Austria, Europe, Travel

820 km on two wheels

820-km-on-two-wheels

Getting soaked in the rain, starving for hours because you can’t find a shop, not being able to shower for days, getting attacked by hundreds of mosquitoes, getting sunburnt, finding a frog in your shoes and getting up in the middle of the night, because you’re afraid the wind will blow away your tent. These don’t sound very good, do they? Well, these all happened to us on our bike trip from Salzburg to Budapest. And I consider this holiday one of my best. Why? Exactly because of these things happened. These are good memories for me.

When I think about the day we cycled hours in the rain I don’t think about it as being cold and wet. I remember about the fun we had. My brother making a raincoat from a plastic bag. Me joking about being in a spa with water treatment.

My brother's rain coat :)
My brother’s rain coat 🙂

When I think about how we couldn’t get a shower I remember the fun we had having a “bath” in a stream next to the cycling lane.
I didn’t mind cycling uphill all day, because the 5 minutes long down hill compensated for it.

The boys still laugh about how I screamed when I found a frog in my shoe. I was about to put it on in the morning when a frog jumped out of it. I almost got a heart attack and threw away my shoe. 😀

We had some kind of problem with our bikes every day. Fixing a puncture became our everyday routine. (I was the only one who didn’t get a puncture on the whole trip. I must do something right. 😀 )Without these snags, however, we never would’ve met the cutest dog in existence. (Luckily my dog can’t read this) A sweet, old man helped my brother to fix his bike. He invited us in his house, where we met this adorable puppy. 😀

The first evening we spent on a railways station and slept on the platform like homeless people. But it was all part of our unforgettable adventure.

Sleeping at the platform

These were really just some of the highlights of our 10-day-journey. I gained many nice memories, met some interesting people and spent an amazing time with my friends and family. I don’t want to bore you with listing adjectives that describe the scenery we encountered. Let’s just say I have a thing for the Austrian landscape. Mountains, lakes, rivers, flowers, cows… You’ll see what I’m talking about in the pictures and video.
Oh and those cute little villages, like Hallstatt, are like from a fairy tale! And there are a lot of things to do in Hallstatt, so visit it if you have a chance!

We even had the chance to do some sightseeing in Vienna. The Danube cycling path from Vienna to Budapest had a very different scenery than Salzkammergut, but it looked really pretty, and I would love to do a longer section of the route at some point. I am absolutely in love with this region and would love to return to spend Christmas in Austria in the future as it looks even more magical.

This trip was our very first long cycling tour, but definitely not the last. If you like nature and adventure then don’t waste your time! It doesn’t require much planning ahead. Just grab your bike and friends and go where the road leads you!

Fuschlsee
Our well deserved reward after cycling all day uphill – Fuschlsee
Mondsee
Mondsee
Salzburg
A picture in front of the Fortress Hohensalzburg

Austrian landscape

Austrian landscape

Mondsee

Goulash soup
One of the rare occasions we ate warm meal
Delicious, cold stream water
Delicious, cold stream water
Fixing a puncture
Fixing a puncture
Ebensee
I bet you’d like to wake up here – Ebensee
Breakfast in a beautiful surrounding
Breakfast in a beautiful surrounding – Ebensee
Ebensee
“My childhood may be over, but that doesn’t mean playtime is.” ~Ron Olson
Looks good
Looks good 🙂

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With my mum

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Just another puncture
Just another puncture
Vienna
Vienna – Hundertwasser House
The whole crew at the end of our trip :)
The whole crew at the end of our trip after 820km

“It’s not the Destination, but the Journey that Matters Most”

And what about you guys? Do you have some nice memories from camping or cycling trips? I’d like to hear about it! 😀

 

4 Comments

Enikő

Hey, I'm Enikő! I'm currently an au pair and I want to share my experiences with you. I've travelled a lot in the past years. I'm gonna teach you how to settle in to a new country and get free accommodation anywhere in the world. Circle Enikő on Google+!

4 Comments

  1. Big changes I | Travel Hacker Girl - A blog for travellers and aupairs
    January 31, 2014 at 2:01 pm

    […] I guess it was about me wishing to be a different person. I wanted to be someone, who can face such a challenge. It’s good when we step out of our comfort zone, but we need to know a limit. For me it is driving. I don’t know why. I don’t think I’m a bad driver. When I sat in the car with my classmates they screwed up the same things I did. They were not perfect either. Only thing is they were not afraid to do it. I never really needed a car anyway. I always preferred cycling and I can get with my bike anywhere. Even to places 820 km away. […]

  2. Rottnest Island | Travel Hacker Girl - A blog for travellers and aupairs
    February 21, 2014 at 4:47 am

    […] After this far from pleasant journey, we arrived to the magnificent island. There were 4 of us, all au pairs. You can book tickets here. We got the ferry with bike hire ticket. On the island you can’t travel by car. The only transportation are bikes and there’s a free shuttle bus. But who’d like to sit on the bus, when you can explore the island on two wheels? It’s nice, healthy and relaxing. We were not the only ones, who thought so. The island was full of cyclists. A paradise for such a bike lover like me. […]

  3. Home Exchange I – Introduction | Travel Hacker Girl - A blog for travellers.
    August 10, 2014 at 3:23 pm

    […] free accommodation while travelling is not a dream any more. It’s reality. No, I’m not talking about sleeping on the platform at the railways station. There’s a much comfortable, but less exciting way to do it.Guess what. There’s not […]

  4. Cycling getaway to the New Forest | Travel Hacker Girl - A blog for travellers.
    May 9, 2017 at 7:54 pm

    […] an avid cyclist I was very excited about my cycling holiday to the New Forest. It’s been a long time since I rode […]

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