know of my strong determination, I decided not to give up. In July, we went ahead as scheduled and purchased our tickets and booked our accommodations, and from this point, there was no turning back. Then I was also recovering well and started practising again & pushed a little more along the hills on Mont Kiara, which helped to build our confidence again.
EUROVELO 15 RHINE ROUTE
EuroVelo is a network of 15 long-distance cycle routes connecting and uniting the whole European continent. The routes can be used by cycle tourists and local people making daily journeys. All 15 routes were developed by the European Cycling Federation. We decided to take the Rhine River Route, which is the shortest and easiest. It starts at Andermatt in Switzerland and ends at Hook of Holland, covering a distance of 1373 Km. Just before the trip, I spoke to my former neighbour, who suggested that we approach the media to cover an article for Malaysia Day. I thought it would be perfect coverage for us.
The photoshoot for the cover was massive - I mean a lot of shots taken in short bursts, and a reporter (whose passion is also travelling) enthusiastically interviewed us and covered the articles. We then started preparing for the final countdown, and were fortunate to have found a nice place for our two lovely dogs - Hero & Bruno. We estimated that our trip was going to be 42 days - Europe & USA. We allocated 24 days for the cycle trip.
Although we had plans to bring along our bicycles, things changed when we decided to head over to Florida to see Yoges's sister after the cycling trip ended. So we decided to hire bicycles in Amsterdam instead of shipping ours. All the groundwork and planning were done at least one clear month before our travel. Haha ...we also got ourselves a drone for aerial photography.