E5 - Daniel: From IT Desk to Epic Eastern European Bicycle Journey

Ever wondered how a life-changing adventure might look if you left your stable job behind? Meet Daniel, who traded his IT career for an epic bicycle journey from Poland to Vietnam (or not? xdxd). After a heartbreaking breakup, Daniel found solace in nature and camping. This episode promises an exhilarating ride through Eastern Europe's landscapes, with Daniel sharing his meticulous planning, financial hurdles, and the geopolitical challenges he faced head-on. 

Witness the vibrant mix of travel and music in Daniel's Romanian journey, where he met locals like Vasili and even recorded tracks inspired by his surroundings. Listen to tales of unexpected kindness, the joys of slower travel, and the invaluable bike touring tips he learned from shepherds. From mechanical mishaps to wildlife encounters, Daniel's adventures highlight the resilience needed for such a journey. Ultimately, it's the power of human connections that shines through, making each experience unforgettable and inspiring.

Connect with Daniel:

• Daniel's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sealife_centaur

Connect with me:

• Igar Garai Instagram: https://instagram.com/igargarai
• or be my CS guest: https://www.couchsurfing.com/people/igar-garai

Transcript

Igar: 0:01

Hello, dear travelers from around the globe, today I have another guest who quit his well-paid job in IT for something he was dreaming, I guess, and something he was never done before. So, daniel, my friend, really good to have you here. I have a lot of questions and like let's start from this question about the trip of bicycle. Can you just go directly there? Sure why you could go and why you decided to go, why exactly bicycle? Just go with your flow, how you feel, and just tell us.

Daniel: 0:35

Okay, cool.

Daniel: 0:36

So basically I had just gone through a breakup and I sort of realized that nothing is holding me in the city that I live in, in Wroclaw, because I grew up in Belgium, lived in many different places and had been living in Wroclaw for a while and I was starting to think like, maybe I want to move somewhere else, maybe I want something else in my life.

Daniel: 1:04

Is this really it, you know? And then the breakup was kind of coinciding with that, you know, it was kind of a life decision that needed to be made in this thing, without wanting to say more. And once I got over it I decided like, okay, man, like I'm just going gonna go on this big adventure, um, because I feel like I've gone from school to university to to the job, you know, and I started working quite early as well as a freelance translator and interpreter, and, um, I never really had that big adventure, you know, like, and um, I had also developed like a liking for camping and and stuff like that, and and, you know, being in nature and stuff. So I thought, well, what better way to explore, you know, those things and and and meet people and and see unseen lands, uh, than by bicycle?

Igar: 2:05

That makes sense actually. So was this kind of your first trip in general, like I mean like your first trip or like maybe first solo trip?

Daniel: 2:17

I had a solo biking trip in the past, so it was like in between years at university. I cycled from Guildford to Brussels. It was like 500 kilometers or something like that, like taking the ferry and everything and met lots of cool people and had a really great time.

Daniel: 2:40

I stayed for less than the agreed price at a hotel because the guy liked me and his name was Daniel as well, and then we were smoking joints and took some breakfast from the kitchen, just because I came there late after having crossed the channel and I was soaking wet and just sort of meeting people like that in these different settings was so rewarding Experiences that I still remember very vividly and with connections that I made with people that were really strong, you know, and basically it was also a big achievement for myself. Like I remember cycling up to my mom's place, you know it was kind of like getting dark already, you know, and like there was a lot of anticipation and I got to smoke a victory cigar in the dark already, you know. And like there was a lot of anticipation and I got to smoke a victory cigar in the living room, you know, like my mom was happy that her son was home.

Igar: 3:54

Yeah, you're safe and everything healthy.

Daniel: 3:56

Yeah, and this was such a cool experience. Back then, and kind of also happened on a whim, I was like, ok, I don't know how I will go back to Brussels for the summer. At that point back in, this was 2013 or something, 2014. And so I had just decided to go by bike, fuck it, and I had a tent in the back and, um, yeah, it was a really nice experience. So I I had that in the back of my mind and I thought why not do something like that again, but on a bigger scale?

Igar: 4:37

but this time you, for real, did it for a big scale for, as I know, like for at least two reasons. One it was you was preparing much longer there. You was preparing and like, and it was supposed to be longer, trip right it was, it was supposed to be much longer and like so many countries so different, like border crossing everything so it was needed like this preparation yeah, yeah, so like like, what did you do, like for preparation, what was needed, like for you?

Igar: 5:04

yeah, like, so maybe you can also like like open up, yeah, what, what you was preparing?

Daniel: 5:09

yeah, yeah, and for what goal? As well, because, for what aims? Because, uh, it changed over time, like so, yeah, the first goal was vietnam. Like I wanted to get to vietnam, and it's from poland, from poland, oh well that is endless like a trip, you know, yeah that is a long trip, you know I mean. Originally I was thinking I want to take a whole year off.

Igar: 5:30

Yeah.

Daniel: 5:31

And then that kind of became six months because of different considerations, you know, like financial one, of course as well. You know, okay, will I be able to save up enough money to be, you know, gone for a year, um, and then come back. I mean, I wanted something to come back to as well, okay, yeah, it's not like I was like, uh, giving everything up. You know, I put all my stuff in storage and stuff, but that's the preparation. We'll get to that.

Daniel: 6:01

But uh, the original goal was vietnam and I wanted to go by also train, by boat, uh, and I think, was there a flight in there, a return flight? Of course, yeah, like um, but um, all of this planning, um, when I, when I started planning it more, I realized that there were certain things that I couldn't really be sure of. You know, for example, crossing from it was from Azerbaijan into, no, from Kazakhstan into Mongolia. That was the difficult part because I would have had to cross Russian territory or Chinese well, chinese territory, but that wasn't really possible for the route that I had chosen Because also there was war.

Daniel: 7:15

There was the Russian war, and the German foreign office kind of said, like you shouldn't travel into or via Russia as a German citizen. On top of that, my passport looks like shit. It's like falling apart. You know, it's my only form of ID, so I carry it with me everywhere and it really Dilapidated you know. Piece of shit, you know. And I thought like, okay, it's because I read some. Then I read some travel blogs and Some people said, indeed, like I was rejected at the border because my passport was not in order. You know, this is apparently Russian border guards really pay attention to that so I don't like to confirm your words.

