9 Years Cycling Around the World: The Final Chapter | Tomas Mac An T-Saoir

In Part 2 of my conversation with Irish cyclist Tomas Mac An T-Saoir, we continue his nine-year journey around the world by bicycle. We begin in Syria and Afghanistan, where Tomas shares what it was like to travel through regions affected by conflict and have frank, human conversations with the people who live there. One powerful story includes an Afghan woman who was permitted by local authorities to guide him through her city, offering him a rare window into daily life under restrictive laws.

From the Middle East, our conversation shifts right back to New Zealand, where this chapter of Tomas’s journey actually began, and where Covid lockdowns meant he ended up staying far longer than he ever expected. His time in New Zealand eventually led to Australia,  and onward to Timor Leste and Indonesia, where he dealt with blistering heat, remote roads and even a major earthquake on the Indonesian side of Timor.

We also explore something many long-term travellers quietly struggle with: finishing. After nine years of life on the road, how do you return home? What happens to your identity when the bike stops moving? And how do you make sense of everything you have seen and experienced along the way?

If you are interested in bikepacking, long-term travel, culture, human stories and round-the-world cycling, this episode offers an honest look at both the extraordinary and the everyday parts of life on the road.

Follow Tomas on Instagram - @anbotharfada

📍 Listen to Part 1:
Meet the Irishman who Cycled Around the World — Tomas Mac An T-Saoir (Part 1)
Episodes mentioned during this conversation:

Peter Gostelow -

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:27

When I left that particular village, I had started climbing up another hill and again just got defeated, turned the corner. It was like a wall in front of me. And just mentally I was so defeated. I hopped off the bike, had to start pushing again. I was like, I'm never gonna make it up here. Like, and I'm just gonna be so drained by the sun and the heat and stuff. And but then these kids started pushing. The kids from the village had followed me, and it was only like a couple of hundred meters back to the village, but they'd followed me out and they started pushing, and like the next couple of kilometers, they were just like helping me walk and push the bike up. But then that night I stopped in a like I was like a beach, but it was like a small little like not a village, but it was like a couple of like roadside restaurants or whatever. So I asked where could I camp? They told me where they camp outside this like abandoned building. So I pitched up the tent there, eventually drifted off to sleep. There was people fishing down the pier beside me, and then during the night, just everything started violently shaking.

Experiences in Syria and Afghanistan

SPEAKER_02 1:19

Welcome to Seek Travel Ride, where we share the stories and experiences of people taking amazing adventures by bike. Whether it's crossing state borders, mountain ranges, countries, or continents, we want to share that spirit of adventuring on two wheels with our listeners. Hello everyone, just letting you know this is part two of my conversation with guest Tomas McIntyre. If you haven't yet listened to part one, you definitely want to do that before listening to this episode. I've got a link to part one in the podcast show notes, or simply check it out in your podcast player app. For those of you who have listened to part one, you will definitely be enjoying part two. We start off with stories of Tomas talking more about his experiences in Syria, Afghanistan, and also Lebanon. Before we wind him back to New Zealand and how he made his way back across to Ireland. Here's part two. Did you get I don't want to use the word comfortable because I don't think that's the right word to use, but as the days wore on were you in Syria, were you less on edge?

SPEAKER_00 2:36

Yeah, in a way, uh you like you just get used to seeing that destruction. As bad as that sounds, it's not normal, but no.

SPEAKER_02 2:47

Yeah, that's what you're expecting to see.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Like obviously it still stands out, like it's not as if you're totally oblivious, like trying to ignore it or look away or whatever, like, but it was just it was just everywhere.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

Yeah, because I've seen images, and I mean I I've watched it on the news, and I I know some amazing places have been destroyed now, but you know, there's an amazing history in Syria as well. Oh, incredibly like Roman history, there's amphitheatres, there's there's huge yeah, like whoa.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Like pre-Civil War, like it was tourism was huge there, you know, a lot of people visited. Um, and even when I was like posting a couple of pictures online or whatever, people would have reached out, been like, I was there pre-Civil War, and then they send me photographs of what it looked like back then, and even they'd get like upset messaging because they're just like, Oh my god, like we, you know, we we all knew there's a civil war there and stuff, but I guess, and look, you can see videos and pictures online and stuff, but it's so different when you're there staring at it. So that was that difference, and then you know, you start talking to people like my first evening there, I got taken in by a local family, and I got taken in a lot in Afghanistan as well. Any war anywhere in the world, there's horrific stories, but just Syria just seemed to take it to another level. Um, just the sheer amount of like debt and destruction. Like the first evening I was at someone's house, and he showed me where his old house actually was, and it had been bombed by the Syrian Air Force, like his own government bombed his house trying to kill him because it was in a rebel area that was down in the south. So he was in his newer house or whatever, and he had been a rebel soldier, like this guy I was staying with had fought for the rebels against the government. The room I was sleeping in, his AK-47, his body armor, his uniform was in the corner. Now he's not obviously fighting anymore, but they were just like going back to like people being so brutally honest. You know, he just told me all about it. He told me how he got involved, where he was fighting, how long he was fighting for family members that were killed. Took me for a drive, took me to like the local gravesite. This place was just huge, and he was just like, This is just this one small village. And these are the bodies that we could find, we could retrieve. And then it's like the huge underground prison network that they had in Syria where people just disappeared, never to be seen again. And they're still looking for loved ones today.

SPEAKER_03 5:09

Gosh.

The Emotional Toll of War Zones

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Walking through Damascus, you'd see these like posters of somebody and it was just like, oh obviously, it's all in Arabic or whatever, but it's just like, you know, like, have you seen or whatever? And it was just the stories were just and you're kind of sitting there just just drinking tea as if you're having a normal conversation, yet that normal conversation is all about the horrors of what they went through. So again, that that same old question of like, should I be here? But then also, and having spoken to a few other people about it since, on the other side of the of the tin, then, or on the other side of the kind, maybe for them it's good as well that in a way life is like kind of going back to normal, that tierists are returning back. Somebody would come on a bicycle feeling relative, you know, not safe, safe, but that like at least if he's coming on a bicycle, he thinks he might be okay. That like life's going back to normal, and then you know, they're just talking to a stranger about it, telling a story from scratch where you know, maybe within themselves or amongst themselves there might be too much trauma to talk about it that they don't want to bring it up with family members or friends.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

Yeah, you almost become someone that they can speak openly with. Yeah, you know, yeah. But that comes with a r another burden. Like how did you feel when you left Syria? And even with Afghanistan, I know they were different trips, but you're experiencing stuff that's not normal, you're hearing stuff that's not normal, you're seeing it that it's not normal, but there's an edge to it. Like, how does it feel when you then go somewhere that's a bit inverted brackets more normal? Does it still weigh heavily on you? You you talk about, you know, you can you you're seeing images that you've experienced and then going, oh do you think about it now? But what was it like to leave that behind? And then because I feel there's so many different aspects of your travel. And I remember Tomas when before I sat down here, I was thinking, I don't want to just go straight to these zones and it's just naturally come up. I'd like to go to some beautiful landscapes and amazing sunsets and beautiful mountains and haha moments as well. But there is an element where your travels like your emotions, which have gone from being really fearful and panicky in Sudan to just being so happy, surrounded by strangers and hospitality to experiencing a war-torn country really when stuff's still going down, to then leaving it behind. Like, what what's that side of it like? There's like it's like a cycle tour of extremes in times, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Yeah. Um I definitely struggled because you kind of feel like this completely broken, helpless that you're just like kind of like, how the hell can humanity ever become like this?

SPEAKER_03 7:41

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

So after leaving Syria, I got into Lebanon. But even though I felt like that, I still felt as if like I had to just embrace the journey I was on and try to make the most out of Lebanon. So I did a you know, did a bit more biking there, took a few days off at Beirut, say with my friend Rob, who I'd met in Syria previously, and then I decided to go down to like South Lebanon. Because again, like, and I know like you know, South Lebanon, it's in the news every day now. When I was there, it was still like I guess being bombed by Israel and stuff, but I still wanted to go down and see it and experience it. But just part of me inside, it just I kind of just had enough. I was just like, this in a bad way, I was just like, this isn't fun anymore. Like, this is just something I had again, like had I bitten off more than I can chew, kind of way of thinking. And uh when I went down to South Lebanon, you know, I had been stopped by local people, Hezbollah had been called, I'd had to deal with like engage with Hezbollah, get quiz by them, have my phone and stuff checked, a lot of questions being asked, and I just got I was just like something again, something just snapped inside me. I was just like, I just want to get out of here. Like, this is just it's becoming too much now. Like I went traveling, like I said, to see the world for the good, the bad, the ugly. And you know, obviously you want to have good moments all the time.

