Back in Europe

Two weeks ago we started our first house and pet sit in Maastricht. We're back in Europe. Time for an update. It doesn't feel like our world bicycle tour has come to an end. It's a journey with a mindset that will never end. This mindset has been refined a little bit since our first blog in March 2019.

Thursday July 18, we arrived at Schiphol. Everything went well. Mr Blue Sky and Ms Sunshine survived being transported. Good preparation is key. With two carefully packed bicycle boxes, three second-hand suitcases free of charge and four panniers as hand luggage, we are completely convinced ;-) We are going to rigorously change our bicycle set-up.

In Maastricht we care for Buddy, a mix between a Border Collie and an Australian Shepherd. His owners have been following our adventure since day 1. When they read about us house and pet sitting since April 2023 and making it part of our nomadic lifestyle, they contacted us. It's nice to be back in our own city after such a long time. This way we can visit family and friends and arrange stuff we could not do abroad or from a distance.

After Maastricht we look after dogs and cats in The Hague (twice), Marum, Rotterdam, Brielle, Twello, Mechelen (Belgium), Copenhagen and Arnhem. So first a very long tour in the North and East of the Netherlands, then one month in Mechelen, then back to The Hague and from there to Copenhagen. We will be in Arnhem in January. After that, our agenda is still empty for new assignments. Are you looking for a sitter for your pet in 2025? Please reach out to us.

Our focus is actually on Spain, Portugal and Italy. The sits in the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark came our way and we immediately felt good about them. And we really enjoy getting to know the Netherlands better in this way. We cycled through Copenhagen quite quickly in 2022, so there is still a lot to discover there.

What a schedule!

We have never planned so much before, but we are looking forward to all these sits. We look back on 9 nice house and pet sits in Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and Curaçao. Very wonderful experiences and all the pets we have cared for are still in our hearts. A kind of promo video of our sit in Curaçao is on Youtube.

Because of the tight schedule and time, we'll go to almost all sits by public transport for the rest of the year. Usually, we can use a bicycle from the pet owners who are on vacation. Mr Blue Sky and Ms Sunshine are waiting for us in the storage to get back on our saddles.

When we complete our 20th sit on January 24 2025, we don't know yet what we will do. It depends a lot on the house and pet sits that will come our way. It's hard to say when we will continue cycling.

One thing we know for sure: the camping gear won't come with us. We want to cycle much lighter and rely on the hospitality of locals. Ánd we want to be back in Maastricht every year in the summer for family and friends. Buddy will hopefully become a recurring house and pet sit and for our youngest daughter Eva we will take care of her pets during the summer holiday.

Our focus is not on cycling at the moment, but on “paying it forward” by house & pet sitting in exchange for accommodation. This is a nice way of slow travel. During the sit you live like a local and get the chance to explore the neighborhood.

We are also fully committed to a healthy and sustainable lifestyle. We don't smoke and haven't drank alcohol for almost 2 years. Recently we both switched to a plant-based diet. Every month we have a "cheat day". Linda loves to cook and bake and tests all kinds of new vegan dishes. A lot of doing it yourself from pure ingredients. We also make our own ginger beer and would love to have a scooby to make homemade kombucha. The latter is a bit too complicated since we are everywhere and nowhere.

Our only drug is our cardio workout with strength training every other day. Everything to stay fit and healthy now that we're no longer cycling every day.

In terms of sustainability, 90% of our house and pet sitting assignments are done by public transport. Unfortunately, the time between the sits in the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark is too limited to go by bike. The desire to reach zero carbon still exists. We just have to find a way to coordinate all of these sits in a better way.

After 4 years of cycling around the world, apart from the bib shorts, our clothes need to be replaced. We are looking for second-hand alternatives or sustainable clothing brands. We go for casual and multifunctional. We limit ourselves to a minimum number of items. After all, everything has to go in our backpack or panniers. By bike we want to have less load. Linda aims to be cycling with only two panniers!

We try to avoid plastic in every way. Especially when it comes to single-used plastics. And we opt for the organic option as much as we can. 

A huge change in lifestyle.

Of course we won't be able to stand our ground in every situation. No one is perfect. Our intention is to maintain this new healthy and sustainable lifestyle. 

We like to discuss ideas, products, services and activities in the field of “paying it forward”, health and sustainability with others. We are also looking for organizations with the same spirit and with whom we can collaborate to strengthen each other. Maybe some kind of ambassadorship... If anyone has warm leads to a sustainable company, please reach out to us.

At the moment we see common grounds with Schwalbe, BBB Cycling, Maloja and Ironroots, but a collaboration has not yet been established.

Our foundation Stichting XPLORid supports our new design. We help people, animals and nature by supporting initiatives that improve the health of people, animals and nature and innovate in the field of sustainability. Any ideas in this area are more than welcome as well.

What are we waiting for?

We continue our adventure of slow and low carbon travel, healthy and sustainable living and paying it forward. Every day, a little more, at each moment and in every situation.

Our adventure so far in a 25 minutes video.