The ride around the world - a few final words, a few souvenirs and a few numbers

I went around the globe...

Aaand they are over, the two years... And damn, they went by quickly! When I arrived back in Berlin, it didn't feel like I had been traveling for so long. Everything immediately seemed so familiar again. But as soon as I take a look at the picture folders or the travel diary, I immediately realize what I actually experienced in these two years!

All kinds of emotions accompanied this journey. These two years included some of the hardest, but most of all, a lot of the most beautiful moments of my life. Nothing was as constant as the change of plans. Wars, crises, uprisings or simply the seasons of the year often forced me to completely re-plan. Crossing India was part of plan B, crossing the Arabian Peninsula was part of plan C. When I started this journey in March 2022, I could never have imagined cycling there. But looking now back, India and Saudi Arabia, together with Southeast Asia, were among the most impressive parts of this entire circumnavigation of the world! The last thing you need for a long bike trip is a detailed plan. It'll go down the drain sooner rather than later anyway. But it was precisely beyond any planning where the most magical moments waited for me. At the end of this paragraph is a collage of some of the wonderful encounters from the trip. Not a single one of these encounters was planned in advance.

This journey took me through sandy deserts and the rainforest, through vast open plains and over high mountains, through lonely stretches of land and megacities. Only very rarely did a landscape look the way I had imagined it before. From Bulgaria on everything was new for me until I reached familiar territory again in France. How does a desert actually begin? What does it look like in the extremely densely populated Ganges plain? How does the rainforest feels like? Now I know. No matter how much you read about it beforehand, no matter how many photos and videos you look at it, it feels completely different once you're there.

Aside from a momentary arrest, a possible near-attack by a wild elephant and a few fairly close overtaking maneuvers, I had no major worrying incidents and was very lucky. At this point I would like to remember those cyclists who set off on their great adventure but never returned. I have become aware of three such cases in the past two years. In contrast, there are thousands who were able to experience the greatest adventure of their lives. In my opinion, no one should therefore allow security concerns to stop them from undertaking such a project. A certain risk lurks always and everywhere, regardless of whether we stay at home or head to the remote corners of the world.

Now I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart all the people I met on this trip and who made this experience so unique. I experienced so much incredible hospitality, helpfulness and warmth! I am forever indebted to you!

A few items that came with me to Germany

You can't take a lot of souvenirs with you on a bike trip due to weight and space reasons. However, a few small things have accumulated over the two years, other items were left behind somewhere. Here I present a selection of things that came along during the trip.