2019

Aric Queen
Nov 21
2 min read

Updated: 7 days ago

One of the biggest years for adventures I think I've ever had:

Berlin

Istanbul + Cappadocia

Egypt

Greece + Crete

Bulgaria

Istanbul

(A huge bike ride through Turkey)

Georgia

Armenia

Azerbaijan

Dubai

India

Amsterdam

Berlin

Vienna

Paris

Bordeaux

O'leron

(France through Spain on) The Camino

Ireland

Jan - Berlin

My age begins to show by being able to wake up early on Jan 01st having not celebrated the night before in Berlin (of all places!) to catch a flight to...

... Istanbul! A city I was quickly falling head-over-heels for and one I'd soon get to know. But it was only a few days there - notably staying in my favorite spot in the world, The Grand Hotel de Londres - before hopping another flight to...

... Cappadocia! Forever enchanting and one of those places that could only exist where it does (if that makes sense). A few days there and then back to...

... Istanbul - where I buy every book I can find, determined to truly understand, know and recognize it. A wonderful month there, but we've got places to go, so it's onto another flight.

Feb - Egypt

Heading for Cairo. I keep swearing I'll never return, but keep returning. Maybe this time will be different?

... still tough going and I'll probably never come back, but got to meet the incredible Mohammed down in Luxor who quickly became a brother - who also said "If you put your feet in the Nile, you'll return", so we'll see. But three weeks is enough, as we head now for...

... Crete!

March - Crete

Our friend Kelsey joins us for a spellbinding two weeks on the island of Crete...

... from there, back to our beloved Bulgaria - one of the world's best-kept secrets - to Sofia and Plovdiv, hiking with our friends Deniz and Alexandra (Bulgaria's own Audrey Hepburn), eating all the cheese and even having time to hop that wonderful narrow-gauge train with our friend Sarah.

April

Back to Istanbul for a hot minute, then we pack the bike up, hop the ferry and begin cycling through Turkey - first down south, then east - running into kindness, care and hospitality every 1km.

May

We barely make it out of Turkey before our visa runs out, crossing over into a country I'd been dying to meet - Georgia! A month cycling around and into Tblisi + some side trips, then we take off (on a bus) to...