Igar: 7:49

I was there lately and my passport photo is short hair and nowadays I'm with long hair and he was like checking, checking. So he said to me okay, pull your hair up. I did, and then he was like okay, okay. Then he I say so do you feel more comfortable like this kind of with her? But I think it was not a bad way. He said oh sorry, you don't misunderstand me.

Igar: 8:11

I just have a lot of curiosity, yeah, but like anyway, they do also their job somehow right like, if it's a little bit more paranoid, they still, you know, yeah totally.

Daniel: 8:21

I mean they, they just have different, but in your case if it's like paper also quality. You know, like here, there, you never know the cover is like, like I said, falling apart and the picture doesn't really look like me anymore either. It was, uh, it was it's actually expiring, uh, this year in august and the trip was last year, right? So so I was like, oh man, um, and the trip was last year, right so?

Igar: 8:49

so I was like, oh man, um too many uh things that I cannot really.

Daniel: 8:51

Yeah, it's like too many risks, yeah, so I shortened it first uh, then to uh azerbaijan so I would so it would be, uh, from here to the cotton and then traverse the Caucasus, georgia that I was gonna leave to like fate kind of thing, how, how fast I would get to Bulgaria because there's a, there's a ferry at Varna and that goes over the Black Sea to Georgia. So I was considering that Okay interesting.

Daniel: 9:28

Yeah, that's, and that's also a whole adventure. You know, like it's kind of there's no website, there's no nothing. You kind of have to go there. Then you have to go to the port and find it. Just, you know like, so I read some some some, some, some, some reports about that and so I was like, okay, people are doing that, that's fine, and so I had shortened the the trip quite a bit in doing my planning phase and then, uh, I did a few um. So first of all I needed to get everything I own into storage. Yeah, I needed to get the equipment I had storage.

Daniel: 10:03

Yeah, I needed to get the equipment. I had most camping stuff, but I didn't have a solid bike. So that bike, I think I was waiting for that bike for like I don't know almost a year. This was during the pandemic. The pandemic had just ended and there was still some supply chain disruptions for, like bike manufacturers and stuff, and I had actually bought my bike a really long time ago, like I mean in. So basically, I think I planned, I started planning around fall or winter 2021. Cause, like that was when, kind of around that time, when the breakup was was happening, I was like, fuck it, I'm going to do it, I'm just going to go Um and um. Then, in May 2023, I went on the trip actually.

Daniel: 11:04

So there was kind of like a year and a half, almost two years, of anticipation and planning and thinking okay, also, what kind of skills do I need?

Daniel: 11:18

What kind of tools will I need? Learning a little bit about bicycles not too much, you know, and yeah, so saved a lot of money, bought the equipment and I thought, okay, well, I want to do this trip, but I kind of want to make it something more, you know, like I want to record my experience somehow, and originally I thought I was going to write a vlog, you know, or podcast, even like go around and ask people what they think about certain things. Then I kind of saw that all of that already was out there, kind of thing, and then kind of play to it. That was kind of a vague idea, play to it and then make a song out of whatever sound I would record. And that morphed into me going on this trip with a violin, a mini keyboard, an iPad and basically a whole portable recording studio and, yeah, percussion stuff and everything. And so I had, in the end, quite a different trip than what I anticipated at first.

Igar: 13:04

Yeah, but like, of of course, also time change and everything you change, like your approach to this trip changed and in the end, so like how many bags around bike you had Like one bag, for sure, like five bags, no, six bags, six bags, so like one you had with the instruments, one with like camping, I guess.

Daniel: 13:23

Yeah, so the violin was in a separate bag.

Igar: 13:26

Actually it was seven items.

Daniel: 13:28

So the violin was in a separate thing, but I was able to smash it into one bag. Smash it, smash the violin, I mean like really squeeze it into this big 30 liter waterproof bag along with the keyboard. Yeah, but there was some iterations in the packing, of course, you know, with time and that's. And there were two practice trips as well, like shorter trips, where I, you know, was preparing. Yeah, so one 400 kilometer trip and one, like I I think, 120, 150 kilometers.

Igar: 14:05

Oh, nice, it's smart. It's smart before, like a real trip, you know, a huge one. Yeah, you did some short ones, okay. Okay, makes sense.

Daniel: 14:14

You learn a lot when you actually test something you know I mean, of course, in an IT environment this is like a common thing, you know, and there it's just the same thing. You need to test it, and then you need to see, okay, what's the weight ratio. And so I did two tests, I thought about it and made some calculations and then in the end I think I had 55 kilos of stuff, all right, Including the instruments and stuff like that, which was a lot of weight. In hindsight, yeah, I guess I could have simplified it. I could, yeah, I could have just left one instrument, uh, away.

Daniel: 14:54

Like probably I could have been fine with just the keyboard, but the violin was, uh, was also nice. I mean, it was excellent. Uh, it's just a very fragile instrument and you don't in when you're camping out and you're out in the elements and stuff like that. It's kind of, uh, I mean, for me I've had this violin also for a long time and you know you don't want to stress it too much, you know, all right, so it's this really fragile thing, and also recording with it, um, which was kind of like my main goal, is, in essence, very difficult, you know, but I bought like a nice microphone, a nice pickup microphone for it and stuff, and in the end I did like use it to great effect in the music.

Igar: 15:41

So did you guys have music. Yes, yeah, yeah.

Daniel: 15:48

I recorded about like 10 songs, basically songs. Essentially, they're already complete as they are, but now I'm working on mixing them. That's nice. Yes, I'm going to combine it with some audio visual material as well, interesting, interesting.

Igar: 16:08

That's cool man. Go for it all right, and like to come back a little bit uh to the trip itself. So and then you started right, like uh how it went. Like, uh, poland and the from original planet was Azerbaijan, and like yeah, so and like how it all started like how you like your first days, like what did you do, okay?

Daniel: 16:30

so, first of all, it was it was really fantastic, because all that anticipation you can imagine, like one and a half years of planning, anticipation of acquiring, you know, expensive gear and minimizing everything in size and weight and considering three, three, four times at least if you're going to take one object um, then the day came, uh, and I was with my girlfriend. She came with me for the first 10 days. Uh, it was fantastic, it was so, so nice. It was actually also the trip that, for me, cemented the the. I mean the thought also of spending the rest of my life with her. You know, because, because we did so well, you know, like there was, there was such such beautiful moments and great teamwork and all all around, it was, um, it was super nice, and we basically went from Wroclaw to Bratislava.