SPEAKER_03 9:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

And now that I saw the other side of it, the real, real, real ugly part of it. When I was down in South Lebanon, I was just like, I got stopped by Hezbollah for like the bloody tenth time that day, and it was like 11 o'clock at night. I was walking back to where I was staying, and I was like, uh yeah, I just got stopped by them and just quizzed and stuff, and I had to sit and wait like it was if it was like a bold schoolboy. And a woman was on my right side, and then obviously like Hezbollah members are on, and they're not in uniform, like they're not going around with guns, they're just because they're not meant to be down there, like they were meant to be, they're not they're meant to stay north of the Lutani River, so they were further south than what they're meant to be, and so like they're just dressed in normal casual clothes, like there's you know, you wouldn't know one from from the next guy down there, if you know. So, but you know, at that stage when I was sat down um waiting for another fella to turn up, to wait for another fella to turn up, the woman in my in my right ear was just people have died, like it's not good to be here, and you're kind of just sit there, sitting there staring at the floor. And I was trying to like engage with them, you know. Usually when you get into situations like that, like when I had to deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan, or when I came across like HTS or other whatever armed groups in in Syria, you know, you try to engage, you try to ask them for something like water or food, just so that you know, you kind of give them give them the feeling that they have to look after you, that you're not a threat or whatever to them. But that night, I was just like, I was so fed up with it. I was just like, nah, this is just getting too much now. Like this woman's in my ear telling me, like, oh, so many people have died, family members and stuff. Then I had another guy who kind of like freaked me out a bit because he came over like just really he was really worked up and he ended up like ripping his shirt open and he did a tattoo of Natsurella, the Hezbollah leader who got killed in a bombing attack, and he just started like beating his chest and stuff, and I was like, Oh shit, like yeah, and I was just like, No, like I'm I'm I'm I'm tapping out.

SPEAKER_02 11:03

Like, if I if I get all of this in one piece, I reject this tomorrow's out, mic drop, go away.

SPEAKER_00 11:09

Yeah, I just like if I get all of this in one piece, like I'm just hopping on my bike tomorrow morning and I'm just riding the hell out of here. I'm going to Beirut, I'm booking a flight to Turkey because this is just like again, but at the same time, looking back on it now, it was an experience. But when I was there, again, just like something snapped inside me, and I was just like, having seen what I saw in Syria, experienced what I experienced, heard what I heard. You're in these towns and stuff. I was up in um in Malula, which is like one of two or three places in Syria that are even in the whole world that speak a language that's very similar to what Jesus Christ spoke. And while I was there, I met these local guys, and they had been like, Oh, like there's another town up the road that spoke it, but it's pretty much destroyed. But you should go and check it out because it's only like four or five K's away. So I rode up there and I got into this like what was a town once upon a time, and I just rode up through it, and obviously, like people were coming out, and I was just like, Where are they coming out? Like, everything's astrayed here. But they'd started moving back in into what their old houses were. And anyways, I parked up the bike at the top of the town because we kind of got up this little hill and there's like a square at the top. So I parked up the bike there, got off, and I just kind of like started walking around just looking, and I don't even know what I was looking at because everything was astrayed and I was kind of like my head was just like in a different universe. And then this guy came on a motorbike and he kind of beckoned me to follow him. So I followed him and went down a couple of alleyways, and then he kind of took me by the hand and started walking me through all these rubbles, like houses, all everything had been like blown up or destroyed. But he was talking and he was talking, talking, talking. So I got out Google Translate, and it wasn't really like working too well. But I got like screenshot, he'd say whatever he was saying, I'd screenshot it, then start it again. And and again, going back to like how brutally honest they are, but one sentence just really hit me when I was looking back in those pictures after that that night, and it was just like they can come for us again, we don't care, we're gonna die here, we're gonna stay here, even if if it even if it means we have to eat the ground, like eat the dust or the whatever's on the ground, even like meaning like if there was no food for them, like whatever they did, they weren't going to leave again. They were just basically just if whatever came back to kill them that they were gonna stay there.

SPEAKER_02 13:27

Yeah, wow.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

And you're kind of just like, Jesus, and then I've got goosebumps again. Yeah, like other towns that I was in, and you're seeing people like going back to just rubble and stuff, and they're trying to rebuild their lives again, and you're kind of like thinking, what the hell have they been through? But also, you know, you're kind of thinking like just the bravery of them, how courageous they are, how just kind of noble they are that there's like this happened, now it's time to move on, and like going on about like things you don't want to see anywhere in the world, but like being in Iran and again like women rights issues in Iran, and you're seeing, and this is something that's just doesn't seem to be addressed in Western media, but like just the bravery, and same in Afghanistan as well, with like underground schools where girls at their own danger are going and trying to learn. Yeah, yeah, yeah. At like huge, huge risk.

SPEAKER_02 14:22

Wow, they're the brave people in this world. Yeah. Something that I really hate is when I see someone who's doing something that's really physically hard and they're saying how much they're suffering and it's like going to war or something like that. I'm like, no, it's not. And then someone doing something and someone, gosh, you're so brave to do that. No, the people that are brave, are those are those girls going to an underground school? Like, holy, and standing up for their rights, like that is more bravery than than I could ever have.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

And like the subtle protests going on in Iran where you know women are going around and they've got like a headscarf or like even a baseball cap now. They don't want to wear the full cover.

SPEAKER_03 15:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

But again, like it's just stuff like I noticed it while I was there and I'd spoken. And in in Iran, it's it's definitely much easier to speak to women than than Afghanistan. There are probably most countries in the Middle East, like Iran was like again, they were really open, but like you could engage with them on the street, coffee shops, like there was no warriors like in Afghanistan. I think I spoke to I'd one proper conversation with a girl across like I spent three weeks, three and a half weeks like across the country, and I'd won proper conversation, and that left me thinking, being like, because it happened in Herat, so I was just walking along the street in the city, and Herat's in the west of Afghanistan, like maybe I don't know, less than a hundred miles from from Iran. So, anyways, I was just walking along the street, and this girl came up to me and like really good English, like, Hi, how are you? Where are you going? And I was on my way to Alexander the Great City draw, like the history out there as well, is is insane. But I was walking there and I told her, and we were kind of walking talking for like five odd minutes, and I just turned to her, I was just like, I don't want to get you into trouble. You could see people looking, but like no one like you know, it wasn't like bad looks again, like just being a foreigner there, but then obviously a foreigner talking to a local woman there as well. But um, but nothing happened, so she was like, No, like it's okay, we can walk and talk, there's no problem with this. So we spent like literally the rest of the day together. Wow. So she took me to the city drill, and um, when we got there, she was like, Oh, just wait here a second, and like Taliban are back in charge, they're the police, security, army, government, whatever. So they were the ones that were like security for the city drill. So she walked up to a couple of them and spoke to them and came back, and she was like, Okay, we can go, it's okay. And I was just like, sorry, what the hell just happened there? Like, you just went up to them and spoke to them, and she was like, Yeah, I just told them that like you're a guest in our country, that you don't speak the local language, and that you want to learn more about the city drill than I speak fluent English, so I'm gonna show you around. And I was like, They're okay with that. They were like, Yeah, you're a guest in our country, and you know, we want to make sure that you have a good time here, whatever, that you learn as much as you can, etc. So we were inside there walking around, taking photographs, and but then like after that experience, I was kind of just left thinking, like, how many more how often more could that have happened if I had like not pushed it or whatever, but just like even tried? Because in my thinking, I was like talking to women here just like a big no no, it'll get them into trouble.

SPEAKER_02 17:30

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:31

And that's the last thing you want to do was get someone into trouble just because you want to because you're there, yeah, exactly.

New Zealand: A Breath of Fresh Air

SPEAKER_02 17:36

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Oh no, I I would feel that burden deeply. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I I that that would be that would be a major concern. Yeah, totally I'd get you there. Wow. Holy whoa, Tomas. I knew before we'd interview or get down at there would be some amazing stories. The amount of times I've had goosebumps with what you're saying. Let's get into some fun stories. I realise we've been chatting for ages, and I hope it I hope that's okay with you. Like I I I have got so many are you are you okay? Are you time-wise okay? Yeah, yeah, no, very good. Very, very good. Where do I take you? I actually want to take you to New Zealand. I'm gonna totally whoa uh is that like the most polar opposite place I could possibly take you? I think so. Yeah. I often say with New Zealand, and I think Tasmania is similar, and I'm sure there are other places in the world, but I feel like you breathe the most purest air in places in that country.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

New Zealand's fabulous.

SPEAKER_02 18:36

It is beautiful, it is scenic, the landscapes are incredible, and Kiwis are generally pretty good people too, I find. They're just in Aussie's saying there's no big upness there. I don't I don't think they're trying to one-up you there. I don't think they're just genuine. That's how I find them anyway. I know look, I'm sure that there's Kiwis that maybe aren't. But the ones that I've met have been awesome.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Very few.

