Cycling A Thousand Places to See Before You Die | Brian Sampson

How long would it take to cycle your way through A Thousand Places to See Before You Die?

This week I am introducing you to Brian Sampson, who has been doing exactly that since 2018. Brian shares an update from his journey so far, and across the year he will be checking in with audio updates as his adventure unfolds.

Follow Brian's adventure via his instagram -@brian.sampson4  and check out his blog - https://justfeltlikebiking.blogspot.com/

Also this week:

Fergal Guihen (Rossi to Aussie) finishing ride: I attended Fergal’s arrival at the steps of the Sydney Opera House, marking the close of his almost two-year bike journey!

Bikepacking Roots gear library hub: A community-led initiative, supported by podcast sponsor Old Man Mountain, bringing together bikepacking gear libraries with a simple map showing where shared gear hubs exist. 

Canberra Bikepacking Gear Library: A local gear library helping people in the Canberra region access bikepacking equipment and build skills through shared community resources. 

Head over to Old Man Mountain and checkout the Manzanita Cradle 

Old Man Mountain
Big thanks to Old Man Mountain for supporting this episode of Seek Travel Ride.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:24

Hello everybody, Bella Malloy here, host of Seek Travel Ride. Welcome back to another midweek episode where I am fueling your stoke for bike travel adventures. We've got an awesome episode lined up for you today because I'm introducing you to a, I guess, a brand new adventurer to the podcast who I'm going to be featuring periodically in these midweek episodes. Now, about a month or so ago, I put the call out to say to people, hey, are you taking an adventure? Would you like to be part of our community and share updates from the road? And Brian Sampson put his hand up, reached out to me and said, Yeah, sure. And um, my gosh, am I excited to share Brian's story with you? Before we get into that though, I want to tell you about what happened on the weekend. So one of our awesome, amazing guests, Fergal Guyan, he actually finished his ride. Now Fergal left from his home in Roscommon in Ireland almost two years ago, and his endpoint was the steps of the Sydney Opera House. I was privileged enough to be able to share Fergal's journey uh and feature his story on the pod across two episodes, which is sort of an indication into how much of a fantastic storyteller Fergal actually is. And I spent some time with Fergal a month ago when I did some live shows, and he was one of our guest panelists, and there was absolutely no way, listeners, that I was going to miss being there for his arrival. And the day was amazing. It was an early start for me catching the bus to Sydney. Beautiful blue sky day, absolutely perfect weather. And I remember I got to the opera house. Fergal was due to arrive at about 2 pm, and I got there about an hour earlier, and I was sort of looking around, and it was just the usual, you know, tourists around, you know, taking photos of this amazing landmark. Then I saw some people wearing the good old Rossi to Aussie shirts, and I thought, oh, they're here for Fergal. So I walk up to this group of people and I say, Oh, you're here for Fergal, for Rossi to Aussie, and they're like, Yes, they are. And I said, Oh, who are you? And they said, Where is family? And I was like, taken aback because it was actually Fergal's dad and and his siblings there. And I was just like, Oh wow, like what were the chances? The first people that I meet are actually going to be Fergel's relatives. But it was really lovely because it meant that I got to spend some time with him, ask him a few questions, and understand how it is that this adventure that Fergal's been on, you know, what impact it's actually had on them. There was an awesome point where I'm speaking to Fergal's dad, and uh it was quite an emotional day for his dad, as you could imagine. And he just sort of talks about the things that Fergals experienced and he said it was the people that got him there, the people along the way, the people that opened their doors to him, that shared their houses with him, shared meals with him, helped him out. And he then goes on to say that Fergal's journey has changed him as a person and it's opened his eyes up to how the world is. And also to travel, he said that you know there would be no way that he would have come to Australia. And because of Fergal, he's actually he's he's come out. He and Fergal's brother Tig, they actually flew out th from