Igar: 17:25

Okay, yes, yes.

Daniel: 17:27

And day one was we started late really late. I think we made like 20 kilometers or something.

Igar: 17:36

Just like outside the city. Yeah, we just got outside the city, some village next by.

Daniel: 17:42

We found a nice spot to camp next to the Odra River and, yeah, set up for the night, had like really nice time, smoked like joints and stuff and chilled and cooked some really nice meals and yeah, and then the second day we did 30 kilometers and the next day 50. And then we got into kind of like rhythm, yeah, let's say, and we did mostly like 30 kilometers a day plus um, maybe, um, no, actually with with her it was faster than that. I think it was 50 kilometers a day later.

Daniel: 18:18

The whole total of my average was 30 a day, but it was cool man, so cycling during the day like lovely, lovely landscapes, seeing everything firsthand, you know, people also looking like oh, what's this?

Daniel: 18:37

you know, because, like in Germany, it's popular to do bicycle touring. There nobody bats an eye, but but here it's like not so common to see like a fully packed bike, two of them. Yeah, you know, uh and um and uh, so, uh. So it started like slow summery it was may actually so it was not too hot, you know, it was super nice. Um and uh, so it was 20th of May that we left and, yeah, the the evenings we would find a nice spot somewhere by a lake or by the river, you know, set up camp. She would make the fire, I would set up the tent and the bed and stuff, and then we would cook together and and eat together and and then yeah, it's super nice, and after the 10 days you're separate.

Daniel: 19:27

After 10 days she took the bus back to Wroclaw and then I went via Budapest down, dipped into Serbia a little bit and went then to Romania from Serbia, and then I spent in Romania. I think I spent two months.

Igar: 19:46

This is another we will cut. Like this I'm going in this direction because this is something, you know, different than this trip. You know it's like another trip. You know inside trip. You know, yeah, yeah, totally, totally. Well, if you can like, because you touched this nice topic with the, with the partner and I know that I already also mentioned like, because in my first episode it was also very sweet young couple from France. They traveled together and I used to travel also like with my ex-partner and my current partner, always like, like.

Igar: 20:22

For me, travel is, you know, life and it's always some like difficult intensity and like what you said. You said nice words like, with like, with this like short 10 days trip, you got this intensity and you kind of start to see the person from different side. That like, hmm, if you're doing like, I don't know, like, I will ask you if you're doing like this, like that, and you start to consider you know, like, because it's a lot of stress, a lot of unusual situation. You need to open tent, create a fire I don't know create a meal, then keep going, then like, I don't know if some like somebody hurt somebody, not somebody want to go, somebody want to stop here there is always this kind of action in the trip uh, so yeah, how was it for you and how did you guys handle it? And in general, if you had some difficulties, like you, you remember some, or like how surprisingly these difficulties you handle, or opposite, like no surprise, I don't know.

Daniel: 21:15

Like yeah, yeah, so so we talked a lot, um, we made sure we were okay, like so much that it came became even like, like I was like I don't know, almost like parenting each other, sort of like you okay, you okay, you know.

Daniel: 21:31

But I think that was important because we gave each other the chance to kind of say if something was not okay right away, and then we tried to accommodate that as best as possible with the means that we had. You know, and there was some miscommunication. Of course, that happens because you're also tired at the end of the day and then that's when, yeah, communication can break down and become just the source of misunderstandings. So this did happen, but we navigated it really well and then cleared up the misunderstanding and then that was also a sign for me like, okay, you know, like, yeah, in every relationship there is conflict at some point, because there's two people and everybody has their own needs and you know you need to communicate also what you need in order to fulfill that need from the other person. And I feel like this trip has also shown us how to communicate really healthy, healthily.

Daniel: 22:46

There was one example also of like, ok, there was some preparation that wasn't done correctly. You know, are we going to get upset about it? Are we going to find a solution? And very quickly we both said, okay, let's find a solution. And so we worked together on fixing this thing and that again was a good sign. So, yeah, you put yourself in the potential of, of, of conflict, but then I guess it really shows, let's say yeah, the level of, of maturity that you have towards yourself and your partner. Um, and, and, and, and attests that I guess Master every challenge as it comes along, kind of thing, and that's also kind of what became clear on the whole in this trip. You'll figure things out, you know, in a relationship, you need to talk, you need to clarify what your needs are, and, um, and, and.

Igar: 23:53

Yeah, try and listen actually that's the main thing communicate and listen. Nice, nice, sweet. All right then, like so after all? After all, you moved to the soul, right? This became solo. You already mentioned, you crossed and you end up in Romania.

Daniel: 24:09

So Romania right.

Igar: 24:12

You ended up nicely cool yeah it was awesome. Tell me. Tell me, like how was the way in general to Romania, like where you found yourself and in what conditions, and like how it all happened, what happened, you know?

Daniel: 24:27

okay, so. So I'll give you a brief rundown of like the the way from bratislava to to romania, because hungary was also a chapter that and that then became really like small also in in my mind, you know like because romania took up such such a long time, but hungary was also really cool. Um, uh, in budapest I recorded the first track, like in this kind of hotel room it's like an airbnb kind of thing, like a flat kind of then you could rent.

Daniel: 24:59

I stayed in many flats like that, you know, like where it's like 30 euros a night or something, um, and then I left budapest, spent five days in a nudist camp like that. I saw by accident, it was fantastic Inside the city or somewhere I was outside the city by a lake. You know it was a whole society of naked people.

Igar: 25:19

Yeah, yeah, so in Hungary, because I know a little bit similar in Bratislava, but like kind of like in around the city there's some lake and there is another side, there is something. I'm not sure if it's camp or not, but at least there's a beach or something. And camping area, so maybe somehow it's connected.

Daniel: 25:38

Yeah, there is a thing like this, naked beaches and you know, kind of like in Holland they have that in Germany as well and it's also often, yeah, like the sort of also the gay scene where that happens.

Daniel: 25:55

In this case it was like a gated community kind of thing.

