Around the World: Bicycles

Innsbruck, Austria

Bocas del Toro, Panama

Kathmandu, Nepal

Colonia, Uruguay

Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Livingstone, Zambia

Yangon, Myanmar

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Paraty, Brazil

Osaka, Japan

Bernalda, Italy

Luang Prabang, Laos

Seoul, South Korea

I grew up riding a bike around my neighbourhood – it was simply the thing to do in the summer, jump on our bikes and ride down to the convenience store for Slurpees and penny candy. Years later, at university on the east coast of Canada, I bought a bike I’d ride to school, chugging up the hills of Halifax. Now, living in London, I rarely ride bicycles; despite the proliferation of Boris Bikes available to ride in the city, the traffic often scares me away. I miss being on a bike, though, even if bicycles haven’t always treated me kindly. I once went to Ireland with my family and cycled through a few counties for a month, and it was the perfect way to see the country.

I sometimes set strange goals for myself when I travel. One of them is to go on a boat in every country I visit; another is to ride a bicycle in every country I visit. It hasn’t always been the case, but there’s something about riding a bike through a new place that can’t be beat: the bumps in the road, the sights whizzing by, the wind in your hair.

Do you own a bicycle? Do you often cycle in new cities/countries when you travel?

For more in the Around the World series, click here.