Ireland and arrived the night before. So, you know, it was battling the jet lag, but yeah, what an absolutely emotional day. And you know, speaking with his siblings as well and his sister Roshin, she sort of says, you know, he's come back a different person, and the little brother now is the one that can flip the questions back and give out a bit of advice as well. But it was also clear just what it's been like from the other side of the adventurer, you know, what is it like for the loved ones of someone who's going out on a long distance adventure to sort of live vicariously through their travels? We as listeners get really excited about following someone's journey, but uh, you know, if you put yourself as a family member watching it, there's a different lens that you watch that journey through. And you know, it was apparent, you know, they lived the every single high Fergal had, and they also lived every single low, and probably lived with a lot of doubts in their mind and concerns as well. But then the arrival itself, holy moly! So pretty much the Opera House turned Irish, listeners. Uh, it got to this crescendo where more and more and more people started turning up, they were all wearing, you know, their uh their Irish guard jerseys representing their different counties. There was a high, high representation from Ross Common, which is where Fergel's from. A lot of Irish flags. And there was pretty much a guard of honour multiple people deep on each side from where the road stops, and you've got, I don't know, it might be 200 metres or so all the way to the steps of the Sydney Opera House. And then the steps of the Sydney Opera House were absolutely packed. There was a cool little finish line of Irish flags, and then as it built up, you could see Fergal coming down the road, you see his little white helmet, and then him and his bike Nimrod pedaling through the cheers of the crowd. I was stood there watching the emotion on everyone's faces, seeing his dad's face, seeing everything from it. It was it was just absolutely such an incredible moment. And uh to be there to watch someone end their journey as someone who, you know, did live vicariously through it. I'd love to I I think I can call myself a friend of Fergal's now as well. So to watch a friend bring it home that way. Just wow. Absolutely hats off to Fergal. His adventure was with a sense of purpose as well. He was fundraising for two charities. He is an absolute champ and a genuine, good-natured person telling amazing stories of how his experiences bike travel through the world have actually been. And he has shared the highs and he has shared the lows, he shared the mundane bits in between in only a way that Fergal can do. And so, yeah, to be there, gosh, it was extra, extra special. And uh yeah, I just wanted to share that with you. Alright, now, listeners, time to go to the meat of this episode, and that is to hear about our adventurer Brian Sampson sharing his journey. So, just a a little bit of an overview about Brian before you're gonna hear his audio. So he's currently cycling his way around the world, and he's based his journey off a book that he read called A Thousand Places to See Before You Die. So he first read that book years ago when he was a teenager, and that put a thought in his mind that he'd like to go to these places, and he's progressively worked up to that. He's been on the road now, I think, for over seven years, uh, ridden quite a long way, as you could imagine, in that time. And uh yeah, he's going to be taking us along for some of his journey. So, yeah, I'm gonna play Brian's audio now. Let's give it a listen and uh I'll come back to it and tell you what I think.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Hi, Bella. Thanks for the opportunity to let me share an update on my latest bike adventure. Um Brian Sampson and currently cycling to see all the places from the book, A Thousand Places to See Before You Die. I'm 37 from New Jersey, just outside New York City. I've been on the road for a little over seven years now, 75,000 miles through 30 countries. I've checked off about 350 of the thousand places. I got the book when I was fifteen and decided I had to get to all thousand before I died. I figured this it would cost some money and take some time. So I'd I thought I'd work till thirty, save up as much as I could, and then still be young enough to take on the thousand. And so right before my thirtieth birthday, I just took off. It took four years to get through the US and Canada, and I'm not completely checking off every