Daniel: 25:57

You pay an entrance fee and you can camp there with your tent or with your camper van, or there's also huts that you can rent, you know. So I rented a hut and then I also camped out in my tent and there I met the most amazing people as well, like I met the guy who built like three or four houses there, you know like saw him fish and everything, talked to an 80 year old. Actually he would have been interesting to interview because he was an 82 year old ex army vet from the British Army who was just traveling everywhere now with his pension money and he had been staying there for months and he's just going to all these different places and he even went to the Black Sea where I was going. So he gave me some tips and we looked at the map together and yeah, we met every day and chatted and stuff. It was nice, Met all sorts of different characters there, interesting people, and then there was a disco on Saturday and there was a live band.

Daniel: 27:07

Well, actually, no, everybody was dressed everybody was dressed up. Oh, really yeah it was kind of funny, it's like that's a surprise, but I was like, yeah, it kind of makes sense.

Daniel: 27:16

I guess it's a special occasion, yeah but still interesting because they're naked naked all the time, like basically, and and at the end of that I was joking to to some people, some friends that I met there, that like now I'm wearing the suit, you know the uniform, because I was fully tanned, I had no tan lines, you know. So I was like now I have the uniform, you know the birthday suit, and that was really really beautiful, a nice experience. And that was really really beautiful, a nice experience. Then from there, the Hungarian steppe, like southern steppe, to Szeged and then from Szeged. So how was it?

Daniel: 28:01

I wanted to cross the border into Romania. So I went from Szeged I don't even remember now, sorry, but like I kind of I think I went into Serbia because I wanted to go to Romania. And then from Serbia into Romania, I was stopped at the border because I took a bicycle path where you can only pass one time a month. There was a special day every month that you could pass by bicycle from Serbia to Romania at that particular spot. It was a cool area with rusty signs and abandoned towers and stuff. It was really cool. And I got pretty far until the romanian cop car came and stopped me and these guys were talking to me and I said oh, please, can you make an exception? I'm here with, I said, and I would have to make a 35 kilometer detour, you know, and they called their boss, you know, and they were talking and then in the end they couldn't do anything because I need to go back.

Daniel: 29:11

I need to backtrack that was. That was pretty, but they let you go out from serbia kind of um, yeah, in the end they let me go out of serbia, yeah, but romania, um, uh, well, they didn't check at the serbian uh. So romanian said you need to go. And then I was thinking maybe I can find a way anyhow to like circumvent them. I looked, but it was really hard.

Daniel: 29:32

There was just nature everywhere and just a bicycle path, you know like. So it was not possible, so I went and stayed at a hotel where I recorded another track. Oh yeah, in in Hungary I also recorded another track called Spa, because I stayed at a spa place.

Daniel: 29:52

That was really fun. So I used the sound of a pigeon. So first there was an outdoor spa and I heard loads of 70-year-olds, 60-year-olds talking. It sounded really calming. And then there was a pigeon that went like, and then that became like in the kind of rhythm of the pigeon, you know. So just to give you an idea of the silliness of the tracks kind of thing. And then we oh I Then I backtracked and I entered Romania through Serbia and I came to a really beautiful place like with a river, with some nice grass around and sheep everywhere and it's just beautiful People fishing. I was like I want to camp here. So I was, like you know, set up my tent and everything. And then I see like a guy come in his little scooter, like scooter motorbike thing, in a blue overall, like a young lad, you know, a little bit Chubby but like friendly looking, and you know he starts talking to me in Romanian. I'm like I don't know how to speak Romanian, but I'm gonna try with French and Spanish and Italian.

Daniel: 31:30

So I was just saying that I came by bicycle from Poland and that I'm sleeping here for the night. And then he said no, no, no, no, no, you can't sleep here, you shouldn't sleep here. And I'm like what, what the fuck do you want, man? And then he was trying to tell me something. I said, okay, we'll switch to Google Translate. So he tells me that this is like dangerous to stay here because the river can overflow if it rains at night and then I could drown, you know. So it's like whoa, okay, super nice man, thanks for telling me.

Daniel: 32:01

And then, you know, we have a conversation. I have a cigarette and he starts getting really interested in my gear, you know, and I think nothing, you know, because I trust people in general, and I just tell him about my stuff, I tell him about how much I paid for everything, because he asked, you know, he asks to see my knife, if he can have my knife. Then he asks if he can buy my knife. Then he asks if I have money for him, you know. And and then he also asks me what other weapons do you have? You know? So I even even then I, here is my pepper gel. And he says, oh, okay, you don't have a gun. I say no, no, no, I don't have a gun. He says I have a gun. He says, oh, okay, cool, cool, okay. So all this happens and he tells me where I should camp, where is a good spot, and so I say, okay, thanks, bye. So I set up my camp there, he leaves, uh and um, and then in the evening I realize I'm like thinking about all the things okay, romania, okay, cool, nice.

Daniel: 33:19

What do you know about romania? Nothing except, oh, yeah, yousuf, you know he was there and he says be, you know, because my, I was planning my trip for a long time. He said when you go through romania, be careful, because they're thieves and they're going to steal everything. You should be careful. He got robbed twice.

Daniel: 33:36

Apparently Another person had had a bad experience. My brother said oh man, better watch out for your stuff. And I'm like, oh man, and this guy just knows exactly how much I'm carrying, what kind of weapons I'm carrying. You know, I'm alone, blah, blah. I just came here and I just gave everything away and that night I slept really unwell, you know, like I was just sleeping with one eye open, basically, and every little sound like, like I thought was somebody coming or something. You know there was sounds. You know there's always sounds. Yeah, nature, of course. Nature and dogs shepherd dogs like coming around and sniffing and stuff, and I realized that that happened a lot. And then the next morning everything was beautiful, it was fine and I had two doggy friends that kind of were chilling. I gave them some dog treats. You know that I had bought because, um, also a danger was getting chased by dogs on a bicycle, you know so.

Daniel: 34:37

So just in case throw them, throw them some dog treats. Uh, in the end I learned many different ways on how to deal with it, research that stuff, when you, when you want to go on a trip like that, uh, because they give you the exact like techniques, how to behave and stuff, and mostly it's fine. Um, there was not a single moment where a dog was really aggressive and becoming a danger or something. This case they were really sweet and and and then, um, there was a guy, uh, who I was. Then I had my breakfast at this kind of like little lake or lakes to the river, and a guy came, older guy, like a grandfather type, and he was like is there good fish here?

Daniel: 35:18

And I said I don't know, I'm just having my breakfast. But check over there, there's another fisherman over there, maybe it's he knows, you know, maybe he knows. And then, okay, thanks. So we went over there and then, okay, I packed my stuff and then I saw the guy fishing and I just came over to him and I think I just showed him my fishing rod look, this is my fishing rod, you know.

