by quinn | Dec 23, 2012 | English, Europe, Retreats
Karma Berchen Ling is a Diamond Way Tibetan Buddhist center high in the mountains of the Peloponnese. We stayed for a couple nights and befriended the wonderful couple managing the place. Striking vistas and a surprise snowstorm made for a fantastic 30km descent with a lunch of goat soup and depositing us right back to the warm sea.
It was a nice little retreat, there’s a cave and a stupa. The only inconvenience was the cold weather and that we caught a cold.
There are group retreats taking place there year long, so if you live in Greece and want to learn meditation in the traditional buddhist tantric way, this might be the place for you.
by quinn | Nov 27, 2012 | Cycling, Digital Nomads, English, Europe, Travel tips
Today we gave a presentation to the students of Jeremy’s university journalism course in Marseille. We spoke about the motivation for our trip, our goals, logistics, and the meaning and realizations we’ve found along the way, and then were interviewed by the students. Their project is to write articles using us as their subject. We felt very well received and the students asked excellent questions; I think perhaps because the French love both cycling and discussing lifestyle choices.
To the students reading this post, thank you for having us, and for your incisive questions. Here are some links related to our talk that you might find useful.
We have a page with resources about lifestyle design and living lucidly.
Links to information about bicycle touring:
Hospitality exchange networks we use:
We also have used Airbnb instead of hotels.
When we arrive in Greece we will be staying with our friends at Atlantis Books. It was inspired by Shakespeare and Company in Paris, where I first met Jeremy.
UPDATE: Eugénie’s paper has been published online with lexpress.fr.
by quinn | Nov 26, 2012 | Cycling, Digital Nomads, English, Europe, Travel tips
The essence is travelling.
We’ve had our wheels on the road now for seven weeks, passing through 1500km of other people’s lives. The bicycle brings us great joy, but the significance of this trip has not manifested as cycling. This trip has been about adopting a new lifestyle, new frames of mind, and new connections to the land and people we meet. We’ve transformed in ways that would occur similarly if we travelled by sailboat, horse, or shoelaces.
by quinn | Nov 26, 2012 | English, Europe
A view inside our bicycle tour from Spain to Greece. Each image represents an aspect unique to most cycling tours: eating, sleeping, life on the road. Click here and here.
by quinn | Nov 6, 2012 | English, Sponsors
Trick question: how many normal bicycle chains does a tandem bicycle have? The synchronizing chain (the front one) is very long and requires combining two normal sized chains. Those, plus the rear chain makes three.
We were a little disheartened to buy three new chains at €20 each when ours needed replacement. That’s why we are very grateful to receive a sponsorship from Tomás Domingo in Barcelona for wholesale pricing on chains and a new sprocket. And, though he was hesitant, I talked the mechanic into loaning me the tools so I could replace the sprocket myself in their stockroom. Mid-way through the job he came in looking a little frazzled and gestured with a knife-stroke finger across his throat: his boss was unhappy with his leniency. Ooops! But we couldn’t have been more grateful. Thank you Tomás Domingo.