place. Because the book is more like the thousand places that Kelsey and Taylor Swift are gonna go on their honeymoon. It's a lot of resorts, expensive restaurants, events, so I just get kind of close to the place, if it's a resort, and just do something else, like visit a national park or UNESCO site, and then just count it. So it's really more of just a framework of where to go in the world and a reason to travel and connect dots. So year five, I rode from San Diego to Buenos Aires, cut across from Bolivia to Brazil, and then went down the east coast. And then every year I go home for Thanksgiving in November and then start up again you around Christmas or just after Christmas. So started year six in Punta Reinas at the bottom of Chile, rode all the way up to Lima. I still had unfinished business in Peru. Took a flight from Lima to Sydney, did four months around Australia, but mostly just the eastern side and Tasmania. I had no interest in doing the Nullabor or crossing the Apex. Not because I couldn't do it, it just seemed super boring. And then last year I did three months in New Zealand to start the year, zigzagged around Southeast Asia for five months, and then two months in southern China. I was supposed to start this year in India. I had an epic three-month loot planned from northern India with a bit in Nepal, got my visa for India, got the flights. I was monitoring the air pollution as there were headlines that it was pretty bad. Thought about canceling it, but then at the last minute it got way better. And I thought there's a billion people that live there, how bad could this pollution be? And I figured I'd go see for myself, thinking it would be fine. Land in Delhi, look out the window, and you could barely see the planes. The smog was so thick, and I thought, oh, this this might have been a mistake. Walk outside, and it it was it was just awful. Got a hotel, woke up a few hours later with my chest and throat on fire, and I thought, uh, this is this this might not work. I looked at the air quality index of the places I was going. Jaipur, Gisolmer, Utapur, just as high. Gysolomer was 300 something, which is labeled hazardous. So I called my dad to talk it out. I'm like, this isn't gonna work. This is just too unhealthy. I can't ride five hours in this every day. So we talked about it and agreed that maybe Japan would be because I was supposed to end the year in Japan. So that just I looked at the weather, it wasn't too cold. I've camped in much worse. The deserts out west in the US get so cold at night. Camped in Bolivia at 10,000 feet, and and the air seemed clean in Japan. So went back to the airport, booked a flight to Tokyo. So I land in Tokyo, bike and box arrive safely. I'm about to walk out of the airport when I get pulled as aside by customs. The guy pulls out this picture book of uh shows me pictures of all these illicit drugs and says, Oh, you got any of these? Um, what's in the box? I was like, Oh, it's just a bicycle. I'm uh gonna bike across Japan. He's like, Yeah, okay. Can we x-ray the box and uh maybe check your bags? I said, sure, no problem. So we go to a back room, he goes through my bag, one piece at a time, keeps showing me the picture book. You got you got any uh heroin? I was like, no. And then it occurred to me, I had just flown from Newark to Delhi to Tokyo in about two days, and it probably set off a thousand red flags. So I'm trying to explain. I just I I got to Delhi, I couldn't breathe, I had to get out of there. I decided to bike across Japan instead of India. I I got out of there as fast as I could, and they kind of started to understand. Then they came back with my bike box, they're like, yeah, it's just a bicycle. And then yeah, off off you go. And I I entered Japan. It's way too cold and snowy to head into the mountains in January, so I've been mainly sticking to the coast, which is fine because I don't mind following the roads most traveled. I don't always need to go to the national parks. I love riding through cities, I love um visiting temples, cathedrals, the castles, going through the main boulevard with the skyscrapers on either side, love it. So started in Tokyo, the biggest city I've ever ridden across. Bigger than Jakarta and Sao Paulo, which were massive. First place I stopped was Yokohama. Cool skyline, cool buildings. I thought way better than Tokyo. Then went south to Kamakura, super thirsty, so many people. The Shinto Shrine, I couldn't get anywhere near it. It was just a massive humanity. But I could get to the Katuru, Katu, something like that. The giant