Robert, whom I cycled through Poland with, commented on our little invasion with a humorous article.
When Simon told me he’d cycle around the world for a whole year I was not particularly surprised. If you end up with people like me as a close friend, there are definitely some points in your life that you should reconsider for a while. That being said, I did not miss my last opportunity for trying to lure him into a trap, asking him to join in for two weeks (so I could annoy him for as long as possible). He’s either a full-blooded masochist or he totally fell for it. We ended up meeting in Dresden, spent a few days there and had a lot of fun. I did not want to go on his nerves from the beginning, so he would not see through it right from the start. Speeding on at an astonishing 100km per day we entered Poland on the second day. Especially funny as it turns out, because when I say “we”, I mean an Austrian and a German dude. Doesn’t ring a bell? Blame your history teacher. The Polish countryside presented itself friendly, full of very nice people of which approximately none and a half are capable of the English language. Playing the polite intruders we soon figured out the basic Polish phrases together with some modest gesticulations necessary to communicate with the people. “Tak, tak – Zubrowka!”. Few showers and hot weather we had on our way to Warsaw. Needless to say that the nights inside the tent evolved to a “stinking feet” contest. This, the sweaty look and the almost constant laughter about anything we encountered or could think of, guaranteed us the “weird foreign hobos” image, I hoped to make Simon uncomfortable with. I failed and we had a blast. We made it through smelly fields, escaped from angry dogs chasing us on the bike and occasionally came across some more beautiful landscapes. No offence. Reaching Warsaw after 7 days, I was quite surprised that the city of which I had more or less no information apart from “capital of Poland”, was absolutely beautiful. The second thing I was surprised by, was the fact that I still had not reached a point where Simon was completely annoyed by me. Mildly disappointed by myself and eager to finally fulfil my goal of the trip in Warsaw, I literally tried everything I could to get him angry, freaked out or repulsed. After seven days together in Warsaw, meeting a ton of awesome people (natives as well as foreigners) at the hostel and a huge amount of fun and Lech (Polish beer brand) around all of the city, I had to say goodbye to Simon at the central train station.
Sitting now in the train with a somewhat empty feeling about all this, I realised that my plan to go on his nerves has either blatantly failed or he hid it damn well. At this point I’d like to get serious for just one section of this sarcasm-dripping article and say thanks to all the people we met on the way and the Varsovian hospitality in particular – I’ll be back someday. To Simon: I am honoured I could jump on board for a while, it has been two of the funniest weeks I ever had and I want to give you a big THANK YOU for that. I need to return to my own real life now, which partly makes me pretty sad although I know you have to do this on your own. I hope you have an incredible year and may we bike together again someday.
Finally to all of you about to meet and/or travel with him: Try not to accidentally spit into his face while trying to get insects out of your mouth. Somehow he just doesn’t like that.
Bike, Blog, And Beyond 