SPEAKER_02 18:56

Yeah, exactly. So well, you took yourself to New Zealand I think it was January 2020, great timing. Um, with the view that you were gonna ride back to Ireland, and then you got stuck there, didn't you?

SPEAKER_00 19:08

Yeah, pretty much. Probably like voluntarily stuck, I suppose. That was after I finished Africa. I tried to go back to university, had kind of like a relationship breakup, and then just yeah, I was just like, okay, well, let's go and do another trip. And I was just like, where can I go? So I'd originally planned to do like Bali back to Ireland, but I was just like, oh geez, if I'm going all the way to Bali, I might as well keep going to New Zealand.

SPEAKER_02 19:32

Is that like that that could potentially be the longest flight you could take from Ireland actually to New Zealand?

SPEAKER_00 19:36

Oh, it was uh yeah, New Zealand's like the furthest country, it was a horrible flight.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

I think of Kiwis every time I fly back to Australia, thinking, well, I get off here, and there's some poor Kiwis on this flight that have still got another three or four hours to go. Yeah. Another flight, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:49

And yeah, and going on about like just yeah, I don't know, like funny stories. Like when I was flying, I had typical Irish sending off like it was a few days on the beer before going, and then got on my flight, didn't sleep from the flight from Dublin to Turkey, and then when I s eventually slept from Turkey to I was flying to Malaysia, I think. I just got like just a fear, like you know, a few days of drinking, and then all of a sudden you're asleep. You get all these weird nightmares and stuff. And uh the poor woman sitting beside me because when we were flying away, I fell asleep and just had this really like bad nightmare or whatever that the plane was crashing. So like the plane's going down, down, down, down, down, and all of a sudden I just wake up and I go. The woman's coming beside me, and I'm just like, Oh my, like, why does everyone say it's on cam? And then she's like, What's wrong with you? I was just like, We're crushing. She's like, No, we're not. She's like, I wonder she's like, I was wondering what was going on with you. I was just like, Right, I'm not falling back to sleep again to the screen. Oh my god, it is.

SPEAKER_02 20:49

There's always there's always those other experiences too, right? Nightmares aside, where you're on a long haul. And and when I say long haul, I I mean that you are going on a on a flight that, you know, or there's two flights that are gonna take a whole day, like a real long flight. You strap in for like 14 hours, and you you get on, you take off, an hour after you take off, they generally serve a meal, then the lights might go down if it's night time, and then you might be sleepy and you go, right, that's great, I'm gonna try and get as much sleep as possible. And you wake up feeling so refreshed, thinking, Oh, super, we must be landing soon, and then you look up and it's like 12 and a half hours to go. That's awful. Have you had that as well?

SPEAKER_00 21:26

I never had like a long flight like that. I think the long is good for that, but maybe like eight hours or something, but yeah, those uh and then the jet lag afterwards landing in New Zealand. I was just like, fuck, I was like, I hope I don't have to do this flight. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:39

Traveling east, your jet lag is a lot worse as well. Yeah, yeah. But let's get you get to New Zealand and the idea. Where do you land in New Zealand? Are you landing in Auckland?

SPEAKER_00 21:48

Yeah, Auckland, and then yeah, and then instead of my friend spent about a week there just like getting ready, been because I had the jet lag for a few days, so like I wasn't really doing much, just really weird sleeping hours and stuff. And then yeah, eventually got going. And like you said, like whatever, two months later, I'd actually I was meant to fly to um I had booked a flight to Australia on the 12th of March, I'm thinking, because I wanted to be in Australia for St. Patrick's Day, the 17th because I had people to meet in Sydney and like the consulate there had been in touch with me and stuff to be there for St. Patrick's Day, and then I was having such a good time in New Zealand, like you said about the Kiwis, like just such lovely, friendly people, great crack, so many like delays, and then I ended up getting added to this um uh just so typically Irish like there was there's a group, like a Facebook group called Irish Mammies in New Zealand, because like for Irish Mammies, and it's very strict, you can only you're only allowed in if you're a mammy.

SPEAKER_02 22:48

Which you clearly aren't. Hello.

SPEAKER_00 22:51

I was an exception. So basically, um you are exceptional. Irish like Irish women would find it hard to like break into Kiwi friend groups, and that's not saying that like they're not friendly people, whatever, it's just like you know, you've moved over whatever age and you're trying to do it.

SPEAKER_02 23:13

Living in another country in France, I I can understand that. Yeah, go ahead.

Settling in New Zealand During COVID

SPEAKER_00 23:16

So then basically, like so they set up this Facebook group so they could like support each other. So, anyways, unknown to me at the stage, one of the Irish mummies had mentioned me in this Facebook group. So, and while I was in New Zealand at the start, I didn't get a SIM card because I just wanted to travel, like you know, I could get onto Wi-Fi, whatever when I needed it, but I didn't want that distraction of data or whatever. So, anyways, at this one particular day I was at a gas station having a coffee, and I I turned on, I got Wi-Fi, and my phone just went crazy. I was getting all these messages from Irish mammies all over New Zealand and being like, Oh, hey, we're based here, family, husband, kids, like please come and stay, you're more than welcome. So I was looking through all the messages, looking at the towns, and then I was trying to piece together like how I could like get to as many houses as I could to meet all these people, because that's the other side of traveling as well. You want to meet as many people as you can. So I had to redesign my whole route, and that led into the delay of not going to Australia.

SPEAKER_03 24:17

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 24:18

So again, this is like a decision like that.

SPEAKER_02 24:20

A sliding doors decision, too, right?

SPEAKER_00 24:22

Yeah, and I ended up staying in New Zealand for just shy of like two and a half years and stuff, and whereas it could have been the other way, I could have ended up being in Australia for all the COVID rather than being in New Zealand.

unknown 24:32

Mmm.

SPEAKER_03 24:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:34

And all thanks to some Irish woman who put me into an Irish mammy's Facebook group in New Zealand.

SPEAKER_02 24:40

Yeah, so while you were in New Zealand two and a half years, I I'm pretty sure you're working there, obviously. Did you do some trips while in New Zealand? Like did you did you get and and and even then they're very different journeys, aren't they? New Zealand's not a huge country, it's a beautiful country. Were you able to do short trips? Like you were there in lockdown, like the country was locked down, but were you free to move through it and stuff like that?

SPEAKER_00 25:04

Yeah, pretty much. Um so I had ended up in the South Island.

SPEAKER_02 25:11

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

Ah, like, yeah, great decision. And when COVID was kicking off elsewhere in the world, like I think Italy, Lombardy had gone into lockdown. It was just then Italy went into lockdown, and anyways, you just kind of realized like it's going to come this way as well. So I applied for the work holiday visa, had my application in, and then COVID came, and then it was after that that the lockdown had finished. I found a place to stay with a lovely Irish family that took me intro on COVID. Um, so I was very lucky as well that I had met this family, and when COVID kicked off, you know, I was like, Oh, I think I put up like something on Facebook being like because at that stage, like no one knew what was going to happen with COVID. Like, was it going, you know, like no one knew if it was gonna end the world or if it was going to be gone in a couple of weeks or whatever. So afterwards I had got back in the bike. I still hadn't heard about my visa. I was still in New Zealand. So I got back in the bike, then got a job pretty much like the next day. I kind of something sorted. And then yeah, so whatever I was working away, just just doing normal life. I guess kind of becoming an immigrant by accident, so like working, paying bills, everything that I didn't imagine I'd be doing at that stage of my life. And it was it was great, like we were partying, working, having fun, went playing football out there. There was a ski field nearby, so I was skiing like five months of the year. And then yeah, you could go away and do trips because they basically just like didn't leave anyone into the country.

SPEAKER_02 26:39

Yeah, they closed they closed their borders down, and Australia pretty much did the same thing, really.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So like there was no need to pre-book any of the trips and stuff, and you were getting discounts and people were just happy to have the business, I guess. But like I didn't really do many, I don't think I did any biking trip at all until I got back in the bike to finish off the cycle. But we were and then I was just doing trips with friends and stuff. So you go away and like do one of the great and like the outdoor activities on on the South Island, like it's just an outdoor heaven. Like if anyone really wants to go, ah, like it's so like New Zealand top to bottom, north to North Island tip to the South Island tip. It's like in Europe, it's like Norway down to the bottom of Spain, like it's it's huge. And I you know, with the the scale of the map of the world, you you know, some countries are made out to be much smaller than what they are, or whatever, and New Zealand is one of them. Like New Zealand is like Australia is big, and then obviously beside Australia, New Zealand looks so small, but when you're in New Zealand, it's it's a really, really big country.

SPEAKER_02 27:39

With some amazing, like it's got everything, I think. You know, mountains, volcanoes, lakes, beaches, rainforests, fjords. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

It's got everything.

SPEAKER_02 27:50

It really does.