green Buddha statue. That was cool. Then the first place I had flagged that I wanted to see was Odawara Castle. It was way better than I expected. For two or three dollars, you can tour the grounds, the keep, um, the palace, a museum, lots of artifacts, lots of uh boards with writing that I couldn't read because I don't read Japanese. But plenty of pictures and maps, so I really enjoyed it. Then went over a few mountain passes along the coast, and then Mount Fuji just popped up off to my right. Not a cloud in the sky. Took the whole day to ride past it, it was just there. Uh loved it. One of the thousand places is to climb Mount Fuji, but that's not happening in January. But in my opinion, some volcanoes, they look way better from a distance from the bottom. And when you climb them, you're just looking down at the bottom. It's so I'm not I wasn't too upset that I didn't get to climb it. Then continued along the coast, just stopping at every castle I passed. A few Buddhist temples, but mostly castles. Crossed the city of Nagoya, another massive city, massive sprawl. Went to the castle in Gifu, Gifu, and went to see the giant Buddha of Gifu. That was cool. Cross the pass where they fought the Battle of Sekigahara. I love a good battlefield when there's monuments, a museum. You can get a real feel for what happened, see the geography, how it affected the battle. There were again lots of information, but it was all in Japanese, but still, I can just look at Wikipedia. Before I visit any town, I read the Wikipedia page, get a feel for how the people make a living, what they worship, where they worship. And then my next major stop was Kyoto. Had to go over the pass between Otsu and Kyoto and camped up there. And at 2 in the morning, something big woke me up. It's sniffing pretty loud. Like, oh great. It might be a deer. So I I shook the tent, growled, made some noise, and this thing growled back. And it it shook me a little. I was like, that's not a deer. Definitely a bear. I've been a bit worried about bears, but it's January, so they're supposed to be hibernating. So definitely alarmed in this situation. Was fortunate that I was able to scare it off, packed everything up, and got out of there. And since I've been way more careful about where I picked the camp. Kyoto was was awesome. Went to Kinkakiji Temple. It's a golden temple, right on the edge of a pond, not too crowded. Then went to no way I can remember the name of this one. Sense Gungyan. It's this long hall of a thousand golden Koran goddess statues with a bunch of guardian god statues in front of them and a big giant Buddha statue in the middle of it all. It's like a fifty-yard hallway. And it was empty. Which was a little surprising because this was the best thing I saw in Kyoto. But I think the fact that you weren't allowed to take pictures pretty much deterred all the influencers. So I had the place to myself, then went to Fushimi and Nari something. But it's this mountain where you climb up a long staircase, and there's just hundreds of these red gates that you you walk under the whole way, these red arches covered in Japanese characters. That was pretty crowded. Finally made a stop at Biotoin, a temple that I actually built out of Kinex when I was younger. So that was cool to see in person. From Kyoto, I went south to Nara, where Totoji, largest wooden building in the world. That was pretty incredible. Giant wooden statues of the guardian deities. And it's also in Nara Park where all the deer walk around. And you can pet them and feed them crackers. But I'm deer are the worst in New Jersey, so was not interested in worshiping any deer. And I think they're all malnourished because they just eat crackers all day. So it reminded me a bit of um me trying to keep weight and wrestling in high school, just eating crackers, malnourished. My final stop for this update was Osaka, another huge city. The main drag, you have all the big billboards, like in Times Square, but much smaller scale. Osaka Castle is great. I was able to stay with a warm showers host, so I was able to see this, spend the whole day exploring the city. It was the smallest apartment I'd ever seen or been in in my life. It's just this short hallway with bunk beds. And that's the one thing I love about warm showers is yeah, it's great to have a place to stay, but just to see how the locals live, ask them what they think about where they live, the politics. So the plan is to keep continuing west towards Fukuoka and the ferry to South Korea. Thanks.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

