Traveling with World on Bicycle with Children
Many people dream of taking off with their children to travel the world. Their dreams are filled with days of visiting the Egyptian pyramids or the Taj Majal. They will travel on buses and planes and boats But traveling the world on bicycle? With kids?
My husband and I have cycled over 21,000 miles through 12 different countries with our 12 year old twin boys and have discovered that traveling on bicycles with children is the best way to travel.
The bike allows you – indeed, it forces you – to get off the beaten track and see the tiny villages of the world. When one is traveling with a motor of whatever kind, you will skip over the small towns in order to reach the cities. But it’s the small villages in a country that can teach you about life in that country. Cities – for all their differences – are mostly the same. In today’s face-paced world, cities are becoming increasingly generic; it’s the villages that still retain the character of the country, and the bikes allow us to get to know them.
Another advantage of traveling on bike is that you are one with Mother Nature. As you travel without the protection of a vehicle around you, you’ll be more in touch with weather conditions and landscape. Our children have learned, first hand, the effect of altitude on temperature. They’ve cycled over mountains and now truly understand the effects of the movement of tectonic plates.
Perhaps the most important reason to travel on bike is the life lessons you’ll learn from the bike. Your child will learn to persevere through hardship after feeling the thrill of victory when cresting a pass. She’ll learn the value of teamwork and understand that there are times when only by working together can you reach your goal. And she’ll understand the idea of breaking a big task into small, manageable chunks.
Can kids learn those lessons by traveling another way? Sure. But the lessons come a whole lot easier on bikes!
Nancy Sathre-Vogel has been bicycling with children since her kids were big enough to reach the pedals. She is now touring on her bike from the Arctic to Patagonia with her sons as they attempt to become the youngest people in the world to pedal the entire Pan American Highway..