Daniel: 35:41

And then that kind of became a beautiful friendship. You know where we just spent a day and a half kind of together and fishing together. He was preparing all sorts of food. You know where we just spent a day and a half kind of together and fishing together. He was preparing all sorts of foods. You know, for me invited me into his home. You know, like I originally I didn't want to like, because it's a lot, you know also to accept, you know like, and I thought like, no, let's go to a cafe, let's have a drink, because we were fishing for a while, we had a great time. And he said, come, come, you know, we'll have lunch at mine. I said, let's have, let's go to a cafe and said, oh, there's a nice cafe in this town maybe.

Daniel: 36:23

Huh, it's like a village, more like, or a small town. And then he convinced me, the end, to go to his place. And uh, man, I'm so glad I did, man, because it was just such a genuine encounter, you know, like he was so happy to to, to show me around and to show me that his kittens, his pigeons, and and then loads of chickens, you know, and he had names for them all, and, uh, and we got some freshly hatched eggs and we also had a few tiny fish, you know. And then I just sat down in his kitchen and he cooked for me like everything Lamb, potatoes, everything, I don't even remember. But such welcomeness and hospitality, it was really heartwarming.

Daniel: 37:17

And him on the day that we parted, so I stayed the night next day, I chilled a little bit, and then I was on my way. We were speaking French together because his French was pretty good, well, french and everything else we were speaking. It was kind of a mishmash. And in the end I recorded him saying something in French, like recite a poem from La Fontaine, you know. And so I recorded it. And then a few days later I was, I think, in a hotel and I made this song out of it, which sounds really, really fucking dope. You know I'm super excited to finally finish it as well and bring it out and also to show him. You know, because I've been working on this for a while. You know, essentially with the songs that's a whole other chapter. We're going to talk about that later.

Igar: 38:13

But this is interesting anyway, like it's already fourth song on your trip. It's going like meeting some different environment, or like people, or like sounds or so on. Yes, it was going well, it was working you know.

Daniel: 38:26

So he had a nice voice and I added some keys to it. And also during this whole time I was in contact with my best friend who lives in Holland, who is also the drummer of our band, and he plays the drums, also makes beats, so we were kind of sending each other some stuff as well. He sent me some beats and we made a few tracks like that as well on the way. So the music styles are wildly different actually, but as a whole they make like a nice kind of story. And that was my first day in Romania where I talked to Vasili and we became friends over fishing by the lake and it was really nice.

Daniel: 39:14

And from then on really my whole picture of Romania has changed so much. I mean it's a 180. Like. For me I've not met such hospitable, genuine, easygoing people.

Daniel: 39:30

And you know I come from Belgium where there's many different nationalities living together, and in Romania there's also this, that, but for centuries, you know, and maybe millennia, you know, so they have this peaceful cohabitation. You know like there's different religions living together peacefully. You know Nobody cares about all this political stuff that in the West people are like so keen on, you know, like this ideology and stuff like that. There, especially in Transylvania, which was my favorite part of Romania, people live much more in the now in connection with nature and stuff, and the land there is really fertile. You know like, wow, man, I saw so many beautiful gardens with tomatoes like as big as your hand, you know, but like real tomatoes, so juicy and everything, and yeah. So, man, like without wanting to go into too much detail from then on, like, yeah, I started going into the hills, the foothills of the Carpathians, met some really dope people at a hotel there, scored some weed, you you know, off the doorman Whose name was also Daniel, kind of, it's really really weird.

Daniel: 41:00

It's admittedly, admittedly, and he was working at a hotel reception as well, so I was like man. This is just such a coincidence.

Igar: 41:07

Yeah, it's so funny.

Daniel: 41:09

And so I gave him a little bit of acid. He gave me some weed and from then on this was the weed smoking part of the story, because up until then I was pretty sober most of the time, Because drinking alcohol was no fun, because you're dehydrated.

Daniel: 41:30

And I didn't have any weed after Kasia and I split, so there it was cool and then I also started slowing down my pace. It's also when I started just taking it much more easy, like because before I really wanted to do 30 kilometers a day and then, yeah, sometimes I mean one day I think I did 7 kilometers, but then it was fine because it was such a beautiful place.

Igar: 42:09

I was like okay, I'll stay here and move on tomorrow.

Daniel: 42:12

Yeah, and then the pace slowed down and it was beautiful. I really let my soul kind of like go a little bit and uh spent lots of time in transylvania exploring. I met some german settlers there that took me in for five days. I was also able to record some stuff on the village church there on the organ, and I'm using some recordings that I made of them speaking and telling me some stories and stuff and I put this over the organ and it works really nicely. And that's the one track that's like a prog rock track, some electronic.

Igar: 42:57

Experimental stuff.

Daniel: 42:58

It's like it's gonna be an eclectic mix of things looking forward and there there was also the village like drunk kind of thing, who I met, erich, who was also a german like origin, and oh, yeah, so the crazy thing is that these, these people at least the ones I was staying at they had this accent that was very similar to the accent that they speak in Eastern Belgium, like a German accent that I'm kind of familiar with a little bit, you know. So when I came there and first of all, I met these German settlers that I only knew about from the history books because there was a big diaspora in the 90s, they all left, so only very few are there, and this family went back two years before I got there. So they went back to their ancestral home and started those two twins. They started a bull raising business there and the mother was managing things, and then there was an eldest son there as well, and so this was a fascinating discovery and experience. Like, wow, you guys come from basically the Mosel area, which is really close to the Belgian border, and Luxembourg and stuff, and you came here 900 years ago, like a thousand years ago, and you, you, you didn't change the dialect. The dialect is the same. Yeah, right, from a linguistic perspective and everything. I was like, oh, mind blown, you know, and uh, so their story is kind of in the album a little bit as well, and and then from then on I had to cross the carpathians. Oh yeah, eric, I forgot eric.

