camping Ciampino Italy Rain Rome showers Storm Warning travel

Posted by: Tori

After Florence, we took a train to Rome. The whole way I stared out the window and remarked at all the fabulous possible campsites that scattered the area along the tracks. We arrived to Rome in the evening, and left Rome an hour later for the outskirts of the city to find a place to camp for the night. Due to darkness and exhaustion we got off the train at the wrong station, getting Devin and his bike stuck in the train door in the process. After prying his bike free with the help of a few concerned train-riders, we discovered that we had no idea where we were, and even less of a clue where to go. Perfect.

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arrival bicycle cycle tour schedule France hospitality hosting Nice people showers

Posted by: Tori

In the aftermath of the accident, I realized the pain that remained was in my upper leg, and my pride. In spite of the injury, Devin and I cycled 60 km the next morning to the town of Antiebs where a possible host and the promise of rest and recuperation lived. After a beautiful yet painful ride along the rocky coastal roads, we arrived in Antieb to find not our host Manford, but instead his temporary roommate named Juliana- and adorable student from Columbia. She was kind, laid back, a bit bubbly and the apartment was comfy and calm- just what I needed to shake the pounding headache and rest my leg in peace.

Shortly after settling in she told us she was having a couple friends over to make pizza, and invited us to join- a low key night with pizza, perfect! By midnight fourteen of her friends had arrived, each bringing a bottle of wine or liquor and an endless supply of beer. They were all  students around our age and came from all over the world to earn a European Maters in Renewable Energy.  Every person there was awesome, friendly, talkative, and knew English well enough to be our best friend by the end of the evening. Music blasted while custom pizzas flew in and out of the oven- some with eggs on top and even “Mr.Pizza” were created and devoured. Great conversation, music swapping and even dancing pushed until the early hours of morning, and then it all ended with a bang- literally.

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bicycle Freiburg Geneva Germany hosting New York Phil's pizza showers Switzerland velo Worms

Posted by: Andrew

As we were drying out our tents in Michael’s yard in Geneva, I began to think about the notion of
security. We were so grateful to be here, in a yard, where we could spread out our stuff to dry and have a hot shower and sleep under a roof… All these things are benefits and trappings of what we sometimes call the pursuit of security. And we were loving it. In fact, it kept us going to have these “security checkpoints” (so to speak). All of these security checkpoints for us were offers of hospitality and welcome from those who had gained some security in life.

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