The first three months

Wednesday marked three months since leaving home so I thought I'd scribble about the trip as a whole so far.
 
For those who haven't followed the blog too much - it's comprised a three week 1,400 mile cycle across Northern Europe, two months in Sweden, and now nearly three weeks so far in Germany. I've spent five or six weeks of the trip staying with different people and the rest staying at hostels, travelling mostly by train, with the bike left at a safe place in Sweden for now. 

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It's proving to be a brilliant experience and I'm really enjoying it on the whole. There's no real point to it of course - I'm not creating anything, doing business, improving people's lives or earning money. BUT I'm having fun and learning a lot; from both the places I visit and the people I meet, and I'm picking up ideas that will hopefully in some way find their way into life and work one day - the bigger picture. And at the end of the day it's not a case of why, but why not.

That lack of being productive does frustrate me a bit, but another bout soon of staying and working with some locals at some point should solve that. 

Sweden and Germany are fascinating counties, with lots of things I'm interested in that you wouldn't find elsewhere. But I'm starting to feel like I've spent enough time in Europe. It's not particularly exotic lets face it, and from previous experience, developing countries are much more rewarding and exciting to visit; full of things that challenge the way you think. Most of Western Europe however, works in a similar manner to us and is close enough to home to visit any time for a holiday. And it's also getting cold and wet here!

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Travelling on my own on the whole is working out fine so far. There's never any compromise or disagreement on plans funnily enough. Loneliness isn't generally a problem as I meet and hang out with a lot of interesting people on the way. Having to do all the planning and problem solving on my own though is hard work though, that I'd happily share.

Five years on since my last trip, I've noticed a few differences in the nature of backpacking. Everyone now has smartphones and tablets to organise and entertain, instead of carrying books around and hunting for internet cafés. Satnav makes planning and finding your way around much easier. There's more Chinese people travelling, as their country becomes more affluent. And personally - I'm feeling a bit older (yeah yeah), more capable at planning and getting around, and less willing to waste my time looking at some of the obvious tourist stuff that I'm not really that interested in.

I've made plenty of little mistakes, often down to leaving things too late, though nothing too disastrous, and I've only lost a book, socks and a good belt. So on the whole not too bad, and you always learn something from these things.

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Cooking is a pain for various reasons - you can't lump many ingredients around in a rucksack so have to track down shops and buy stuff day by day, everything's in another language, and the hostel kitchens are often a bit crap. Not wasting away yet mind.

It's definitely an experience more than a holiday, and on the whole I'm having fun and enjoying the ride; isn't that what life's all about?

Still in Munich... more on that next week.