SPEAKER_00 27:52

Probably a few, very few countries in the world that are like that. Like I'd always say like New Zealand, South Island. Like I haven't done I did Switzerland a little bit, but not all of it. But like Switzerland is done in North Pakistan, and probably like for fjords and stuff at least, anyways, you're probably going up to like North Norway. They mightn't have had like the high mountains that like Switzerland and Pakistan would have. Like those great walks in New Zealand were just like so nice.

SPEAKER_02 28:19

Did you do some of those?

SPEAKER_00 28:21

Yeah, I did like the Able Tasman, I did the root burn.

SPEAKER_02 28:24

I was down like then you're driving down into um Did you go to Paradise, which is down past Glenorchy, I think?

SPEAKER_00 28:30

Yeah, I went out there. I lived down in Queensland, at Queensland for the town.

SPEAKER_02 28:33

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

Like we went to Wanaka, Middleton.

SPEAKER_02 28:36

So my husband and I we got married in New Zealand actually. On the Tasman Glacier up near Mount Cook. It was just the two of us. No family, no friends, just just us, that was it. And we spent our honeymoon in New Zealand, obviously, as well. And I remember we had like a little tiny hire car and we drove it down. We didn't even know we were going. I remember we were going that but I always remember thinking I'd really like to cycle down here between Queenstown and Glenorkey and stuff. Like it looked amazing down by the little lakeside there. We ended up in this place called Paradise. They were actually filming for for the Hobbit while we were there. This is this is going back into the annals. And I remember we we saw this big marquee and I was like, oh wow, is that like a big wedding or something? And then we realised after the fact, no, that was actually the the film setup. But I remember paradise, and I remember thinking it's so aptly named. Like it was again, it's that feeling of breathing the purest air. And I I I'm trying to think, is it the Rootburn track that just goes from there? Is it Kipflo? I don't know, one of them does.

SPEAKER_00 30:16

Yeah, the Root Burn, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:18

Yeah, what a beautiful place. Oh my gosh. Incredible.

SPEAKER_00 30:22

Absolutely incredible down there.

SPEAKER_02 30:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:24

Um yeah, when I was getting ready for that university talk last week, I was kind of looking back in the pictures and videos and stuff, and just like, uh, you kind of just go back in time, and then when I had left New Zealand to go to Australia, that was, like I said, like nearly two and a half years later. I was so slow to make that decision.

SPEAKER_02 30:42

Do you think was there part of you that could have stayed longer? Like w because you were there for so long, was there an element where you you where you nearly just like did you did you ever even imagine I don't even know if it would have been possible, probably not, but did you ever think about staying longer? Or did conversely when you're away from family and stuff for so long, did you ever think of just heading straight back to Ireland?

SPEAKER_00 31:05

Um I bit about I I would love to have stayed in New Zealand, but I knew if I'd stayed, like that would probably have been that. I don't think I could have stayed for like another year and then got back in the bike. I think you know, if I was staying, I was staying for the long term rather than just another year or two.

SPEAKER_02 31:21

Do you think you could go back there now and stay? Like like do you ever think about that?

SPEAKER_00 31:25

Or live? I do think about it, but I think it's just it's it's so far from home.

SPEAKER_02 31:33

It takes over a day. It's over a day. I always thought that Australia's a day in the air, New Zealand's over a day in the air, and there's no you can't go the other way and it's shorter either.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

And I think with just the experience and memories I have from New Zealand, I'm happy just to kind of park them where they are. Because, you know, if I went back and maybe just let's say to say if it happened, like maybe if if it didn't work out as well as the first time did, you know, then would you just kind of like leave on a sour note or something? I have very, very happy memories of the yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:02

Yeah, that's a really good point. I've often wondered this, and I wonder this of myself, but sometimes when an experience is so amazing, there's a temptation to go back because you love to do time there, but then there's also I don't want to cloud it with a different memory. I remember my bike tours are nothing like yours to Mars, but they're they're special to me and they're amazing and they're a bit shorter. But I remember the first time I I felt like I did something big, I crossed the Pyrenees with my husband from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean over all the mountains. It was amazing hard, but amazing. And I remember since then, like there's been times where I'm like tempted to do it again, but I don't want to change the memories. I might do it the other way because it'll feel different. But do you have that feeling with places? Like, for example, would you go back to places that you've already been to, or are you like what you've just said, you don't want to change the memories?

SPEAKER_00 32:57

Yeah, um I probably would go back in a way as well, because like I suppose, like I said to Don, I'm only 31 now, so and haven't seen like a decent chunk of the world about the bicycle. I don't want to like rule out all those places I've been to because it probably really narrows down where I can go in the future. Um like I would like I would definitely go back to New Zealand on a holiday again, without a doubt. But to go back and live there again, yeah. No, that's where I really would really, really need to sit down and think about it.

SPEAKER_02 33:26

Yeah.

Exploring Australia and Beyond

SPEAKER_00 33:27

Um and I guess like back then when it was COVID-related, that decision of staying there was kind of taken out of my hands because it was really simple. It was either stay in New Zealand or go back home to Ireland, and then after we did the first lockdown, just like most of the world did, you know, you saw how well New Zealand had handled it by disaffectively closing the country off. And then you were seen like back at home in Ireland what a shit show it was.

SPEAKER_02 33:53

Oh, I lived that.

SPEAKER_00 33:54

I live that because I like sorry, yeah, you were there, so it was just like I I existed in Ireland.

SPEAKER_02 33:59

I I lived in Ireland when the pubs weren't open for crying out loud. You were talking about Paddy's Day and thinking you were going to be around.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

Like that's the end of the world for us in Ireland. Like, like don't close our pubs.

SPEAKER_02 34:09

It was I can still visibly I can close my eyes and put myself in the lounge room watching the TV, watching the tea shock sort of announce the lockdowns, and then realizing because I think it happened like a couple of days before Paddy's Day in Ireland was the full lockdown.

SPEAKER_00 34:24

Yeah, yeah, it was, yeah. Because we were just after it, I think. I think we had we had some sort of a Paddy's Day. I think we were maybe like a week later in New Zealand.

SPEAKER_02 34:32

So you wouldn't go back to live, but you would revisit places. What about a country like Australia then? It's so big. Like to would you would are there places in Australia you'd like to revisit to ride maybe different areas and stuff like that? And did you find a real difference when you left New Zealand behind and finally went on the road in Australia?

SPEAKER_00 34:51

Yeah, so when I had left New Zealand, I I'd already like arranged a job in Australia, kind of just by complete accident, to be honest. Um yeah, so after COVID in New Zealand, I had finished my bike ride. That's I wanted to do that before I left New Zealand, so I left my job, left my house, you know, sent my stuff over to Australia, got got rid of my car, all that type of stuff, and got back in the bike just to finish off the New Zealand leg. You know, just for my own peace of mind and stuff. And then but before that, a guy I had previous had previously worked with, a chef, he had come down to Queenstown and he was on his way back home to Australia to do like a new job. And um we had met for beers in Queenstown before he left. Anyways, one to another, we ended up drinking beers all day, got a bit drunk, and he had been telling me about this like town in Australia he was moving to, and he was like, Oh mate, I can get you a job and stuff. And I didn't even realize at the time I'd said yes or whatever. And then I woke up the next morning on my couch and my head was like an awful headache, and then my phone, like I these missed calls and a message off a woman in Australia being like, Oh, hey, like Gary said you know, you're keen to work, like when can you start? I was just like, What did I like? Did I call her? Yeah, I was like, I'm so sorry, I I've no recollection of this, but like if if I told Gary, you know, I take a job, I'm good for my word, like, but I was just like, I just have some loose ends to tie up here in New Zealand, and I kind of gave her my bit of my story. And uh I was like, Yeah, but send on like we're in Australia and stuff, so she sent me on the address, and I was just like, How the hell am I meant to get out there?

SPEAKER_02 36:28

Who was it?

SPEAKER_00 36:29

Winton.

SPEAKER_02 36:30

Winton.

SPEAKER_00 36:31

Yeah, between between London Reach and Mount Lisa.

SPEAKER_02 36:38

Sometimes we would say as an Aussie, we'd say out the back of whoop whoop.

