European Bike Trip

by Reid Peryam· September 09, 2023· in Europe, Travel· 0 comments tags: austria, italy, slovenia
When someone invites me to do something somewhere in the world, my default is yes. Well I’ve had to re-evaluate that position since meeting Costanza – a woman whose sense of adventure and desire to travel and explore new places vastly outshines my own. She was doing a bike trip through Europe (Austria, Italy and Slovenia) for 7 days that her friend had organized and invited me to join alongside five others. So I reorganized my itinerary (sorry Vancouver, some other time). A cool thing about the bike trip was since I was in the central European time zone (which was about 7 hours behind in the USA timezone I work within) I didn’t have to take any time off work. Each morning we started biking with an early start to avoid midday European summer head and then arrived at the next destination in the afternoon which allotted plenty of time to attend my remote work meetings and grind on client work. The best part though was that the project I was currently working on during the trip got canceled half way through it, so I didn’t end up working at all during the entire six days, which was great. […]
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Slovenia was a respite after a three week, high-paced, Scandinavian vacation — things were much slower here in the capital city, Ljubljana. The population is not small at 277,000 but it feels small owing to the many bikes, little traffic and uncrowded arrangement of buildings, boulevards and people. I purchased a bike the day after my arrival for 60 euros — necessitated in order to travel to any of the three gyms I frequented in the mornings — 20 minute bike rides away. The slow-living in Slovenia turned out to be hyper-constructive for work and I found it easy to concentrate among so few distractions (other than the European heat wave and complete lack of air conditioning). I stayed in a dormitory housing high school students during the school year without access to refrigeration and a very meager kitchenette shared by about 50 people. It was all good though because I’m thoroughly adaptable to #nofridgelife — sardines, pumpkin seeds, Brazil nuts, fruit, carrots and peanut butter — these foods are easy to store and for me to eat. I visited lake Bled, one of the most famous tourist destinations within Slovenia — a picturesque lake with a castle that afforded swimming and escape from the […]
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I arrived into Ljubljana, Slovenia late on the eve of my 35th birthday — a formative year in that I am allowed to run for president and my age is equidistant from twenty and fifty. The next day I purchased a used mountain bike for 60 Euros to serve as my transport for the next month. I also visited Crossfit Ljubljana and did heavy squats and deadlifts. That evening I was surprised by my friend Trevor who had arranged a river boat tour and karaoke night in celebration of my birthday. I was definitely surprised! My buddy Jeff had arranged for cigars and there was even a buffet. Great birthday.  
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