Europe 2016

Day 104: Zagreb, Croatia At 5:45, we arrived in the capitol.  It was still dark outside and in the 30s. We could see our breath and quickly after deboarding the train, we put on many layers.  We couldn’t check into our apartment until 1:00 pm, so the best place to go was…McDonald’s!!!  It’s warm, has […]

Day 90: Split Our first day in Split, Croatia.  Pajamas until noon.  Laundry.  Netflix.  Breakfast in bed.  We briefly walked around town.  Take out for lunch. Nap.  Netflix.  Grocery run.  Dinner at home.  I love today! Day 91: Split It rained ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL day.  Like every waking moment.  It was a lazy day, to say the […]

Day 85: Simuni to Zadar (40 miles) The ride through Pag Island to the mainland was cold and windy.  Later we learned that the road we took is sometimes closed due to the high winds (it’s near a cliff).  Luckily, it wasn’t closed today.  The rest of the ride was mild- not too hard, not […]

Chocolate milk Instant noodles Apples Bananas Beer Fresh pastries Hummus Tomatoes Pasta Snickers

Day 78: Letenye to Sesvete (73 miles) What. A. Day! I think we were running on pure adrenaline because I don’t think I actually slept last night. Between the howling wind/dogs and the thought of entering Croatia, it was the noisiest night of tossing and turning. Because we were in a public park, we wanted […]

Day 74: Budapest to Gardony, Hungary (40 miles) We rode along (or near) the Danube River through four countries – Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary – and today we saw out last glimpse of that twisty, turny, sometimes lively, sometimes sleepy river. Getting out of a large city on a bike is always stressful. No […]

Day 69: Bratislava to Gyor (49 miles) There were mosquitoes inside the apartment last night, which made for a horrific, painful night.  Each time I woke up, I had another painful welt.  Ugh! The ride today was flat and uneventful. We were a little worried about how the roads were going to be and if […]

Day 67: Vienna to Bratislava (48 miles) We continue to follow the Danube to Bratislava. These two cities are the closest capitols in the world (of two countries).  And yay! We’re in country #8! We’re staying in the city, so no camping again; we checked into an apartment that Maria, one of the Alsop’s foreign exchange […]

Day 64: Tulln to Vienna (23 miles) We knew we had a short ride into the city, so we didn’t hesitate to sleep in and lazily pack up out tent this morning. We chatted with the Americans before they left.  It’s funny being in a foreign country and not hearing English everywhere.  People having conversations […]

Day 61: Passau to Au (77 miles) What a day! We crossed over the border into Austria AND it was out farthest riding day AND it rained most of the day.  The first two accomplishments outshone the rain, so it’s ok. We had to cross the river a few times by boat.  Unfortunately, it only […]

Things we miss from home: Mexican food (Obviously.) Washer (We do like clean clothes.) Dryer (And not just the back of our bikes. A REAL one.) Sleeping in a bed on a regular basis (We’re pretty used to sleeping bags and a blow up mattress that sometimes leaks air.) Air conditioning (Oh, sweet, cool, blowy […]

Cycling the Danube  Day 54: Ulm to Asbach (57 miles) We started cycling on the Danube, another great European River. Last night when it was already too late for grocery stores to be opened, we remembered that everything is always closed on Sundays.  Not sure how we forgot that…actually we rarely know the date or […]

Day 48: Ludenscheid to Rollinswerth (65.5 miles) Leaving a real bed and home cooked meals is always hard.  Ute made us a hearty breakfast and gave us a yogurt drink for later.  We said goodbye in the misty rain as we left this morning heading back to the Rhine River. The ride was our longest […]

Today we thought a lot about cycling and what makes it special. We wake up some days with sore legs, sore butts, and when we’re flat out exhausted we ask ourselves, “What the heck are we doing?”.  But we always jump back on the bike each day and pedal for 6 (sometimes 8) hours to […]

Day 43: Ede to Wesel (52 miles) We arrived in Germany after lunch today.  Yay for country #6.  There’s no “Welcome to Germany” sign.  We only knew we were here because the nice Netherlands bike trails disappeared and we had to travel with the fast cars and giant farming equipment. We go through stages of […]

Day 36: Bruge to Arnemuiden (35 miles) Belgium was quick.  We’re now we’re cycling through the Netherlands! We rode through super cute Stepford-type towns.  Bikes are everywhere.  Bikes rule the road here. I’m a bit intimidated by all of the bikes, actually.  Like what if I’m not biking correctly? This country is like the motherland of […]

Top 10 Things We’ve Eaten in Europe (Chronological Order) Our first meal in Lisbon: fish, potatoes, bread, white wine. (Portugal) Egg tarts (Portugal) Egg and potato omelet pinxos (Spain) Lunch at the Ferro’s house (Spain) Saint Emilion wine (France) Macaroons (France) Everything in Bruge: waffles, chocolate, beer. (Belgium) Dinner at the Cessford’s house (Netherlands) Bitterballen […]