Thank you so much, Brian, for sharing your adventure with us. And listeners, my gosh, there's so much in this update that I wanted to talk about. One is just how Brian's approaching this adventure himself, and also I guess adapting that thousand places to see list for something that's gonna make him more enthusiastic about it as well. You know, he was saying, you know, there's a lot of stuff on that list that doesn't interest him whatsoever. So he's adapting it to suit him and what he wants to see. Something else I love is that he's actually got his own little ranking system for the places that he does see. Uh, I'm gonna put a link to Brian's blog in the show notes, and you can see the ranking system that I'm talking about there. It pretty much generates on this idea that when he gets to one of these places, the so-called places to see before you die, he sort of starts a timer on his stopwatch and just stands and takes the place in. And he stops it when he feels like he's got a feel for it, and that's enough. So his ranking system is the places that his watch goes for the longest are higher up the list, obviously. So it was pretty cool for me to sort of have a bit of fun the other day and actually scroll up and down the list and see where he's gone and how he's ranked stuff. The other thing that I loved about this update was just how absurd bike travel can be sometimes. You know, being held up by customs in Japan because they think that you might be a heroin dealer because you decided to leave India after only being there for a few hours. And it's like, what on earth is going on? But then also that moment where Brian's in his tent in Japan and he hears this noise and realizes it's a bear outside. Like that is just a situation that I don't think happens to many other people. But bike travel seems to throw us into these crazy scenarios, doesn't it? The other thing is, and I mentioned it a little bit briefly, is just how adaptable Brian is. So not only has he adapted his list, but he adapts it to him. So, you know, when he did land in India and he wants to see these places, he does, but not to the detriment to himself or his health. He could tell that it wasn't going to be somewhere that was gonna be good for him to be in. So he changed tact. And I love that idea of his flexibility in that. And you know, it's uh sort of something that I pick up from a lot of long-term bike travellers is putting that flexibility in your back pocket and adjusting the trip to meet your needs and not to just stay to a rigid plan. And I think something that sets Brian apart, perhaps, from many travellers, is the idea that he really does thrive in being in cities, in crowded places, seeing, you know, temples, castles, seeing the cityscapes, riding through the busy streets, you know, that gives him a sense of excitement. And it's refreshing actually to hear that. It was funny, Brian, when I heard you talking about cycling through cities, it took me to the last time I cycled through a bigger city, and that was actually Paris. I was actually cycling there on my Brompton, and uh I was cycling to a different train station. I had a train to catch to northern Germany to go and visit Heinz Stucker. And I took my Brompton for that trip. And Paris is amazing, it's got lots of you know, bike path infrastructure and stuff through the city now. It's it's really built it up since COVID times, and every time I actually revisit Paris, the infrastructure there is just increasing. But there's a craziness about it. There's sort of like, I don't know, there's an energising craziness about it. Like you're in and out of traffic, you're zipping along. It's a busy packed city. And I don't know, there is an energy to it. So I can really pick up on that, Brian. Now, personally, I don't want to be in that environment for days and days on end. I you know, just a few hours in Paris was enough for me, and I live for the empty, vast landscapes and spaces. But it is refreshing to hear that different point of view that some people's energizing environments aren't for others, and Brian really lives off that buzz of the city. I also liked it was sort of subtle, but there was an element where you can hear about Brian being a long-term traveller. Just an anecdote, like the idea that he knows for himself that sometimes seeing a volcano from the bottom looking up is actually far more impressive than being at the summit looking down. And I've just thought, you know, have I actually even seen a volcano? And uh if I did, like how you know, I don't even have that perspective of I I've reached the top of it or something. I would definitely have to reach the top of it, Brian. I think if I was, you know, in a capacity to see a proper volcano, I I would want to see it properly. But yeah, just little things like that. And also, you know, when he did decide to go to Japan, realizing, well, yeah, it's cold and it's winter, but I've actually I know that I can deal with those temperatures. And you know, again, it's that sort of experience that you can layer on as you go to shape your itinerary out as well. So that's the first update from Brian. Listeners, I've got links to his Instagram account and also his blog in the show notes. Give him a follow, check it out. Yeah, periodically you're gonna be hearing more updates from more countries, and we're gonna hear more about these places on his list. I want to hear from you though. I want to know, are you the sort of person that does have a list of places you want to see? Do you have a bucket list of places you want to go to? Have you done that? Get in touch with me. Send me an email at podcast at seek travelride.com. Let me know what is on your bucket list and uh where you went and what it was like to go there on an adventure. Now, speaking of bike adventures, before I wrap things up, I want to do a bit of a community roundup and a shout out because there's some really great things happening in our bike