I'M OFF!

I’ve packed my bags, cut my hair, and Finally, I’m on my way to Indonesia! I’ve spent the past couple of days in Sweden together with my family to prepare for the journey to come. I honestly haven’t been getting much sleep the past few nights though. Instead I’ve been lying sleeplessly in bed imagining all sorts of horrendous scenarios that are out of my control anyway. No matter how much you read online on blogs and travel sites, nothing really prepares you for the feeling of actually setting off. It’s an extremely daunting feeling. Super exciting, while at the same time somewhat scary. It’s actually really hard for me to imagine how I’m ever going to end up in Indonesia right now, but I guess I’ll just give it a go.

Upon arriving at the queue for the ferry to Finland, I didn’t have a clue how I was ever going to haul all my gear up into the cabin with me. My setup might look pretty streamlined considering the fact that it’s supposed to keep me going for over a year, but the truth is that it’s reeeally heavy, and carrying all of it at the same time is nearly impossible. But right from the get go, the helpfulness of others has struck me. The only other cyclists on the entire ferry were a couple of Finnish mountain bikers heading home after cycling around Europe. Understanding my situation (and possibly due to my wildly confused look), they kindly grabbed all my luggage and brought it right up with me, while giving me tips on how to smoothly exit the ferry in the morning. What seemed like an overwhelming task, had gone by so smoothly due to the generous help of the strangers around me. At the current moment, I’m eating my dinner (bread and ham) in my cabin on the ferry. Tommorrow morning I'll start cycling, and I’m now trying to plan out the first couple of days, so I can hopefully get a smooth start on the trip. While cycling in Finland, I’ll most likely be using some of the many public shelters available for sleeping. I’m planning on using my bivvybag as much as possible due to the ease of use, but the thought of sleeping completely in the open is slightly daunting. I guess I better start getting used to it though.

I’ve created an Instagram page to go with this site! It’s got some cool photos already, and I’ll be uploading loads of photos from the road. Check it out @theoddtrip

I’m riding for the Association for Greenlandic Children, so please consider donating through the button below! Some of you might notice that the fundraiser has been moved from YouCaring to GoFundMe. This means that a small percentage of your donations will be going to the people at GoFundMe. It also means that donations will now have to be done in Danish Kroner instead of Euro. I've put a conversion chart on the page so you can figure out how much to donate. The good part is that donating should now be considerably easier. Sadly, this is all out of my hands, so not much I can do about it.