Experiencing an Earthquake in Indonesia

SPEAKER_00 36:42

Yeah, that is literally out in the middle of nowhere. So I finished up. Yeah, Jesus, it was in the middle of nowhere. But it turned out to be one of the best experiences as well. So when I was finishing up in New Zealand, I was telling mentioning to people I was going to the Outpack, and just like uh, you know, Kiwi's having a bit of a laugh. They were like, Oh, like, don't go to the Outpack, like, they're all crazy and stuff like that, and whatever. And I was like, No, no, no, they seem sweet, they'd be fine. So got over to Australia and uh like kind of rode out to out to Winton. Kind of like a mix of cycling and I to hitch the last couple of couple of hundred kilometres because they were just like, Look, we need you, it's Easter weekend, like can you come and start work now? Anyways, yeah, got there, had did my bit of work, and then I had gone then to um went back to Sydney, went to Vietnam, ended up cycling Vietnam top to bottom before I did any official cycling in Australia because I wanted to see Southeast Asia, because I'd meant to be there like two years, well, nearly three years before that at that stage. And then I went home to Ireland for a visit, went back to Australia, then took off on the bike, and then and because it was going into like summertime and I had my outback experience done, I wanted to do like a kind of a more scenic route, we'd say. So when Sydney, Canberra, up to like we're mentioning earlier before we started recording, like down by Lake Jindabine up in the Treadbow through Ostcheco National Park, then down through Ned Kelly Country, all that I would have to go back there biking again. It like such a beautiful part. Because when I had initially in 2020, when I went out to New Zealand, the plan was when I was doing the Australia leg, it was just simples uh Sydney across the part, you know, right across the Nullabar, right through the outback. But I wanted to do more of a scenic one and see like a different side to Australia and hadn't really expected to see. And then when I got to Melbourne, took a ferry to Tasmania, and that was like the closest thing to the South Island I've seen. Like Tasmania.

SPEAKER_02 38:33

Again, pure oxygen, beautiful. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 38:35

Yeah, and I didn't I never did the west coast, I only did like the east, and because I was looking at the flights to Dili and I had one booked, and like I booked it like the cheapest flight I could find, so that kind of factored in with my route around Tazi, but like I'd I go back and do Tazi properly again, like and the people out there were so friendly. The drivers were a bit mad, but the people were so friendly, such a beautiful place.

SPEAKER_02 38:55

It was from Australia that you flew to Dili, wasn't it? Yeah. And then after Delhi, and then so that after Dili on Pacing Your Journey, it it's logical. Dili, Indonesia, I'm guessing.

SPEAKER_00 39:04

Yeah, basically all ferries.

SPEAKER_02 39:06

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 39:07

Yeah. That was challenging in different ways as well, like just extreme weather. I had an earthquake as well. There was a bloody bad earthquake one night when I was in Indonesia.

SPEAKER_02 39:16

That is a freaky experience. I where I live in the Pyrenees, we actually get a lot of tremors. Well, not a lot, but we do get them. And there was a major earthquake a few hundred years ago, and the epicenter was our village, which is slightly disconcerting. Yeah, we didn't realise we were in an earthquake zone until we bought the house. And then when you buy a house in France, they sit you down and go through it's called the Diagnostics, which is like, you know, what's what's the house like? Is there asbestos, is there termats, blah blah blah. And one of them is about like earthquake, seismic. And I'm like, oh wow. Anyway, I digress. But I was in Istanbul Airport earlier this year, and there was like a 6.2 earthquake that hit there, and that is freaky. Holy. And where were you? Where were you when you had the earthquake?

SPEAKER_00 39:59

Um uh Timor Island, but on the west, and I think it was I think it was 7.9.

SPEAKER_02 40:06

Oh my gosh, that's massive.

SPEAKER_00 40:07

It was, but it was like off way off the northern coast of of East Timor. So like I was a bit over to the west on the southern side.

SPEAKER_02 40:15

So then I they sort of then worried about tsunamis and stuff there, wouldn't they?

SPEAKER_00 40:19

Or yeah, but so I had like I had a really difficult day that day because it was just so when I when I cross into the western, the Indonesian side of Timor Island, um, from East Timor, there's kind of two ways you can go across the island. You can just take like the main roads, that's what like other touring cyclists had taken. But then I saw I just about like could make out like a road in the south. So you kind of have to like zoom in a bit. But there was another road along the coast, and when I got to the crossroad, I was like, uh, which way do I go? Do I just kind of go the easier way or go the more kind of difficult way that I have absolutely no knowledge about? So I was like, okay, let's just try go the other way. So I took the difficult way, and that night when the airquake hit, but during that day, I had just I reckon it was probably one of the hardest days cycling ever because it was just so stinky hot. I had puncture trouble, and because I was sweating so much, it was so So hard to like get a dry patch.

unknown 41:14

Oh my gosh.

A Grueling Day and Night in Timor

SPEAKER_00 41:15

Oh like I did the first patch and it got so frustrating. And then I was just like buckling down with sweat. And then these two guys came to help me. Just like two guys who were passing, they jumped into help. But I managed to like get my hands dry enough that I could just like get the patch on quickly. And then just these ridiculously stupid steep hills started. And ones like easily 20-25 plus gradient that just went on and on. And I remember like I had to walk up one hill, and usually I'd be quite decent at going up hills. Like I get very stubborn as well. But hill climbing is what I love doing. So like every time I see a hill, I just plow into it, give it my all. Like just try like get up as quick as I can. But this hill just defeated me, and I had to walk and walk and walk. And then it was just like because it was so hot, I was just like, I could I could sense I was like struggling with heat stroke and stuff. Like I'd you know, just the early, very, very early onsets of it. But I remember like I saw like a like a house over this ditch on my left, climbed up over the ditch with my bike, plonked it down, saw a tree, sat in the shade, and then I'd look behind me, and there was these two locals sitting down looking at me. And I kind of looked up and I was just like like pinting to the sun and just being like, oh, like I'd be gone in like a few minutes. I was just kind of like trying to let them know that I was just like really struggling with the heat and that I was not going to be any nuisance for them or whatever. And then they smiled and it was and then they came over and bought me water and stuff. There was no shops or whatever, it was just like a very non-touristy, very, very local part of like in the that side of Indonesia where seeing a foreigner just like bought great intrigue again. I remember stopping in one village to have like a few cans of coke or seven up or just to get sugar into me. And again, like just everyone came down surrounding me, and I was kind of like, just give me five minutes, just like and I'll I'll be fine. I'll just like I'll perk up again. I just I'm really low on sugar and water and blah blah blah. So you're trying to like entertain them as well and have a bit of crack with them and stuff. But when I left that particular village, I had started climbing up another hill and again just got defeated, turned the corner. It was like a wall in front of me, and just mentally I was so defeated. I hopped off the bike, realized I start I had to start pushing again. I was like, fuck, like I'm never gonna make it up here, like, and I'm just gonna be so drained by the sun and the heat and stuff. And but then these kids started pushing.

SPEAKER_02 43:28

Oh my gosh, they help you push.

SPEAKER_00 43:30

Yeah, yeah. The the kids from the village had followed me. Like unknown to me that they had followed me, and then as soon as like again, like once I turned the corner, and it was only like a couple of hundred meters back to the village, but they'd followed me out and they started pushing, and like the next couple of kilometers, they were just like helping me walk and push the bike up. But then that night I stopped in a like I was like a beach, but it was like a small little like not a village, but it was like a couple of like roadside restaurants or whatever. So I asked where could I camp? They told me where they camp outside this like abandoned building. So I pitch up the tent there, eventually drifted off to sleep. There was people fishing down the pier beside me, and then during the night, just everything started violently shaking. But I suppose because it was such a difficult day with the heat and stuff and the hills, I was so drained. Like you said, you worry about the threat of tsunami, but just me being the eegil I can be sometimes, I just fell back to sleep. Like all the shaking happened, and and I hadn't realized what you know, like I was kind of awake, but I wasn't fully awake because it's like, what the hell's going on here? And I could hear the fishermen cheering. So I was just like, uh, this but the building felt as if it's going to come down on top of me. But I fell back to sleep, forgot about it the next morning, rode into coupon like 150 kilometers. I I didn't have a sim card again at that stage, and then it was only when I got online. My family in Ireland knew nothing about it, but my friends and family in Australia were texting me, being like, Are you okay? Like it was felt as like it was felt in Darwin and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 44:53

Which is rare, like Australia isn't you know, we can get you know tremors, but it's not something that we feel often in Australia, for sure. No, no, no, and it's it's like I said, it's just so unsettling.

SPEAKER_00 45:04

Yeah, and then the story gets even better because that night, so like, yeah, so found out about the earthquake. I was like, Jesus, like that's what happened last night, so that explains a lot.

SPEAKER_02 45:13

That wasn't a fever dream, yeah.

Returning Home and Sharing Stories

SPEAKER_00 45:15

Yeah, so that's so that night, I had the tough day of the day before the airquake, and then biked like 150k the next day, got into coupon, just really drained, like really knocked out of it or whatever. And before I got into coupon, I had more puncture trouble, but the rain just pelted down at this stage. So it was like two hours before I could get a patch on. Like I was trying to find shelter, I was a bit outside town, there was nothing around. So by the time I got going again, it was like pure darkness cycling into the biggest city in the island. Anyways, fell asleep that night, woke up during the night with stomach problems, ran to the bathroom, nothing happened, kind of stood up, fainted, hit my head off the wall. Eventually, whatever.

SPEAKER_02 46:13

This this is like every every every sentence, it just levels up.

