Phew…first great struggle of our year surmounted. You would be surprised how much energy can be expelled on something as seemingly simple and benign as a name.
Nothing So Familiar…more than just a name chosen at random. Chiara and I actually toiled extensively trying to come up with the perfect moniker
that would exemplify exactly what we are getting ourselves into on July 8th, 2015 in Seoul, South Korea. "Derailing our Lives”? Too quippy she says. “Riding East”? Too obvious he says. Then comes the always poignant and perfectly metered words of Bill Bryson, a writer we both enjoy and respect, “To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost NOTHING is SO FAMILIAR it is taken for granted”. After allowing these words time to breath and expound their wisdom in our heads we knew our handle had presented itself. What is so great and meaningful about these simple words you may be asking…well allow us to explain. Your’s truly Chiara and Bruce (your guides on this upcoming adventure through whatever may come) have traveled a fair amount both on and off bicycles during our days spent circling the sun. We are equally as comfortable in our back garden, on our bikes or flying to a foreign land. To us, there is nothing so familiar as the one world we inhabit and the enjoyment that we seek through exploring. However, on the flip side of this neither Chiara or myself have ever stepped foot on Asian soil. We will be finding ourselves in wonderful lands of exotic foods, languages, and people that we know of only through reading and limited interactions in our professional and daily lives in Portland, OR. To that end, nothing will feel so familiar to us as on a daily basis we will come face to face with words, foods and customs that are foreign to everything we know.
Now to the more nuanced explanation…Chiara and I work as a teacher and RN respectively. We have both been working for many years to build our careers and stable, happy lives in our wonderful city. Deciding to take a full year of our lives and live off bikes will be very unfamiliar but came easier than you might think. Further, unlike previous cycle tours we have done this time we will be strangers on strange gear. See, we have been graciously bestowed upon with new gear that we have never used, due to the generosity of great companies such as Tern folding bicycles, Big Sky International tents, Steripen, Klymit, and Hyperlite Mountain Gear. All this gear is unfamiliar to Chiara and I but we are extremely excited to use it on our adventure!
So we invite you to start this adventure of unknowns with us. We promise nothing except that we will be leaving behind the familiar…
that would exemplify exactly what we are getting ourselves into on July 8th, 2015 in Seoul, South Korea. "Derailing our Lives”? Too quippy she says. “Riding East”? Too obvious he says. Then comes the always poignant and perfectly metered words of Bill Bryson, a writer we both enjoy and respect, “To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost NOTHING is SO FAMILIAR it is taken for granted”. After allowing these words time to breath and expound their wisdom in our heads we knew our handle had presented itself. What is so great and meaningful about these simple words you may be asking…well allow us to explain. Your’s truly Chiara and Bruce (your guides on this upcoming adventure through whatever may come) have traveled a fair amount both on and off bicycles during our days spent circling the sun. We are equally as comfortable in our back garden, on our bikes or flying to a foreign land. To us, there is nothing so familiar as the one world we inhabit and the enjoyment that we seek through exploring. However, on the flip side of this neither Chiara or myself have ever stepped foot on Asian soil. We will be finding ourselves in wonderful lands of exotic foods, languages, and people that we know of only through reading and limited interactions in our professional and daily lives in Portland, OR. To that end, nothing will feel so familiar to us as on a daily basis we will come face to face with words, foods and customs that are foreign to everything we know.
Now to the more nuanced explanation…Chiara and I work as a teacher and RN respectively. We have both been working for many years to build our careers and stable, happy lives in our wonderful city. Deciding to take a full year of our lives and live off bikes will be very unfamiliar but came easier than you might think. Further, unlike previous cycle tours we have done this time we will be strangers on strange gear. See, we have been graciously bestowed upon with new gear that we have never used, due to the generosity of great companies such as Tern folding bicycles, Big Sky International tents, Steripen, Klymit, and Hyperlite Mountain Gear. All this gear is unfamiliar to Chiara and I but we are extremely excited to use it on our adventure!
So we invite you to start this adventure of unknowns with us. We promise nothing except that we will be leaving behind the familiar…
