Project 2000/2001 - World trip by bike

West Coast North America

We started in Los Angeles and followed Highway 1 north — headwinds, cold coastal fog, then the Redwoods and Oregon’s wild coastline. Washington inland felt harsh and anonymous on our chosen route; the ferries to the San Juan Islands gave one of the trip’s great wildlife moments: orcas close enough to hear them breathe. We crossed into Canada, crossed Vancouver Island, and shipped the bikes to Australia from Vancouver — a long-haul lesson in boxes, airlines, and patience.

Australia

From Darwin we crossed the Top End by bike and bus where heat and distance demanded it, then reached Broome and the west coast. A chance encounter put us on a pearl lugger south — sailing, night watches, repairs on deck, and days of snorkelling that felt unreal after months of pedalling. Back on the bikes we ground through headwinds down the west coast to Perth, then crossed the Nullarbor by train to Adelaide and rolled on toward Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road. The journals mix elation with grit: flies, sand, theft in the city, and sunsets that made it worth it.

Southeast Asia

Bangkok to Chiang Mai by train with the bikes; temples, illness, visa runs, and the noisy kindness of the road. The south of Thailand brought quiet side roads and monsoon rain; islands and visa hops; then Malaysia in relentless wet weather. The closing chapters — Langkawi, Penang, a flight south, a night ride into Johor Bahru they would not recommend to anyone on a bike — end in Singapore with tea in Little India and a deliberate farewell to the project.

Afterword

The original texts thank everyone who followed the site, and “Bü”, the friend who kept photos and reports online. For the full German narrative as published at the time (including statistics, asides, and the slower rhythm of the blog), open the German heritage page and use Read more there.