Czech republic

I am already in Brno, my hometown. A bit of „cheating“ was necessary, however, because I wanted to get here on Friday in order to go to my brother´s graduation ceremony. He surprised me incredibly by graduating in time so I wanted to surprise him by getting home on this big day.

The hills or better call them mountains (over 1000 m) on the German-Czech border were a real difficulty. I tried and did my best to go from Bayreuth to Widenberg on Monday but it was too extreme. And as usual, only an extreme situation could push me to do something that I would normaly be reluctant to do. I went on the road and put my thumb up. In less than five minutes a car stopped and a very nice driver took me closer to my destination despite planning to go somewhere else. When I was in the car, heavy rain started and I felt very lucky to be hidden there. The driver left me under a bridge so I managed to continue to hitch hike bone dry. This time it took about fourty minutes. A Tunisian guy stopped and told me that he had seen me on the road and came back for me. “I am Arab, you see. It is in our culture not to leave a single woman in trouble alone. So I came back. What if it was my sister who needs help?”…

And then he took me nearly to Cheb, again despite not planning to go that far. And when I got out of the car, exactly in that moment the rain stopped. Have I ever felt more lucky than on this day?

In Cheb I started to follow the Ohře river towards Karlovy Vary. The scenery was absolutely stunning. This was trully the most beautiful part of the whole trip. Cyclo path in a forest, rocks on both sides of the river, great signposting. Everything perfect. And at this point I was reached by Vojtěch, my Czech friend who was cycling close by so we had agreed on meeting somewhere on the way.

From this moment the trip got a different shape. I didn´t need to be worried about a place where to sleep or about how to carry my heavy bike up the stairs. It became easier to set up the tent, to cook and start a fire. It was more entertaining to cycle with someone and discuss everything that was on our mind, more beautiful to share the experience. However, it also limited my immagination. I didn´t need to think of solving a problem because before I realised there was a problem, it had already been solved. I didn´t need to think what is the safest place for sleeping because there was a strong boy with me whith whom every place was safe. I didn´t need to talk to strangers on the way because I had a great company with me. All in all, to have a company on the way was pleasant but I am extremely happy that I did most of the way on my own. That was the only way to learn something and to see that I can rely on myself.

Anyway, we followed the river for three more days and got to Litoměřice on Thursday. This is still very far from Brno so we took a train to get closer. It took us to Tišnov a town 25 km far from my homecity. And on Friday morning I started the very last part of the journey. How strange to cycle in the known area. Actually, this was the only cycling trip I used to do when still living in Brno. The cycling path goes from my house to a lake so I used to go regularly there and back. For nothing else I had the courage, only for this straight path that can get me from home to the final destination. To be on it again after this month was just weird. What a contrast between my previous life when I was afraid of everything and my current life when I understand that the world is full of good people and nice things happening. It makes me sad to know how many years I lost by locking myself in the safety of the known, but full of joy for knowing that I can go out and experience and enjoy the unknown.

And what a joy to finally see my parents and show them that despite their believes, their small clumsy daughter can survive alone, can find her way and use all her strenghts to get home across Europe. They didn´t know about this trip. And they didn´t believe me yesterday until I showed them some pictures. And then my mother cried and my father said that this was soooooooo dangerous. He still doesn´t believe in a good world but I think he is closer to it. And he said that I was incredibly awsome to manage this. And if for nothing else, then for this the whole trip had a sense.

Final lesson:

1. I rely on others if they are around. But I can rely on myself if I need to.

2. Things are not as difficult as they seem at the beginning.

3. The Czech republic is the most beautiful country in the world.