Daniel: 44:39

Eric, the village drunk, so. So this guy was also like a real character, like whenever he was in a group and you, like the other, we were sitting by the bus stop drinking beer with a couple of old geezers. You know like it was really funny and fun to just hang around and like he was always saying really obscene things and like really being like very rude, but in a joking way. You know, like he kind of you could see that he really enjoys it and really making like jokes with everyone who's passing, like hey, nice tits, or something. Or like hey, you should, you should turn, I don't know, uh, put down your pants or something. To a young guy like the only gay in the village, like he was like he's like hey, you see, this is gay, and everyone says like this guy's crazy. Um, but as soon as you were alone with him, he was normal, he was just normal yeah, he could have like a normal mask becoming normal like it was so funny like this how do you change like behavior like in a group?

Daniel: 45:43

and in any case this guy was. We were chilling with some gypsies and this guy and the eldest son and this guy sang something and I was like, oh, sing that again, I want to record you, you know. And so I recorded him singing and then two days later I dropped acid and I recorded stuff on the on the organ in the church and I had forgotten about his, the singing and whatnot. And then much later I put those two together and they fit like super, super nicely, like the chords, with the singing, with the pacing, and apparently it's a beautiful Romanian, like folk uh song where he speaks about his loved one, you know, sings about his loved one and um and when. When that happened as well later when I was working on the tracks, I was like dude, that's so fucking like I really had like the goosebumps, you know, because on a musical level, like what are the odds? You know, you didn't have to do any pitch correction, no, nothing, you just wow, it's like amazing. So that was a little special thing also there. And I'm still in touch with the family, by the way, with the eldest son. We like chat, you know, talk on the phone Like it's good, and then crossing the Carpathians, getting into the plains that go from the mountains to the Black Sea.

Daniel: 47:17

Also different Romania, different world. Everything flat, much more kind of dilapidated, everything. Transylvania is the kind of more like well-off part of Romania, but also super genuine people, super nice people and more flat landscape, then some pretty crazy hills that go then to the Black Sea. So I went to Tulca, which is along the Odra no, sorry, the Danube. That's where the Danube Delta is and you can observe a lot of birds and there's lots of nature and you can go by boat and there's water snakes and lots of fishing and lots of cool people, lots of genuine again genuine people.

Daniel: 48:06

Except that it was a little more touristy there. It was already kind of because there was a destination, a popular destination for Romanians and people now from abroad as well, like there was a Dutch family with like three kids, three or four kids or something. There was people from France that I met there, etc. So it was getting a bit more kind of civilized, because a lot of these mid-sized towns or smaller towns that I went through weren't really touristic points. So the encounters that you had were really with the locals and of course, also there was the Airbnb owners that were just local people and making a buck. Now, because there's a a little more uh, people that come around and stuff and everybody speaks english, there was like a wi-fi connection and not like yeah, like not wi-fi, but uh, g3, you know 3g. Sorry, my god. My god, I'm sorry, I'm tired, but uh, cool, cool yeah.

Daniel: 49:13

So um, camped at the black sea and it's beautiful beach and that's like constanza. I stopped the trip in constanza because I was out of money. It was slowly getting out of money. Um, I kind of was thinking, okay, um, also with kasha, you like my partner, I was missing her a lot and I was like, you know, I kind of now I have kind of a reason again to go back, you know, because before that it was like, okay, I have no commitments, you know, I'm free, I'm going to go. But now I was in a relationship and I wanted to be in a relationship, you know. And so I was like you know what? I had a pretty good run. You know, constanza is also cool. Yeah, the, the trip back was also an adventure in us in a sprinter car.

Igar: 50:04

It was think it was 23 hour trip to Dresden from Constanza but when I was class, like that story where you spent like so many time with some gypsies and some horse riding oh yeah, that's also in Romania. That was also amazing, but you haven't mentioned.

Daniel: 50:23

I didn't mention that this was before I met the Germans. Ah, even before Germans.

Igar: 50:28

Yeah, so much happened on this trip.

Daniel: 50:30

Yeah, you're a real expert of Romania, you know, man I was even speaking like not banned at the end of this trip, you know.

Daniel: 50:37

I was able to have a conversation, so that was amazing. I was camping next to a river and in the morning I see this guy like bathe his horse in the river, you know. He's just sitting on the horse without a saddle. You know Like well, that's pretty cool, so I take a picture, you know, and then he comes out and then wow, cool, then can I take a picture. It looks like a you know badass on this horse. You know, and the horse had like these.

Daniel: 51:05

In Romania they have like red decorations around the mr Kyle gypsy thing, Okay, yeah they kind of decorations on the on the harnesses that are on the face and stuff. Okay, and it looked really nice. They put decorations on the harnesses on the face and stuff and it looked really nice. So I took a picture and then he said do you? Want to ride the horse I said, yeah, okay, and literally a minute after or 30 seconds after I was on the horse, but you knew how to do it. I had been on a horse without a saddle once, but I didn't really know.

Igar: 51:32

But still super excited. I totally loved it.

Daniel: 51:36

Man, it was so cool. And then I was riding the horse pretty much without him doing it, he was just walking in front of it, you know. And then walking to where he then tied the horse up, he asked me do you want some beers, do you want a beer? I said yeah. So he said, okay, wait a second, left me on the horse up there and I didn't even know how to get down. You know. I was like, oh okay. So after waiting for like I don't know a few minutes, I was like okay, I'm gonna try and get down. And I got down without dying and so, but I had like lots of respect for the horses.

Igar: 52:09

Yeah, if she, you know like hold it, and I kind of trust if she allows you. It's nice, you know, but like yeah, yeah, but maybe they feel somehow, people say yeah, yeah, yeah because because yeah, animals it's like a lot of kind of like in a kind of not psychological but how to say yeah, this approach like with horse, like it's communication kind of somehow yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, like horse whispering, horse whispering nice, so, so in.

Daniel: 52:37

In this case, yeah, I was like okay, cool, cool, okay, got off. The guy Lukasz, uh, turned out to be the most chilled out dude ever. Um, he showed me around his place as well, gave me lots of food like everything homemade homemade bread, homemade cheese, homemade large, you know, from the pig uh. And then I said goodbyes, okay, cool, I had like nice big lunch with that, all that food. And then he comes with his car. He says come follow me. I said okay, I think we're going to his place, which was actually just across the road. So I was like weird that he's by car. Maybe he just came back and he's picking up.

