Tom
The Ride Earth Fellowship was broken yesterday as Andy and I said our goodbyes to Mark, who now returns home to the UK.
It seems odd that the journey that took him two months to make by
bicycle will be undone in less than 24 hours. The adventures and
experiences that we have had within those two months give a real
insight into the value of taking the idea of travelling a little
slower, and experiencing the journey itself rather than the destination.
We have spent the last two nights at the home of David Klein,
a Hungarian climber and philosopher living just outside Budapest in a
most unorthodox dwelling for this part of the world. We had not
expected to stay in a yurt - or ger - until at least Central Asia! Read more about this traditional nomadic dwelling structure.
Previously, in Vienna, I had got in contact with David through the Couchsurfing Project.
This is an incredibly useful tool for all kinds of travellers who are
open to meeting new and different people. It acts as a means by which
willing hosts and willing guests can find each other all over the
world. This was the first time I had made use of the site, and I hope
to continue using it to find hospitality throughout the journey.
You don’t always need to use something like this to find
hospitality, however - just the previous night, we had been loitering
outside Budapest station in the evening when we got talking to a
flamboyant Hungarian batchelor. Next thing we knew we were all crammed
into his tiny city-centre bedsit, watching old Japanese samurai films
whilst suffering from food poisoning in what will surely go down as one
of the most bizarre nights of my life!
These kind of displays of hospitality are unforced, natural
encounters, and they are almost invariably rich learning experiences
both for us and for the kind host who has offered a patch of land,
garage floor, sofa or spare bedroom for us to stay the night on.