travel adventure space. One thing that really caught my attention recently is the bikepacking routes gear hub. So it essentially it's a shared gear library where people can borrow bikepacking equipment rather than needing to have the outlay of buying individual items for themselves. Like, I think one of the biggest barriers for people getting into adventures sometimes is actually that cost. Like, you know, gear does cost money, and getting the stuff that you need, even for some of us, if it's you know something we can afford, not everyone is necessarily in that position. And I guess also when you're first trying something out, it's also like you don't know whether you like it yet. So there's also that barrier to making an investment on it. Anyway, the Bikepacking Roots Gear Hub is now live, they've got a fantastic website and it's got links on there which will show you where their gear libraries exist. So so far they're throughout the US, but they do have plans to obviously expand as the gear library grows as well. I definitely want to give a shout out to our podcast sponsors, Old Man Mountain, because they have gone on board here and they're actually helping supply some of the gear for this library too. And I think that's absolutely fantastic. Personally, they've been a fantastic sponsor of the podcast, and I think it comes from their genuine ethos of community first, like they really do nurture and foster a community around them. So special shout out to Old Man Mountain, you're doing amazing stuff there. And yeah, I'm gonna put links up to the gear library that bikepacking groups have put together so that you can check it out. If you're in the US, this might be something you can tap into. But I also wanted to give a shout-out, like where I am here in Canberra, there's actually just been a bikepacking gear library launch here as well for our community. So I'm gonna put a link up to them as well. That's been set up by Steph Skinner, an absolute champ in our Canberra local community too. So I'll put links up to there. And previous guest of the pod, Sertia Potty, I've spoken about her. She's just started the Snailblazers initiative, I'm not sure what I would call it, community in Ireland, and she's looking at setting up a gear library there as well, and Liz looking out for donations. So if you're in a position in Ireland or somewhere to support that, please get on board. But also, I want to know where these gear libraries exist. I'm sure the ones I've mentioned aren't the only ones out there, and more and more will occur and pop up. And I was thinking it would actually be really cool to keep tabs of that so that you know people in this community can tap into it if they need to. So if you know of a gear library in your local community and you'd like to highlight it to people fur far and wide, get in touch with me and I will start compiling a bit of a list there. So, how awesome is our bike adventure space when community groups and gear libraries and events that are inclusive are popping up from all corners of the world. So, yeah, shout out to the community. Speaking of community listeners, it's time for me to do my favorite part of the show, which is shout out a big massive thank you to you, my super fans, who are supporting me and this podcast. This week I firstly want to shout out May Totero, a previous podcast guest. Listeners, I shared May's awesome story about how she came into bike travel and she is taking off awesome off-road adventures on her mountain bike. So May has said, Hi Bella, here are a few coffees from Snowy Canada. I continue to love your podcasts and they provide me with inspiration and motivation. I love how positive you are without sugarcoating everything. You are often asking the questions of the guests I would ask myself. They're great interviews, keep up the wonderful work. Thank you so much, May. Oh gosh, as to my interview style, well, I think it just comes from being a curious person. Like when I'm interviewing a guest listener's, I'm just genuinely curious to hear what it was like for them. And I don't know when you tune in. Can you pick up on that? Can you pick up on my curiosity? If they've said something and it sparked a thought in my mind to ask a question, and we go down adventure rabbit holes that didn't exist before I pressed record, and I especially love that. So thanks, uh May. I'm glad that you're enjoying that too. And then I have Steve C who has said, Hi Bella, I've just finished listening to your podcast with Claire Wyatt. Awesome. I have serious adventure envy, and I especially love how she is the dog whisperer. Your show is just getting better and better. Hein Stuger was so interesting too. I had a bit of a social media meltdown before Christmas, and I thought, oh, that's it. I'm going analogue and I'm gonna delete my Facebook and my Instagram accounts. Then I thought, hang on, how am I gonna follow Seek Travel Ride? So I had to undelete them all. And you are such a nerd updating roots on OS maps. Me too. Oh, well, Steve, thank you so much for that beautiful message. Claire is definitely the DOB Whisperer. Listeners, if you've heard any of Claire's episodes, you will know 100% why I labelled her that. I'm glad to be your reason to stick with the social media. I think the adventure community we have here on Seek Travel Ride makes it a bit more of a pleasant space. And yes, Steve, I'm all about updating the OSM base maps. If that makes me a nerd, so be it. But if it means that one less one person out there is not gonna have a route mapping fail because of it, then power to us all. And I'm glad that it sounds like you do that same as well. Thanks for supporting me in the pod. And listeners, if you want to do as May Totero has done and Steve C has done, and support me in the podcast, you can simply head to buymeacoffee.com forward slash seek travel ride. Buy me a virtual coffee, but 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.