Even before we started our bicycle journey from New Zealand back to our home country of Germany, many of our friends said a very similar thing along the following line: “Oh wow, you guys are living the dream! I would love to do something like that, you are so brave.” Both my girlfriend Vroni and I were 24 years old at the time we started planning our adventure and many of our friends were also about to finish their university degrees. It took us one year from having the first idea until we boarded the plane for the other side of the world. Our own excitement grew constantly while we were planning routes, buying equipment and mentally preparing ourselves for this leap of faith into travelling instead of taking the “normal” way of joining the workforce after finishing our education.

I did not think much about what our friends actually meant by what they were saying as we were too busy with our preparations. It was when we were finally on the road cycling, travelling, learning, struggling, growing and having a great experience that I had time to put into context what they actually meant. We are not extraordinary in any way, so why did so many people feel that we did something that special? We are no experienced travellers, crazy fit athletes or at all intellectually gifted. Yes, our parents had some money saved for us to start our life after university but we also had extra jobs to save money to be able to finance this endeavour.

The great thing about travelling on a bicycle is that you have plenty of time with just yourself when being on the road and clocking in those kilometers. The realisation came at some point while cycling and it struck me: The only thing we do differently is that we decided not to take the easy and socially accepted straight road of life that society taught us to follow. This is the road to that is said to lead to financial security, success, comfort and fulfilment. Our parents' generation followed this path to where they are today but today's world looks very different to what it looked like when our parents had to decide on how to live their life. The internet and modern society offers such a wide range of opportunities and options that everybody feels pressured to follow their passion and pursue their dreams. Especially social media offers an endless stream of perfect travel pictures and self-glorifying but fake profiles that can create pressure to aspire a similar path for yourself. This becomes a problem it makes people feel overwhelmed by the flood of options, making it hard to find your own way in our hyper-connected jungle.

I doubt that our friends literally meant that they would want to ride a bicycle around the world but that they would love to follow what they think is the right path for them. The thing that they are afraid of is making the decision to deviate from the well-trodden path and to leave their comfort zone to get where they really want to be. Yes, you set yourself up to be judged by others and to have your decisions questioned regularly. Do we know what we are doing? No, not really and that is the point of why we are doing it! Travelling means getting lost on purpose and what you learn along the way. The one thing we do know though is that we are living our life according to what we think is valuable and meaningful for us right now. We might one day wake up and be sick of cycling and that will be the moment to board a plane and start the next chapter of the journey we call life. As of now, we are not yet done exploring and growing, but the moment will come that we decide to settle down and start a “normal” life – but we will do so our way and at our pace. This is your life and it is too short to live it according to someone else's expectations.