SPEAKER_00 46:18

I I I came I came around like whatever minute or two later, and I had like blood coming down my face. Um, I couldn't move my neck because I ended up having pulled a muscle in my neck, and then like hands down around the ankles, and then like the the diarrhea was going to start. So I had to like slowly it was just I was like, what the fuck? I was like, what is going on? Like coming back up onto the toilet. I can't move my neck. There's like blood coming down, and then whatever diarrhea starts. And I'm sitting there for whatever a couple of hours, and I was like, my phone was out in the bed, so I couldn't call anyone. You know, I was just like, I have to just let this pass, and then whatever it finished, got like had to crawl back into bed. My neck was just like I couldn't move it to like my left side or whatever. My right side was really sore as well. Managed to clean the blood, and then yeah, it was just and I was just like, what an eventful couple of days. So that's the other side to tour and stuff as well.

SPEAKER_02 47:13

You travel for the experiences, don't you?

SPEAKER_01 47:15

But then never do the never do it the easy way.

SPEAKER_02 47:19

Oh my gosh, the stories you could share though. You know how you're back in Dingle at the moment. Do you find you are just sharing stories? I often wonder when people take big journeys like this, the world you go back to every day is so different. People that love you and stuff, they're always around you, but they possibly don't have a comprehension of this type of travel. Do you find you get back and you share stories for the first week or two, but then you share nothing? Or conversely, do you randomly now say after working at the pub or something, you you pull up a pint of Guinness, have a few people around you and you're sharing stories?

The Emotional Impact of Long-Term Travel

SPEAKER_00 47:53

Um, usually like I'd be asked about it. Like being in the pub background, of course, like I have a lot, you know, you you'd have like a decent, especially in Ireland, like you'd have like it's a small country, so when someone goes away and does something like this, like I've you know, I've had a good few newspaper articles, I've been on the televised like news and stuff a couple of times, etc. And this a lot of people, well, not a lot, like, but it's like a decent number of people would seem to know about it, just follow me online and stuff. So like they've all come into the bar and they'd be asking questions. I'd never like you know, unless it was something very similar to what we were to whatever I'm talking about, would I mention like maybe a story like that if someone bought up like having diarrhea some evening, I'd be like, oh hey, like that happened to me out in Indonesia, blah blah blah. But I never like I guess in Ireland it's weird because like it's as if you can't talk about your achievements because people will be like, oh, like he thinks he's great, or look at the big head in him, or kind of like a big grudgery. Not like I don't think people would mean it in like a really mean kind of way. It's just not I wouldn't actively go being like, oh hey, like this is what I've done, unless someone says it to me. And one of my friends was talking to me about it again, like last week before I did that chat in the university. I was very nervous about going in there because I'd never done a university. I'd done schools like primary school, high school, I'd never talked in front of like we'll say actual adults. And I was really nervous, and my one of my mates was saying to me, he was just like, lives down the road, whatever, has his few beers here over the weekend, and he was just like, having listening to you, like he was just like when people ask you like really specific questions, like if someone's like, Oh, how was your world cycle trip?

SPEAKER_02 49:34

Well, how do you even say what what do you say?

SPEAKER_00 49:36

Yeah, so I'm just like, Oh, it was great, like I love that it was a great experience. But then he was just like, But he was like, when people ask you like specific questions about whether you're talking about Syria or some somewhere you're in kind of north or southern Africa or out in the Middle East or in Australia or New Zealand, whatever. He's just like, you don't even like stop to think about what you're saying, it just comes out naturally.

SPEAKER_02 49:56

It's like it was like m us talking now.

SPEAKER_00 49:58

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's all kind of like comes flooding back. So like even like us chatting here, you know, you'll kind of you might say something, I'll be like, Oh yeah, like or even afterwards, I might think of something that it has been such like it has spanned like nine years of my life. It's not as if I took a year out of college and just world around the world in one year, like or two years. It's been going on for like nine years, and it'll continue to keep going on for another while. It's like even for me, prior to doing that chat last week, I went through my couple of hard drives full of videos and pictures and stuff, and going through those and you're going back to dates like 2016, 17, 18, I'm just like it feels like a lifetime ago. And but when you're going through the pictures and videos and my numerous diaries and stuff, it all kind of comes flooding back then. And then even he, my friend, and not only him, but other people who've come in all summer asking questions about it, they would bring up stuff that I just might have forgotten about because there's so much that has happened, and then you're just like, Oh crap, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:55

Like I do remember that now that's funny that you mention it because And do you do you find that it just takes you right there? You were talking about looking at you know stuff on a hard drive. It's funny. I think I've mentioned him like twice already, but when I chat with Heinz.

SPEAKER_00 51:10

Oh, I can only imagine the amount of diaries and paper clips.

SPEAKER_02 51:14

Gosh, yeah. I uh the stories, listeners of the stories, like wow. I I I can't even I don't even think I scratched the surface, okay?

SPEAKER_00 51:22

But you've had Keith Costello on the show as well, haven't you?

SPEAKER_02 51:25

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Twice.

SPEAKER_00 51:27

Another guy who's been like just never stops, like it's just like wow.

Future Travel Plans and Mental Health

SPEAKER_02 51:31

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I mean he's still and he's posting up all his um experiences through Africa on his recent trip now. But something that struck me with Heinz, who cycled them and travelled the world more than anyone else in the world, he holds the Guinness Record most epic journeys. What a title, right? He's 85 years old now, he's literally bedridden, he can't leave his bed. And to me, there's there's such an uh how ironic is that? Like the person who's travelled the most and now is stuck. But not when you speak to Heinz. When you speak to Heinz, he says that he's still travelling. I am still traveling. It's incredible muscle memory, but listeners, if if you have the opportunity to go visit him in his house in northern Germany, go and do it. It's amazing. And uh it's like a it's like a museum of the world, of travel, of geography, of maps, of photos. Like he was a photojournalist ultimately. That's how he funded his trip. Absolutely and y he has books that he's actively still working on. Like he works, he says, up to way past three in the morning every day. Because he wants this all to be recorded in a great way. You know, you put a random I think when I was there I picked a random book up about Mali and going through photos and he goes there, but he is still traveling because of that. Do you find this has been a long round-the-houses talk here, but do you find that that's what you're doing? Like, do you yearn, like, do you talking about it aside, do you find yourself you want to go back and like you you do seek your own experiences out? Like, do you open your phone and look through photos or videos and go, wow?

SPEAKER_00 52:59

Yeah, yeah. I do I do quite a lot. It's just yeah, I mean it's such good memories to think about. And even if here, like if I'm having like kind of like a downy day, which you obviously you you know, everyone has them. I yeah, yeah, I just get like lost back in photos and pictures and reading through diaries and stuff, just like trying to imagine that I was like doing it all over again, reliving it. But then I guess what helps as well, because the journey is like spanned out for so long, I think for me it's just like it's like a never-ending journey. You know, I could take I've been home since July, I'll probably go cycling again maybe January time. I haven't anything booked and I know I want to go again. So I can go again for like a few months or whatever, or whatever it may be. So at least like, you know, I still have that to look forward to. So even though I'm still kind of like looking back on what I've done, and then you know, trying to live the present, working, focusing on like saving money to to go again, and then you're looking at the future as to like where you can go again. So it's like the best out of the the trio, really.

SPEAKER_02 54:08

Yeah. And do you find you were talking about you know the mindset, and we've spoken about the mental health aspects of of being on the road. There's the flip side of the coin, which is the mental health aspects of not being on the road, post-adventure blues, so you're not doing the unknown thing every day. And what I mean by that, I'm not talking about the unknown extreme thing, and I'm not talking about uh seeing horrendous war sites in in Syria or I'm talking about the unknown of I don't know what today's gonna bring, I don't know which town I'm going to, I don't know what the landscape's like, I don't know what the weather's gonna do, I don't know what's around that corner. But has that been something that over the many different travels you've taken, because you you you've had pauses in your journeys as well, how has it been dealing with it when you're not on the road when you're at home?