Daniel: 53:20

So I took my violin, I took something for, uh, I think, uh, for his kid, like some sweets and maybe something for his wife. You know, I was thinking okay, gotta say thank you for, you know, this hospitality. But we don't go to his place, we go up into the hills and to see his friends who are shepherds up in the hills. And we get up to this beautiful like small kind of trailer and there's a pink sun umbrella out, and then there's a pink uh sun umbrella out, uh, and then there's a little structure next to it and they're like chilling there having some beers. You know like uh, and you know, welcoming me, first looking a little bit like, but then it's like okay, this guy's okay, and uh, and then I was suddenly chilling with these shepherds up in the hills, huge shepherd dogs like around and beautiful views, and yeah, we were chilling.

Daniel: 54:22

I played violin for him, we drank, we ate some fresh goat cheese, goat milk, we drank. It was really really nice. Spent the whole day together, went to a lake with like some muds that you put all over you. Then there was a barbecue there with some other people that they knew. So we had some chicken and stuff sat with the family there. Then they drove me all the way back and by that time we were pretty drunk. And I get to my campsite and everything was black, of course, and I'm like campsite and everything was black of course, and I'm like Where's all the food? I didn't put the food inside the tent and while I was gone, the fucking shepherd dogs they were down there they ate everything.

Daniel: 55:06

I was so gutted man, I just received all that beauty from the guy. And then the shepherd dogs. But yeah, it was funny like they were like Ah, you'd be careful, you know, they know this yeah, yeah, yeah, too much good stuff.

Igar: 55:20

You know like, not only you wanted it oh, this is dope, this is dope, cool man like uh. But I also want to ask in general about, well, firstly, like really cool stories, I really like to listen and like keep going. Like I want to ask like some practical stuff about I don't know some difficulties because, like I know that also people told me the stories about this bicycle. Again, you need to be ready. Some repairing, some it's like it's a thing right, what you put a lot of not pressure, how you say it, like you use it a lot, so like when you use something a lot right what, like what you put a lot of not pressure, how you say it, like you use it a lot, so like and when you use something a lot.

Igar: 55:58

It's, like you know, can broke or some need to maintain anyway, what kind of did you have? Any technical difficulties. Let's say, it's like this so.

Daniel: 56:07

So my girlfriend had a flat tire, um and um, I tried to fix it, but in trying to fix it I think I broke it even more. And then there was a spare tyre that we had. That was kind of the wrong size. So we were kind of a little bit despairing because also the sun was setting, you know. That was a moment of like, kind of high pressure where we were also like our relationship was also tested, you know, because I basically told her to bring a spare tire, you know, but she didn't.

Igar: 56:47

So what's from you?

Daniel: 56:49

Yeah, mine didn't work because it was a different size, you know. But then actually lots of people stopped to to offer for help, you know. And the first guy, first two guys who stopped and said like you need to help, I said like no, it's cool because I tried it myself. And then the third guy, because then at that point I had broken already, like that other one, like fully, and this other one was kind of like too big, and I said what the fuck are we supposed to do now? And the guy gave us his spare tire, or yeah, it was super, super nice, and he actually bailed us out, like so he with him, we switched, we changed the tire and and then, yeah, so I think the thing is that yeah, it can be an issue, be prepared, get the right size spare tire.

Igar: 57:46

Have a spare tire.

Daniel: 57:47

At least one spare tire, not tire tube. Sorry, I always say tire, but it's the tube that goes into the spare tube yeah, yeah, and some people carry spare tires or parts of spare tires.

Daniel: 58:00

Depends on the terrain that you want to traverse, it depends on the duration of the trip, depends on the kind of civilization kind of that you get through. Do they have bike shops? Uh, you know, mostly there are bike shops in many different places because the bicycle is a thing people use all over the world. But if you need a specific spare part for your bike, get that spare part, have it. And yeah, don't, um, don't, sacrifice it also for other reasons, like, oh, I don't want to have a spare tube because I have too much weight or something and my tubes are great, they're the best quality, or whatever. You never know you never know, indeed indeed yeah nice

Daniel: 58:39

and my bicycle didn't have a single kind of issue the whole. Well, yeah, so I bought it with the kind of durability in mind, with that trip in mind. Um, so if you're going on that trip, you need a specific type of bike, but that depends again on your terrain, on the terrain et cetera, and it can be overwhelming because there's many options and I'm easily overwhelmed by this, even though I had a lot of great advice by a lot of people. I went for an option that was fully equipped already and that was also marketed as a touring bike like that. I spent quite a bit of money on this, but that was a good exercise also to see okay, well, I would like to own this. What do I have to do to get that? Okay, save on the other stuff, you know, like, just focus on this and then you get it.

Daniel: 59:42

It was a whole adventure even just to get that bike, you know, and then you start really valuing also the stuff you have, and I didn't have to have a big lock with me At first. I did, but we stopped over at a guy's place who was touring six months in the year. So this is a guy that I met just before, like a few weeks before leaving, by sheer coincidence and he lived on the way to, you know, the Czech Republic, basically from Wrocław I stopped at his place and there I was able to leave a few things, like at my big u-lock. I didn't need that, you know, because basically you camp out in the wilderness, you know, like this, it's in the middle of nowhere, there's no, there's no, there's not a lot of even crime there.

Daniel: 1:00:30

You know, in terms of like theft, you know that happens in big cities, yeah, if you leave your bike in a dark alley with you know, whatever it like for too long, you know. Also, time is also a factor, but in the case of big cities, I was always with my bike, always near it, and always was able to put it in the up in the Airbnb or in the flat. There was always a way Okay, interesting, actually. So that was an interesting thing, yeah, and I guess I was also lucky because there was no big accident or anything, and about your health and about your physical abilities.

Igar: 1:01:20

was there spasms or muscle things that you should handle?

Daniel: 1:01:24

I had some hip pain and I needed to readjust the seat for that. Then it worked Constantly. You constantly need to observe and re reassess and and and then eventually I found like a good uh position and I also did upper upper body work, some qigong, because kasha like inspired me to to do some qigong exercises, which is like simple upper body exercise you can do anywhere and it's kind of also combined some breathing. So it was a good counterbalance to the cycling which is, you know, kind of just that one motion on the time. You know, yeah, you get strong legs at the end and also your metabolism changes, that you eat a lot because you burn a lot, right?

Igar: 1:02:14

right, yeah, it's speeding up, I guess, yeah yeah, yeah it's speeding up, yeah, yeah and water.

Daniel: 1:02:19

You're also like supposed to have a lot of water with you, all that kind of um, yeah, a lot of water, yeah, yeah yeah, I think I had, uh, a lot like three and a half four liters, four and a half liters even on me all the time, pretty much because I wanted the luxury also like for cooking stuff.