Day 32: Saint Quentin to Arleux, France (40 miles) Today was great! Here’s why: Packed up and went to McDonald’s for breakfast a) because we’re out of oatmeal again and can’t find any more in the store and b) we wanted wifi for maps and email. We stayed there until 10:30. They don’t have the […]

Day 29: Paris to about 15 km outside of Chateau-Thierry (56 miles) It’s RIDING DAY again!  About 16 miles outside of Paris, we hit our 1,000-mile mark.  So fun! It’s cool to reach those milestones. Literally. The riding wasn’t bad, a few major hills, but ok. Again, the heat is what nearly killed us. Sean […]

Day 26: Paris (rest day) We had a wonderful first day in Paris France.  We walked everywhere. Here’s what we did: Eglise de la Trinité:  A Roman cathedral build in the 1860’s. The cathedral is under construction and they were having mass so we did not go inside. Madeleine Cathedral: This Roman Catholic Cathedral was […]

Day 23: Tours to Muides-sur-Loire (55 miles) We cycle in the Louire Valley today. It was gorgeous. I’ve never seen so many grape vines… and I’m from CALIFORNIA! We followed the Eurovelo trail.  Sometimes it’s not worth all the twists and turns that the trail makes and it’s easier to take the regular car route. However, today […]

Day 19: Saint Emilion to Angouleme (65.5 miles) We rode our longest day so far! The heat nearly killed us again.  This morning leaving Saint Emilion we rode through vineyard after vineyard. After climbing a hill, at the top you could look down and see forever. It was neat seeing the land spotted with church steeples.  […]

Day 12: ElCano to San Sebastian (35 miles) Leaving Pamplona, Spain today we kinda cheated.. Leire’s dad offered to drive us to a trailhead this morning. I guess it’s not totally cheating because 1) we can do whatever we want and 2) we went out of our way to stay at their place.  The trail […]

Day 8: Burgos to Santo Domingo (43 miles) By the end of the day, we’ve gone over 200 miles and I finally feel like we’re on the right path. Cycling in Spain this morning was chilly.  We had to bundle up in many layers. It was so wonderful! Because last night was our first night camping, this […]

Leaving the heat Sleep was extremely minimal on the bus. I might have caught a few hours along the 6 hour ride from Evora, Portugal, to Madrid, Spain. At 6:45 when we pulled up to the bus terminal, I was elated we were in a new country. Madrid is still as hot as the southern part […]

Day 4: Portel to Evora (25 miles) God answers prayers because we woke up feeling much better.  Not perfect, but better.  We left at 6:40 – still cool and dewy outside. Today’s route was a blessing because there were many long descents.  Perfect. We made sure to snack and hydrate often.  When I started getting […]

Feeling sick in Beja At 4:00 am in our hostel in Beja, Sean woke up from the heat – no A/C in our room to run to the bathroom. My stomach didn’t feel too well either, but I was too tired to open my eyes to wait for the toilet. A tiny bit later, it was […]

Leaving Almodovar We mostly had a goodnight’s sleep – except for waking up to stupid mosquitos bites and mosquitos buzzing in our face at 5:30 am. No bueno. Up at 6:30; breakfast at 7:00 at the hotel (bread, cheese, coffee, toast, and orange juice). Packed, paid and out the door by 8:00 as planned. It started out almost […]

Starting the adventure from Faro! Oh my goodness! Today was THE day! Today we finally actually started our ride around the world! Saying goodbye to Mom in Faro was hard. I know she worries about us. I’m so thankful she prayed over both of us before our departure. We both cried a few tears before leaving. […]

Lisbon Lisbon is a wonderful city with beautiful sights and friendly people. We spent three full days here walking, busing, and metro-ing. The National Tile Museum was breathtaking with its ornate church and historic art pieces. Belem consists of beautiful monasteries and churches, as well as the Belem Tower.  It’s fun to see really old […]

  WELCOME to Portugal. After almost missing our connecting flight in London and 18.5 hours of traveling we arrived in Lisboa, Portugal. From the start in San Francisco, it was stressful. We ended up paying $400 to put 2 bikes onto the plane, not cool. Luckily the bikes were not harmed in transport and the […]

After bottle of wine and 2 hours we said yes. Yes, to a world bike tour, yes to finding new adventures, yes to the start of Two by Two Adventures, and yes to living life to the fullest. Yes answers do not come easily these days. With more commitments, it gets harder and harder to say […]

We have decided to set out on another bicycle touring adventure. Starting July 2016, we will leave Portugal and spend 4 months wandering our way through Europe, finishing in Turkey. After living in Asia we thought we had had enough… nope. We are going to cycle through Southern China and immerse our self  in the […]