Matthias Wagner and Sonja Velte from Munich decided to go to the end of the world, but instead of a car, plane, train or bus, they sat on bicycles, which will be their home and means of transportation for more than two years.
They headed to Singapore, a country in the extreme southeast of Asia, reveals the 34-year-old chemist.
"If you calculate which is the farthest city from our home in Munich that can only be reached by land, you will see that it is neither Cape Town, nor Kamchatka, but Singapore - we will cover a total of 40.000 kilometers," this German tells the BBC in Serbian while resting in the garden of the camp next to the tent where he spent the night.
Sonja Velte is a 30-year-old mathematician, who before leaving for the trip on two wheels worked in an insurance company, while Matijas submitted his doctoral dissertation at the university before the start of the adventure.
"I've always wanted to travel around the world, and a few years before I met Matias, my mother was diagnosed with cancer, and then I asked myself how I would live if I was told I only had one year left to live," she explains.
They made a plan, prepared themselves, and on March 12 of this year, they left Lake Kimze near Munich for Asia, and three months later, they arrived in Negotin in eastern Serbia.
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'What would I do with a year to live?'
They traveled 4.700 kilometers to reach the city on the banks of the Danube, so they decided to rest for a few days in a camp for cyclists, which is crossed by the Iron Curtain Cycling Trail (Eurovelo 13), one of the 19 official cycling routes in Europe.
Matthias and Sonja travel "without a strict schedule", but they have a clear ultimate goal - to reach Singapore, says this German couple.
Wagner is a bit more talkative than his partner and reveals that since 2013 he started going on longer bike tours after he met compatriots from Germany in Iceland, who came to this island nation on two wheels.
Sonja Velte did not have similar experiences until she met Matijas, who is four years older, but "she knew from an early age that she wanted to travel," she says.
"I didn't want to wander aimlessly, but to have a clear goal of where I wanted to get to - that's how we decided on Singapore and made a plan," says this mathematician.
Sonja had not previously gone on bicycle tours longer than 100 kilometers, so the couple decided to test their abilities on several shorter trips before the 40.000-kilometer adventure.
They drove to Denmark, along the sea coast in the north of Germany and in the Alps, which they wrote about in their blog.
"At the beginning of this trip, it was difficult for me to push so many kilometers every day, but I quickly got used to it - now my muscles are stronger and my back is straightening, because I am forced to keep it in a healthier position while driving," she tells me. A 30-year-old woman.
As he nods in agreement with Sonja's words, Matias begins to explain why all the effort they went through was a price they were happy to pay.
"I haven't felt this kind of freedom before," says Wagner.
"When you travel without a strict schedule, you can stop every day, decide to extend or shorten your trip, but also return home if you wish," adds the German.
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Many imagine people embarking on similar adventures as elite athletes who live and train for years just to be able to travel tens of thousands of kilometers on a bicycle.
But Sonja and Matijas do not fit into that picture - they had normal jobs in Germany, their bikes are not machines worth tens of thousands of euros, and they are not athletes who watch every bite.
They just decided to fulfill a great common desire - "now or never", says the 34-year-old chemist.
"We estimated that this is the last moment to do something like this before we start a family - there are people who embark on such ventures with small children, but I don't know if we would succeed in it," says Matias.
On average, this couple rides a bicycle for six out of eight hours a day, which is enough to cover about 80 kilometers.
This puts them in the ranks of "relaxed and somewhat lazy cyclists" who set out on such a long journey, according to Matias.
"In the first three months, we tried to get up at seven in the morning, but we almost never succeeded, so we only started driving between 9.00:10.00 and XNUMX:XNUMX," he adds.
However, the heat that hit Europe forced them to change their habits.
"We felt the heat wave on our own skin and had to adapt, so now we start driving between 7.00 and 8.00 and finish by noon.
"We avoid the hottest part of the day, and later rest in the shade," explains the 34-year-old.
This rhythm of driving, he says, allows them to get to know the countries and regions through which they pass in detail and to take a break in places they particularly like, which Matijas was not able to do on tours during which he pedaled for 11 hours every day.
"After that, you look back and realize what you've missed - you fly through the country, you ignore all those little conversations with the locals and the beauty of those landscapes," claims this adventurer from Berlin.
Before leaving for the trip, Wagner submitted his doctoral dissertation at the faculty where he was employed, and he expected that defend via video link from Istanbul.
However, several unforeseen circumstances influenced him to wait for the defense date in a hotel room in Bulgaria, where he successfully became a doctor of science in the field of chemistry.
"I finished everything via video link and I gave a presentation, and I was lucky enough that it was successful and I got my degree along the way," he explains.
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While pointing with his hand at the bicycles leaning against the fence of the camp yard in Negotin, Matthias Wagner explains why he and Sonja decided to buy similar "almost identical" two-wheelers.
"Spare parts and repair tools are the same for both bikes, so we don't have to carry any extra luggage," he says.
