At some point in the past few weeks, the bicycle video Lindsey and I made about biking from Krakow to Dubrovnik passed 100,000 views. According to YouTube analytics, people have spent a combined 6,000 hours (about 250 days) watching this six-minute video about our three-week vacation in 2012. This bike tour had no cause associated with it – we were not riding for climate, but rather just enjoying a few weeks on the road.

As I write this, the world is on lockdown as people avoid one another to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Most of the borders we crossed in this journey are closed. We could not be welcomed into homes as we were on this journey. The video of our trip feels like a time capsule from a long-gone era, when doors and borders were wide open to adventurers. I look forward to when the world opens up and we can go on bike tours again. I hope these travel restrictions don’t signal a long term drop in travel and cultural exchange.

I also like that about half the comments on the video are that we were actually biking in “Central Europe” instead of “Eastern Europe.” Apparently, what Americans think of as “Eastern Europe” is not the same as what many Europeans think — and apparently this is somewhat sensitive in the region!

I wrote about part of this journey for Adventure Cycling Magazine, writing an article titled “Off the Map in Bosnia,” which you can read with an Adventure Cycling membership. The article was about what we learned in Bosina, and how cycling across the country provided a unique window into the nation’s history, culture, and people.

We will be out there again, traveling by bikes. In the meantime, stay tuned for the sequel to our video, “Ten Tips for Bike Touring with Young Children.”