Exciting news and resolutions for 2018

Exciting news and resolutions for 2018

In January of this year I announced my plans for a winter cycling journey to the Arctic Circle. Now, a year later, the plans are about to become reality. A Russian visa is stamped in my passport and a flight is booked on 4 February 2018.

I’m going to cycle from St. Petersburg in Russia to Alta in Norway in midwinter!

An adventure that is even more challenging than cycling from Rotterdam to Singapore. Because, with a few facts at a glance, in the middle of winter the sun rises in this area for at most a couple of hours a day. The maximum temperature is -5 degrees and the minimum temperature -25 degrees. The area I cycle through is minimally inhabited and the roads are snowy.

 

The question I regularly get, why do you want to cycle in the Arctic Circle in winter?

I can say with enthusiasm that I really look forward to this adventure for a couple of reasons:

  • Challenge. Everything, and then I really mean everything takes more effort
  • Beauty. Beautiful vast winter landscapes covered with snow
  • Being. The Arctic is minimally inhabited, the ideal place to relax and just think without much daily life distractions
  • Hospitality. Especially when conditions are more intense, people are more likely to care for each other
  • Russia. A country that I want to discover on my bike at least once in my life

I will take you with me in this journey, from preparation to later on sleeping in a thick sleeping bag in snow with a frozen beard.

Looking back, I can say that 2017 has been a good year for me. I got to know myself even better now that I’m back in the Netherlands for a longer time. The bicycle trip from Rotterdam to Singapore has made adventure the driving force in my life. I always want to try something new, to learn, to know more, to understand things. An ongoing energy, to save myself from habits that bore me and to focus my attention on what is giving me energy. Habits that give me the feeling of aliveness.

In 2017 I learned to balance this crave for change.

I create patterns in which change is normal. That certainty that I will have uncertainty. Because security ensures uniformity, equality and monotony. I am looking for new experiences, change. I have learned that it is valuable to also enjoy the current moment, and not just look forward to change. Not only being self-centered, but also taking others into this journey.

Looking forward to 2018.

I want to find a healthy balance with the above I with that create stability but still enjoy adventures. Stability that ensures a focus on the present and not a continuous focus on a changing future. Learning to enjoy and appreciate what I have and develop a healthy empathy towards others.

Another month and then I leave for Russia. In this month I will take you into my preparations. Of course, depending on the internet connection, I want to write at least two blogs per week, make a video of the journey and publish an ebook with the blogs and photos.

Another resultion for 2018 is to take a photograph everyday and document them on flickr. I will do this in order to improve my photography skills.

Ready an standing in my sleeping room is a new second hand bike with winter tires. I have to purchase a few more things, but then I’m ready for it. Soon more about this.

For now, I wish you all an adventurous 2018!

More interested in where I come from? And how I have been consciously engaged in dreaming and making dreams come true in recent years? Check the articles below:

  • an article about where I come from and how I ended up on a bicycle in the Middle East
  • an article about the year of coming back from a long journey and what that did to me
  • an article about how I take the time to look ahead every year

Also plans or adventures on your wish list? Let me know with a comment on this blog or send me an email.