"In Europe and Southeast Asia, you can get a spare part for almost any bike, but if you plan to go from West to East Asia, then you need to have almost all the spare parts," explains Matthias.
In addition to bike gear, Velte and Wagner carry clothing, a tent, and food preparation equipment.
Matias raises a finger towards the bags attached to the bicycles, which contain clothes "for all four seasons".
He and his companion are "heavy cyclists" since they travel with 35 or 40 kilograms of luggage per person, including the weight of the bicycle, the German points out.
On their vehicles, the detail above the front wheel - a piece of metal wrapped with a rope and attached to the bicycle frame - stands out.
"For luck!" exclaims Matias and explains that it is a horseshoe, which is normally used to shoe ungulates, usually horses.
A 'very exciting' ride through Serbia, bad experiences in Austria and Poland
After leaving their native Germany, they drove through Austria, where they had to change the planned route and spend more time to reach their next destination.
Sonja describes that part as "the most unpleasant experience" during the adventure that they started on March 12.
"When we had to take the ferry to the other side of the river, we found out that they only start working in April or May, so we had to take detours that are not intended for cyclists," describes Velte.
Then they drove through the Czech Republic, and then circled around the greater part of the territory of Poland, the country where they stayed the longest and through which they traveled about 2.300 kilometers.
There are not many bicycle paths in this European country, and local drivers are generally not careful when they see two-wheelers on the road, recounts Matthias Wagner.
"A local in eastern Poland explained to us that cycling there is an indicator of extreme poverty - not everyone who can afford a car will ride a bike, so drivers on the back roads in Poland don't even expect to encounter cyclists," he adds.
They went further through Slovakia and Hungary, to enter Serbia at the beginning of June - they traveled through Novi Sad and Belgrade, and later along the Danube they reached Negotin.
Bicyclists from Germany were greeted by a pleasant surprise and "very exciting ride" in Serbia, although there was no bicycle infrastructure on many sections of the road.
"It is very important how other road users treat cyclists and how attentive they are, and in Serbia and especially in Vojvodina there are many cyclists and drivers are used to them," explains Wagner.
Sonja says that they enjoyed nature the most in the course of the Danube, between the Golubac fortress near Smederevo and the town of Kladovo.
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Her partner notes another advantage that cyclists can count on in Serbia, which is public sources of drinking water.
"It's very important for travelers like us - water is like fuel for us, since we drive in the sun all day," Matijas believes.
Their total stay in Serbia was supposed to last 14 days, but they stayed in Negotin longer than they planned - more than three weeks.
"We noticed a problem with the bike and had to order a spare part, so we stayed there until they sent it to us," recounts Wagner.
When they finally left for Bulgaria and continued towards the Turkish city of Istanbul, "the roads became bigger and the cultures different".
"Now in Turkey, we drive a lot on the highway with many lanes, because the smaller roads after leaving Serbia are not so reliable.
"In Greece and Bulgaria we passed through small towns with Orthodox churches, and then when we crossed to Turkey we saw a big change - bigger cities with many people, mosques, open-air markets and a totally different culture," describes Wagner.
"That was an additional motivation to strongly want to continue our journey," he adds.
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Matijas and Sonja plan to continue through Turkey along the Black Sea coast, then on to Georgia, Armenia and Iran - all the way to India.
However, the original travel plan looked different: they wanted to drive through Russia, Mongolia and China to Singapore.
The change of route contributed the most Russian invasion of Ukraine, which is why they decided to go through western and central Asia, but they encountered a new problem.
The epidemiological situation in China led to closure of several cities throughout that country and the tightening of measures for the entry of foreigners into the most populous country in the world.
"Initially, we planned to go via China, but we are no longer considering it, because we do not believe that we will be able to get a tourist visa either this year or next year," says Wagner.
The German couple came up with a new alternative - a trip through India to Myanmar, from where they would continue to Singapore.
But, because current security situation in Myanmar, where members of the military carried out a coup in February 2021, after which there were conflicts throughout the country, Matias and Sonja have fewer options.
"Now it seems difficult that we will reach Singapore by land because of the problems with Myanmar and it is not realistic to try to drive through that country.
"However, we will get there in about half a year, so we remain open to this option if things change," says 34-year-old Wagner.
There are several options for overcoming these obstacles, but the German couple will not choose the easiest one, Matias points out.
"We may have to go by boat from India to Malaysia, and there is also an option to go by plane, but we are trying to avoid that and will only consider it as a last resort.
"On the plane, there is a big risk that the bikes get damaged, and you lose contact with the ground and the planet, which could really ruin our experience of going around the world," says this chemist and adventurer.
Due to several route changes, it will take more time to realize the plan they hatched in the south of Germany.
"We first told our parents that it would take a year and a half, then we realized that it would be two years, but now we really can't be sure when it will end," says Sonja.
"Regardless of everything, we have never regretted taking this path," concludes Sonja Velte.
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