Igar: 1:02:36

Right for cooking, for everything, for washing, for cooking hygiene you gotta stay on top of your hygiene.

Igar: 1:02:43

Wet wipes are your friend, yeah got it cool man, really really nice story, nice, you know, adventure you had like really really happy. You also did it like in the end like again like to quit the job, some like life, life put us, you know, to some interesting decision and usually it's kind of going to something nice as well. Uh, different life, different stories, but like it's from conversations and from my story like it's usually going for something good somehow. Yeah, so if you have or want like to open something else, like from your side, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Daniel: 1:03:23

So I want to tell you about my life after the trip. So so basically.

Daniel: 1:03:30

So I quit that job, kind of knowing I will just get another job if they don't take me back, because that wasn't even clear. My boss said like, yeah, we'll see. I was a subcontractor, you know. So it was easy to just leave. I came back and, you know, I asked him do you need me? He said no. I said okay, you know. So I was like okay, better find some interpreting jobs now, you know. So I was like okay, better find some interpreting jobs now, you know.

Daniel: 1:03:55

And I kind of got onto the bandwagon quite quickly and was able to kind of restart my career as a interpreter with this old kind of life or old status quo kind of, which was the IT job, you know, 95 gone, you know.

Daniel: 1:04:22

And now it leaves space for so many new things, you know, like my music, other hobbies, as in like cycling, you know, cycling. Now I'm doing longer trips with my friends as well, just also spending time with my loved ones, you know, like my parents, my friends, my family, and I'm trying my luck as a freelance dude now and, yeah, so far it's working fine. You know, it's a different life, but that's exactly what I wanted, you know. And soon we're going to move to Brussels. You know we're going to move to a different life. But that's exactly what I wanted, you know. And soon we're going to move to Brussels. You know we're going to move to a different place, new beginnings and stuff like that. So all in all, the kind of trip really brought what I intended it to bring was like a nice blast of an adventure with many beautiful moments and the start of a new chapter, kind of, in my life you know that's sweet, you a new chapter kind of in my life, you know that's sweet.

Igar: 1:05:24

You know like kind of it's brought you both.

Daniel: 1:05:25

Yeah, like an adventure and like energy not both, I'm alright, and the encouragement, I guess also encouragement, a certain kind of feeling that no matter what, it'll be all right kind of thing, because there was a lot of moments, actually every single day, where you were just kind of on your own.

Daniel: 1:05:48

So did I ever? I think only once I had a shitty place to sleep. You know like it was like a uh mosquito infested, uh place, really wild next to the danube. You know it was outside. You know like all the other times the camping spots that I had, like, which I had to find myself, were really nice, really nice, like really I mean I was never hurt. Also, there was no bites, no accidents, no nothing, not even a single tick I got. And you know, of course, yeah, there's a lot of luck that plays into it. But also I'm like confident now that, hey, man, if I'm going to be out in the sticks, at least with some equipment you know, okay, expensive equipment I'll be fine. You know, and in life as well, you know I'll be fine. I'll make a decision when the time comes to make a decision.

Igar: 1:06:47

Good words, really good words, and I think also travels in general remind us of the kindness, kindness of people, of the, of the not be scary, like something good will happen. You know, I think it's all brilliant, like the travel in general, these activities, yeah the kindness of people.

Daniel: 1:07:07

Really that's everything, you know, like I mean, love is everything and that's, and that's what was also there. Like Transylvania, there are bears, for example. I didn't mention that one, just a quick note Sure, sure, sure, feel free. On my way to Transylvania, even, like you know, I was thinking because I knew there were bears, if I camp out in the wild, how can I protect myself? And you know, you get into conversations on the side of the road and this time, you know, we were having some beers with really nice people, like a bunch of really eclectic characters as well, and Romanians. They love to travel, you know. Also for work, you know, like, well, they kind of have to, you know, because you know people work abroad and then they come back and etc. So they do that a lot. And sat there with a whole bunch of people who also spoke either German, english or French. And then this one guy's like, oh, what are you gonna do against Paris? I say I don't know. So, oh, hey, this guy here is a pyrotechnic, you know.

Daniel: 1:08:11

Hey, can you give him some firecrackers said yeah, sure he goes home like ten minutes after he comes back with like huge-ass firecrackers and he said if you hear a bear, just light one of these babies and that'll chase him. And sure enough, when I was in the mountains at night I was camping in the wild and I hear a bear at like 2 am in the morning going just like 40 meters, 40 meters away from my tent, you know.

Daniel: 1:08:45

And I kind of, you know I had everything ready. So I took the firecracker, opened the tent, light the firecracker, throw it out, wait an uncomfortable long time because I kind of I thought shit, they're wet or something, because because when you camp humidity and everything, but then it went off, boom, and the threat was gone. There was no more sound of anything. And then two hours later in the distance I hear another firecracker go off. So there was another camper evidently who was also like.

Igar: 1:09:14

And then two hours, later, in the distance I hear another firecracker go off, so there was another camper who was also like. But it was like regular, like the same, what you do for New Year's Eve, just for sound, just like that. Yeah, yeah, bam bam. Yeah, yeah, yeah, just like that.

Daniel: 1:09:30

And so, without the kindness of these people who knows I mean, you would be eaten by a bear.

Igar: 1:09:39

And I heard bears are not really killing you before they eat you, they just eat you.

Daniel: 1:09:46

They like to play around with you, oh my.

Igar: 1:09:48

God, this would be not really.

Daniel: 1:09:53

But besides that, the meetings with the people, that's what really stands out, you know. I mean landscapes are beautiful, you have moments of spiritual awakening and everything that's also very powerful, but uh, yeah, what carries it is the people Totally. People make everything different.

Igar: 1:10:09

Yeah, like always, always, yeah, nice, nice, nice.

Daniel: 1:10:14

Really cool man.

Igar: 1:10:17

All right, I think we can wrap it up If you want to give some other advices to some listeners.

Daniel: 1:10:22

Just don't be afraid to dream big and then to also reassess and observe and reassess, and then also, if you need to change your plans, that's okay. You're still doing something great. Um, as long as you follow your dream and it's always possible there's always a way totally cool, beautiful high five, nice.

Igar: 1:10:49

Thank you, thank you, thank you cool.