SPEAKER_00 54:54

Yeah, there's been there's definitely been ups and downs with it. And here, like, it's it's hard to explain to people because again, like unless you've done it, it's kind of really hard to explain to someone like how you're feeling. I'm probably not one that's I've gotten better at talking about how I feel, but I don't think I've excel at it or whatever. You know, I do kind of hold a bit inside me as well, but then I just try like I just try to keep myself as busy as I can, I guess. Um, you know, just with work, saving up as much, you know, just because like I said, at least I know I can I'd be going away again. I'm not at the stage of life where I'm ready to like stop and park up my life or whatever. I still do want to do a bit more traveling, I still do want to go and see more places on the bike. So that does help as well. But I know like it'll come to the day where I might decide, you know, maybe now it's time to stop. But I'm hoping I'm hoping that will just come naturally, that I won't be like kind of forced into that decision as well. That it'll just be at a time when I choose is the right time for me to stop. Because when I was coming across Europe on the way home during the summer, I of course, like every day, well, yeah, whatever, like you're kind of just like, oh, like what's next? Like what because that's the question I've always like asked myself when this all does stop, like what do I want to do? And I I haven't really come up, I have like ideas, but I haven't come up with any definite like solutions or whatever. So that to me, I just know like maybe I'm just not ready for that stage yet. Yeah, and I yeah, just keep myself busy with work, you know, looking back in old pictures and videos, and I guess like working in the in the bar trade at home as of now, it does benefit as well because you do get to talk about it quite a lot because people do come in asking, people I know, people who follow it. I've got a poster up on the on the wall from I need to update it, but it's from my America cycle, and you get people asking about that, and then you know you're just like, Oh, well, I've kept going since then, like I haven't really stopped. I just need to update all that, and then you get talking about that side of it as well. But it does, it is then difficult sometimes to pick yourself up to go, but because like I've never home for the same amount of period, or I'm never away for the same amount of period. Like my last trip was nine months, my trip before that was like four months. Last year I would have spent eight, nine months at home, and then obviously you get back into home comforts, and then you have to pick yourself up to go again, to do it all over again. So initially, like that's a bit of a difficult decision to make, and then when you're leaving, you're just like, Oh, like, and then you're kind of a bit slow to start, but you know, give it a couple of weeks and you're back into it again, you're back into the swinatins, and then you're just like, Yeah, I still love this, like I still I do kind of worry sometimes that like if I go away, like will I enjoy it? Like I was saying about like when I know it'll be time to settle down. Will that happen to me on the road where you know I might be wherever I might be, South America, back in Africa, in the Middle East, and all of a sudden I just decide right there, and then in the middle of the Sahara Desert again, maybe that I'm just like, you know what? Now I've I've done everything I wanted to do, now it's yeah, now it's time to tap off and do something else with life.

SPEAKER_02 57:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:54

So it's still an exciting journey. So I don't know when that day will come, if it will come, or if just naturally it'll just come to an end at the end of some trip or something, or if something will trigger it abroad or something.

SPEAKER_02 58:05

Yeah, or or whether it's also just you're going to lead a life which which has that aspect of travelling for uh you know a few months every year. Who knows? That that could be something that maybe you choose to do. And and I guess there's no right or wrong answer. A lot of people do it. Yeah, there's no right or wrong answer to it either. Something that's occurred to me on such a long episode, somehow I don't think we've really brought about food. And food always has to come up on the podcast to Mars. So I want to ask you a question. I could ask you to the impossible, which is to tell me about food in any of the amazing countries you've travelled in over nine years, but I actually want to go the other way. When you're in a country where you don't have access to all the amazing food that you'd like, what's something from Ireland that you wish you could have?

SPEAKER_00 58:50

Uh probably like an Irish stew, I'd say. My dad makes a really good one. Or bacon and cabbage, just like something like traditional you kind of just see here. Like in in the bar there we've got a stove, like a fireplace stove, and in the winter time it's so nice, like before I stopped, or before like I started going away every winter. You could be sitting in the bar, like having a pint, and there's like bacon or something being cooking on the stove or something, you know. Like just on top of the fireplace, like just because with all the heat generated off it, and you just kind of miss those homely meals, like those home cooked meals, kind of spiled in away, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 59:28

Yeah, wow.

SPEAKER_00 59:29

Yeah, like a good a good traditional Irish stew or a bacon and cabbage. Or then if you wanted to go like maybe a little bit to the unhealthier side, like a proper Irish fry-up. Oh, yeah, with black and white pudding, greasy, yeah, a greasy fry-up sausages, bacon, yeah, the whole lot.

SPEAKER_02 59:47

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh my gosh. See, I I would go, oh, I'd go any of those as well. Uh soda bread or wheat and bread, depending whether you're a north or south of broad. Oh my gosh. In fact, my husband makes that here in when we're away, and oh my gosh, it's amazing. If you've never tried it, listeners, you need to seek it out. All of these.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:05

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:06

I guess something that goes without saying would be a Guinness.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:08

Oh, definitely. I only drink Guinness at home though. I don't drink it abroad anymore. It's it's not the same. But uh, there's a there's a lot behind like a good pint of Guinness.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:16

You would have drawn many a pint.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:18

Oh yeah, and our kegs are right underneath the tap, so like the shorter the line, the shorter the line is, the better the pint, because there's less in the line and stuff, and once there's like a constant pour, and in Ireland there would be, because you know, a lot of people would drink Guinness, whereas you know, if you're in some pub in Australia, like the pub I worked in in Winton, they had Guinness, but no one ever drank it. I drank it every now and again, but it was just like no one drank it, so I was just like, Well, everyone's drinking a local beer, so I'll just have whatever they're drinking as well, because at least people are drinking it, so there's a decent pour in it, so it's gonna taste pretty okay if they're drinking it.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:49

Something I was just thinking when you're speaking about the pub there is you've received so much hospitality with people inviting you into their homes and stuff. And you have also and your family has had the benefit of welcoming other bike travelers in as well, haven't you? How's that been? Like that must be awesome. Like must feel like a real cool way of giving back and stuff too.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:08

Yeah, there are there's been a few. There hasn't like where I live, like it is one of the most beautiful parts of Ireland, but it all it's also like a dead end. So, like when you come into like where I live, you have to kind of go out kind of the same way again. There's two ways in and out. Um, but Pete Castello, he stayed here, but I was away at that stage. Yeah, I missed him, but I saw that he was coming through Ireland, and I never knew Pete Cascad.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:28

Claire at that stage, but Claire did she stay as well, or no, I never knew her.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:33

You see, I only knew Pete. And it was only when I met I met Claire in Tasmania, and um Pete had mentioned that he had met her in Ireland cycling, so he put the two of us in touch, and then me and Claire were talking about it. And since then, like we've we've of course stayed in touch since then. But yeah, so and then people who I've like stayed with um have come to visit and come to stay and stuff like that as well. So it's it's it's been really, really nice, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:00

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:01

It's been really, really nice.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:02

That would be. And I was thinking actually, when I was researching about your journeys, I was going through some of your old posts on Instagram. I actually came across the photo of you and Claire where you'd met in Tassie and you had mentioned about it. And do you know what was really awesome about that? I'm trying to think. Was that I think that might have been 2022. Maybe early 2023. It was right at the end of the year, whichever one. If if it was late 22 or early 23.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:26

Yeah, I think it was late 2022. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:29

And something that was cool was that you mentioned uh first time I've met her, we've sort of known about each other, but unfortunately we can't ride, we're going in different directions. And it was something along the lines of Claire hopes to ride back home to the UK from Cambodia. And do you know what I thought? How awesome is it? Because she's done that. Like like she she actually did.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:47

And we we only finished like a week apart. I got home like a week before she did. It was just so crazy.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:00

That would have been mad. I would have forced both of you to stay for a week.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:05

I don't want to have been a great week as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:07

My way of saying to Mars for sure. Whenever you're traveling, if you're anywhere near where I am, you're more than welcome.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:12

And yeah, likewise if you ever come to Ireland as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:15

I've I've put it on my bucket list now. I need to have a pint drawn by you of Guinness.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:20

In Ticket Jersey.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:22

With with that Irish stew, and then just hit in in in his stories, because I think that would be mega. Does Dingle feel like home? Do you feel like that is your home base? Or it's your community?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:32

Um yeah, it's a bit of a funny one. Um I do like coming home. Just not like right. I don't want to stay home long term right now.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:42

Yeah, it's not somewhere where you want to put roots down just yet.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:45

Yeah, not just yet. Um maybe one day in the future, I don't know. I don't know where I'll end up. I think ideally I might just end up someplace where I can have a summer here at home, and then maybe live some other place in the winter, because just winters are bleak here, nothing happens, it's really quiet. And dark and crappy weather in the un Yeah, just the usual kind of yeah, and we don't really get a winter, like it's not like you get the four seasons here in the sense that like summer is consistently good and hot, and then winters are like snowy. Like that's when when I think of winter, you know, you think of snow, you think of just like the odd blue bar day, but it's cold, but at least it's like it's not raining or gloomy every day of the week, whereas Ireland is very much like that in the winter.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:23

Yeah, and there's a different type of light about on I I always remember the only, I shouldn't phrase it like that, but when I was in Ireland, something that I did appreciate, at least in those short hour days in winter, was on the odd occasion where it was sunny, because the l sun is so low in the sky, you just had golden hour for the whole day. Like the light in the sky was magic the whole day, and I really appreciated that. But I I can totally understand where you're coming from there as well.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:50

Like when you get a good day in Ireland, it is really a good day, and it's like we always say, like, when you start getting the good days of summer, because in the winter, of course, like it gets a bit gloomy, and people do suffer during the winter, but then when you get like the really good summer days, it's just like it's like a completely different country here.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:08

