A call to action!

Since returning from our house and pet sit in Italy and Croatia, we have made many new friends who sometimes stay over or sleep over for a few nights. We don’t want a dog of our own because it takes away our freedom to travel in autumn and winter. Our bicycles still haven't moved since we left Panama in July 2024, but another movement has taken place.

We talk about it often: "Why don't we cycle anymore?" We choose to be in Maastricht during spring and summer. The timing has to be right to cycle south around September for a house and pet sit, which has to last long enough to cycle back home around March. Last year, the sit in Italy didn't start until December. That’s why we set off by Flixbus for the first time.

Besides proper planning, we are also highly dependent on the hospitality of locals. Will we be welcomed to stay for the night if we show up at the door with less loaded bicycles and without our story of a long world tour? The “obligatory” socializing after a long day of cycling, eating whatever is on the table, giving up hobbies (Ben’s guitar play and Lin’s love of cooking and baking, and our shared morning routine of weight lifting and jogging)… It’s all taken into consideration.

Local recreation

Plus, the Flixbus didn't disappoint us at all. The travel guitar can come along, and with a bit of prepping, you can make it through the long bus journey on packed breakfast and lunch boxes. Once at our destination, we pick up our routine. Living as a local in various places in Europe is now our new way of discovery.

Vegan gourmands

Since Lin took over the kitchen, there are always vegan dishes on the table.

A new dish is introduced almost every week.

Recipes from vegan chefs are often found on the Internet and become keepers. And if Ben is in the mood for something animal-based, Lin uses Google to look up the vegan alternative.

Taste and habit

Hard cheeses, eggs, and steak, in particular, are difficult to replicate in a plant-based version. The question is whether that’s necessary.

You can also just eat something else.

If taste and habit get in the way, things can get heated. When we met in late 2017, Lin was vegan. During the world tour, she adapted her lifestyle because, out of politeness, she didn't want to refuse food offered to her by someone who had offered her a place to stay for the night. You are grateful for the place to stay in someone's home, but you don't want to eat their food? In her eyes, that’s considered impolite.

Convenience and Tradition

Furthermore, the many vegan alternatives as we know them in the Netherlands are not, or hardly, available in countries in the Balkans and Central America. Convenience and tradition also played a role. For instance, especially at the beginning of the world tour (Lin was more of a hiker than a cyclist) and in Central America (due to the extreme heat), she was so exhausted after a day of cycling that she didn't have the energy to look for a vegan alternative. A tradition like Thanksgiving with friends in America is a once in a lifetime experience.

Would she do things differently now? YES, but the consequences are still unknown, which stresses her out a bit.

The Search

After introducing a fully vegan kitchen, Lin started looking for vegan and climate-conscious groups she could join. Among others, Klimaatgesprekken, Klimaatcontact, Deep Canvassing, Milieudefensie, IVN, the Dutch Association for Veganism (NVV), Grandparents for the Climate and Extinction Rebellion (XR) were considered. We The Free (WTF), but Anonymous for the Voiceless (AV) in particular, is the group she ultimately wants to dedicate herself to.

Cube of Truth

Out of curiosity, Ben came to take a look at a WTF and AV meeting in Maastricht. At that time, he had not yet made the move to a vegan lifestyle and there was even a slight aversion to it. So there was Lin standing with a Guy Fawkes mask, which symbolizes the eradication of oppression and the fight against all forms of injustice, including speciesism. In her hands, a TV showing images of the cruelty in factory farming.

No one is allowed to approach the Cube of Truth. Lin: “Ben came up to me and asked if I wasn't bothered by the heavy TV and the cold. Immediately, someone from the AV group asked him to step back, and he started a conversation about the purpose of this cube and how he views animal suffering in factory farming.” For Ben, it was the second conversation about veganism in a short time, as he had already spoken to someone about it during a WTF meeting. There is no fixed timeframe how long it takes for someone to break with habit, convenience, tradition and taste. When do you realize that you do not have to contribute to the suffering in the factory farming industry?

You have a choice to opt for the ethical principle that humans should live without exploiting animals.

Vegan Activism

Not long after the AV meeting on that cloudy, cold day at the Mosae Forum in Maastricht, and after watching the documentary Dominion, Ben decided to become vegan himself and to dedicate himself as a vegan activist as well.

His first cube will soon take place. Wherever possible, we will join in more often in the future and will not shy away from conversations with friends, family, dog parents, and people we meet. From now on, those who have no voice (the voiceless) will be defended by us.

The only way to save animals is to engage in vegan activism, to ensure that others will stop contributing to the exploitation of animals and also speak up for them.

Together we are stronger

Things no longer get heated at our home. And now that Ben is also vegan, Lin feels strengthened by this when we’ll be knocking on strangers' doors again, are dead tired after a day of cycling, and end up in some kind of tradition.

Are you curious about what Ben triggered in the documentary Dominion? You can find this movie on our new “Vegan Activism” page on our website. There, we also share the inspiring and life-changing speech by animal liberation activist Gary Yourofsky, as well as the link to Anonymous for the Voiceless.

Help with a vegan lifestyle

We don't find being vegan difficult. In the supermarket, you no longer grab a carton of cow's milk, but choose soy, almond, oat, rice, or coconut milk instead. For butter, we choose the plant-based Blue Band. They also have plant-based (whipping) cream, by the way. While waiting for the hard cheeses from Those Vegan Cowboys, we enjoy the soft vegan cheeses from Jay&Joy and Vega la Tease. Vegan Parmesan from Lidl, and so on.

Depending on the type of dish, we replace eggs in a recipe with applesauce, aquafaba (the liquid from a can of chickpeas or sold separately), and soaked chia seeds. And occasionally, we eat a meat substitute from Planted. We find vegan recipes on this vegan chef's website.

If you want full guidance with information, tips and tricks, and recipes to find your way around the vegan lifestyle within 22 days, check out Challenge 22.

LET'S BE VEGAN