Harmonisation 3.0 - Travel

Hands up if this is how you like to travel!
Taken from: http://diabetesaustraliavic.wordpress.com

As I had already begun to delve into tourism in my culinary tourism post, I feel it is time to start a topic on travel. Travel can be described as a physical movement from one geographical location to another – this might be across the world or just down the road, although I will address short-distance travel and long-distance travel separately.
In this initial post I would like begin by telling you how I travel (long-distance) and why. I have always been an avid cyclist, ever since I had learned to ride. I learned a little later than all the other kids, probably down to the fact that my mum would carry me on her cross-bar, which seemed to me like a much easier way for me to travel. But once I was able I often had no other option but to cycle everywhere I went. Our family did not have a car until I was in secondary school and even then I still had to cycle in most of the time.
So, I grew up and left home to go to university and took my bike with me only to leave it in the corner of my room. London seemed very dangerous to me when I was so used to cycling down the canal and quiet lanes of my hometown. I spent my first year of university, making as many trips abroad as I could – each time taking a flight without thinking of the environmental consequences. My bike still sat in the corner looking rather forlorn.
Then summer came and I wanted to do some more travelling, but my conscience had got the better of me over the last year and I decided I would not fly anywhere. So what could I do? I had to be in Italy for a university fieldtrip at the end of summer. I looked at my bike. It isn’t too far, right? Well, it was about 1500km.

Big, black and sturdy - seeking athletic and adventurous young male.
Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_touring

This is where travelling changed for me. After a few months of planning I set off on my solo cycle tour and it was the greatest holiday ever! There are really only positives to taking a bicycle as your form of transport. Not only is it almost completely carbon free, but it is also fairly cheap – I mean, not as cheap as a flight, but you get a much longer holiday out of it. When you take a flight you also miss out on all that fantastic scenery in-between; all the mountains, rivers, seas, forests and little villages that you will never visit as you jump from city to city. Finally (and most importantly, for my past, slightly overweight self) you become fit and healthy from all the cycling. I haven’t got many photos from the time but here is my before and after photo!

As you can see, it does a lot for the figure... And the facial hair.

This is now how I like to travel, discover the local details rather than all of the cities in the world. I know this form of travel does not appeal to everyone however and that I will become a bit restricted once I want to leave Europe, but the beauty behind travelling by bicycle is that you can take that bicycle anywhere in the world and it will be your eco-friendly companion for life.

Throughout this topic I hope to address some other forms of alternative travel, such as hitchhiking and also take a look at ecotourism, but for now I hope you enjoyed my story! If you have any questions on how to go about organising a trip like this yourself please feel free to ask!