It is, it's magic.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:09

We just like you, you know, you know you're not going to get too much of them, so you just have to try and make the most of like everyone's at the beach, people are outside, like shorts, t-shirt, everyone is just in such a good mood.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:19

Having a 99 ice cream, absolutely. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:23

You know, and then in the winter time, it's just like ah, it's just I I just don't like it here in the winter. I just haven't been abroad for winters and like travel and stuff, I'm just like, oh, if I can just beat the winter blues and and stay abroad and stuff like that, then I'll I'll I'll keep doing that while I can.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:40

So Tomas, people are gonna hear your story, and from what you're saying, you're gonna be traveling for a few years now, like to come by the sounds of it. If they want to keep up with your adventures, the best way for them to do so is that through which social channels of yours?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:54

Um probably Instagram, Instagram, Twitter, I'd say. Yeah. I'm not like as like seeing how other people are on Instagram like some of them are really, really good. I just I've got so much stuff I could like make more of an effort posting up, but I'm just happy I would just yeah, you know. But they can still see like where I am and like see what countries I'm in. So if anyone ever has any questions, like please don't hesitate to to ask. And maybe someday I will like catch up on proper stories on it as well and things like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:20

I hope you do.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:21

It would be the best.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:22

I must admit, I've spent quite a lot of time the last few days just going through every single country that you've saved an archive of and trying to put myself and think what would it have been like to be there? What would it have been like to be there? Wow, that is amazing. And like when I when I look here, nearly speaking with you three hours, that's just pressing record. We had a good 40 minutes probably before we even pressed that. One of the perks of being the host of the show. I get some extra time to chat. But like we barely touched on so much. Like there's all Africa, Australia, even like all these places could be their own their own episode. We never talked about India. There's there's so much unsaid, which is my way of saying that I think in the future, Tomas, I need to do another round with you and then share different stories as well. I'm gonna finish the show up now, and there's three questions which I ask all of my guests, quick fire. The first one's music related. You're a guest of the show. You have to pick pick a song to go on the Seek Travel Ride music playlist. What song are you going to pick to be the soundtrack to your adventure?

SPEAKER_00 1:07:22

Oh, creaky. Uh Jesus, that is a very good question. Uh off the top of my bloody head. Um, what one do I like the most?

SPEAKER_02 1:07:33

I always say it should be the first song you think of.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:35

Oh, maybe um, what is it called? Sinead O'Connor. I just left my mind there now. Um Cronor McGregor used to have it as his walk-in intro for some of his fights. Oh yeah, um the the foggy Jew, Sinead O'Connor.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:50

The foggy Jew, Sinead O'Connor. I love it. I love it, Sinead.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:54

Yeah, yeah, Sinead's fabulous.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:55

Oh, she is. Oh god, unique and fabulous voice. I love it. I love it. Okay. Next question. You're given a choice one day. You can choose to go left, but that requires you to be on the most corrugated washboard bumpy road in the world. There's no respite, there's no smooth areas to find, or go right, but you have got to cycle into the dirtiest, biggest headwind of your life all day long, no relenting, no giving up. Which one are you gonna go? Left or right?

SPEAKER_00 1:08:25

Left.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:26

In corrugations, why?

SPEAKER_00 1:08:28

Uh yeah, just I hate headwinds, headwinds drive me up the wall, especially if it's all day.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:33

Worst place that you got a headwind?

SPEAKER_00 1:08:35

Uh Saudi Arabia like knocked me back down to eight kilometres an hour.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:40

Oh my gosh, was it like sandy and brutal as well?

The Importance of People in Travel

SPEAKER_00 1:08:43

Uh it was horrific. It was and then I had two road choices. I could have gone on a more populated stretch of road, but it would have been way busier with traffic, especially trucks, or else I could have taken this newer highway that they built, but there was absolutely zero services for quite a while. So I took the uh less traveled road, of course, and then realized that when I had been battered back to seven, eight kilometres an hour, I was just like, right, this gas station is like well over a hundred miles, nearly 200 K's away. I don't have enough food if I continue at this pace. So after a couple of hours, I was like, you know, thinking about having to ration my food or whatever, and next thing this car pulls up beside me, and I couldn't hear with the wind. So all I see is just like hen basically come out. This woman starts handing me food, juice packs. She was giving me so much stuff that I had to stop the bike to hold it all. And it was just a woman and her husband and her family, and they saw me cycling and they started handing me food. So with all the food they gave me, I realized that I could like space out my food better and have enough to get me to the next gas station the next day.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:51

You didn't have to turn back because that's something I read about you was you do not like turning back.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:56

I hate going back. Even if I didn't have enough food, I would have just like rationed and like starved for a day. Yeah, stop. Yeah, just like if I got lightheaded, just like eat a couple of biscuits at a time and something I wouldn't recommend people to do. It's a stupid idea to not do that.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:13

There's a few things you've not recommended today. All right, Tomas. Final question for you, and that is I want you to finish this sentence for me. And it is the best thing about taking a bike adventure is the people.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:27

Yeah, definitely the people. I it wouldn't be as enjoyable if you didn't meet so many people because I don't know, like like when I did that first trip in America, I didn't think that people would be so interested or like go out of their way to like help. And I remember like the second day I met this random guy on like just a random stretch of road, and he just told me like when I get to the next town to give him a call, he gave me his cell phone number, and then anyways, called him. He had paid for me to stay at a local hotel and then wanted me to take he wanted to take me out on this plane, so I got to go on a plane ride with him.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:02

Wow, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:04

That was like day three or something. I was just like, what the hell? Like, why like why would someone go out of their way to do that? But then that's when I started to realize maybe like the world isn't as what people say it is or whatever. So so yeah, definitely like just that realization that like 99.9% of the people I've met have been just legends. Way, way, way exactly, like just way, way, way kinder than what I ever thought they would ever be or would have to be. Yeah, like you said, there's complete and other legends, and some of these people you might have just briefly had an encounter with for like 10 minutes, but just that one little conversation could completely change your your mood or your outlook on your on the day or whatever, like that as well. So I definitely don't think I would have kept going if it wasn't for that like people aspect of it and just that intrigue and just getting to know people and having friends all over the world now as well, and yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:55

Yeah, and stories to share, and something that else that has struck me, Tomas, is you're passing the information on and you're also paying it forward, you're giving out the hospitality when you're in a position to do so, and you're also someone that people are seeking out to get information about roads, routes, countries, and stuff as well. And you're more than happy to do that, which is the way that this bike travel adventure community sort of keeps paying it forward. I always say you can't go on a journey this vast without it changing you, and they're the parts of you that I think get embedded into your personality as well. And it's so obvious just chatting with you here today where oh my gosh, Tomas, it has been an absolute pleasure. What a I feel like I've gone on a worldwide trip and going into experiences that have blown my mind for multiple reasons. I really appreciate just like the honesty with which you share your stories and the vulnerability that you share it with as well. Speaking absolutely openly about mental health at times and anxiety and facing fears, to you know what it's actually been like to recall things that you've witnessed that you you never thought you'd witness before. To the madness of a day in Indonesia where you're experiencing an earthquake with the worst gastro of your life, cracking your head and pulling your neck and being stuck. These are the mad stories you don't know are going to come out whenever you I interview someone who's travelled as much as you. It's been a super long episode. Listeners, you're likely hearing it in two parts, and I thank you for coming along for the ride. I a hundred percent hope that one day I can meet you face to face, hear more stories, perhaps interview you again. Either way, I'm looking forward to seeing where your next bike adventure takes you. Thank you for being an absolute dead set legend and sharing your stories and experiences here on the podcast with Seek Travel Ride.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:46

Any time, thanks so much for having me. It was a great chat. Wonderful time.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:51

There you go, everybody. I hope that you enjoyed those two episodes with guest Tomas McIntyre. I could listen to Tomas share stories for hours, and I definitely hope to meet him in person and perhaps be able to do a follow-up podcast because as I mentioned there right at the end, there are so many places that we didn't even get to talk about, so many experiences that he has no doubt had over his eight or nine years of bike travel. I really loved the way that he shares his stories. I can tell that he is a natural storyteller, and also right at the end there how he mentioned the importance of a people to him and his motivation to keep travelling in this way and to stay on the road is because of the people and the strangers that he meets, the interactions that he has with them and what he learns from them in country as well. It's definitely a theme that I have had spring up from many previous guests, especially those who have done longer-term bike adventures and from the stories that Tamar shared in the last two episodes, I could really understand the importance of those interactions with the people to him for sure. Now, listeners, if you are enjoying this podcast, you love Seek Travel Ride, and you love tuning into episodes each and every week, you can show that you are a true super fan by heading to buymeacoffee.com forward slash seek travel ride and buying me a few virtual coffees. Buy me some coffees and let me know what is it that you love about this podcast and where is your next bike adventure going to be taking you. And until the next episode, I'm Bella Malloy. Thanks for listening.