I love travel and adventure. After too many years of studying in the rainy UK and reading many books about adventures, I finally set of on my own travels. I lived and worked in Uganda for over a year working at a psychiatric hospital and then set off on a cycle tour with my female friends from Rwanda to South Africa (3500km and 6 countries). If you want to know more, check out:

https://www.facebook.com/Cycle-for-mental-health-785801924913942/

It was an incredible adventure and I am now somehow addicted to a nomadic cycling life. My next trip is to Ethiopia and then I will be cycling from 'Rome to home' - Czech republic to raise money for another project - 'Cycle with women'
https://www.facebook.com/CyclewithWomen/

To me, traveling is about meeting people, eating in local places, soaking in the atmosphere and just being in the moment. I love sports, being outside, hiking, swimming....eating good food and drinking good coffee...listening to and playing good music, laughing and enjoying whatever the given moment brings.

What works for me is simplicity, the less I have, the less I need to worry about and the freer I feel. I believe that traveling is an amazing way of learning, experiencing, feeling challenged and empowered.

Having cycled through Africa on a very low budget, I camped and slept on floors in many of schools and churches. Often, the highlight of staying with hosts would be getting some hot water for a cup of tea. Hence, I guess you can say I am a very low maintenance guest, happy to share many travel stories and all the peanut butter I carry (and you need a lot when you cycle).

I value the friendships I make along the way and look forward to meeting more wonderful people around the world.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I do not want to be a tourist. I want to experience places away from hotels, meet locals, visit local places...I believe in sharing stories, life experiences and learning form one another. Couchsurfing is a great opportunity to do this and make friends for life.

Interests

• singing
• traveling
• music
• guitar
• cycling
• hiking
• kayaking
• sports
• swimming
• adventure travel

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

A little article about an experience I feel very lucky to have had:

We have cycled through Africa. Four women, four bicycles, 3500km and sic countries in two and half months. We started off in Kigali, Rwanda and cycled through Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana and South Africa, completing our journey in Pretoria. On this incredible journey, every day was full of new experiences, beautiful landscapes, wonderful people, intense moments, unexpected challenges and addictive highs.

We traveled on a very low budget. We camped, slept on floors in countless schools and churches and in peoples’ homes for free. We ate lots of bread and peanut butter and bargained for bananas at markets. We had no support vehicles with a crew to fix our bikes, no sponsors or high-end equipment. Improvisation was our style; a bicycle with a backpack strapped with long ropes to a make-shift rack that later fell off, a tent with broken poles, a cooking stove made out of a redbull can, a blow up mattress that managed to stay up for only half of the first night of the 2.5 months trip…you get the idea. We did not train nor were we super fit to start off with. We figured that we would get fitter as we go, cycle a little more each day and rest when we need to and this sophisticated training plan worked just fine.

We were told we are crazy, that it was not possible, that we would not manage and should reconsider our ‘reckless ideas’. We were told that we were putting ourselves at risk while cycling as ‘just women’ without any men. We were anxiously warned about ‘the dangerous continent’.

We decided to go and find out for ourselves. We also decided that we only wanted to cycle with women. We wanted a safe space without competition and striving. What we thought was a small decision turned out to be the most significant component of our trip. Being surrounded only by women was far more empowering and enriching than we initially imagined. Cycling together as women, we created an atmosphere of support and encouragement. We pushed each other on, celebrated our abilities and skills, the things we have in common as well as our differences. We established an environment where we are free to explore not only the new and exciting places around us but also to explore the places within ourselves, whether these were a sense of freedom and self-determination, a growing confidence in our ability to deal with challenges that come our way, a desire to explore, play, laugh and experience things in the moment without inhibitions and worry of being judged by others or ourselves.

We set off on this journey with a desire to explore and to learn about the world and the people in it. We wanted to challenge ourselves, physically and mentally. We wanted to take ourselves out of the everyday routine and comfort, to experience a new level of freedom. We wanted to leave behind the long ‘to do list’ and experience a simpler stripped down way of being when all you need to do in a day is to cycle, eat and find a place to sleep (and make sure you do not get lost while doing each of the above). We decided to use this trip to support a worthwhile cause and fundraised money for a mental health charity – Brain Gain Project at Butabika Hospital in Kampala.

Instead of the ‘dangerous continent’, we returned to tell stories of the ‘generous continent’. Not once were we concerned about our safety or robbed, nor have we experienced the many unpleasant predictions of the people worried about us. Rather, we experienced incredible kindness and generosity from all the people we met. If we were to start writing about each of these encounters, we would struggle to know where to begin. Maybe it would it be with all the people that invited us to stay in their homes and looked after us, all the people who refused to accept money after refilling our bottles with litres and litres of drinking water or the people who chased us on their bicycle and a velo taxi to bring one of our smart phones we have left behind in shops and restaurants charging (my expertise).

Our experienced compelled us to provide other women with an opportunity to experience the same.

We are in the process of setting up an organisation that will provide cycling trips for women in Malawi. Malawi has been one of our favourite countries to cycle through with its beautiful landscape, smooth roads and general safety. We are already in the process of organising practicalities of the trips with our local contacts. Look out for dates and further information and please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or comments.

https://www.facebook.com/Cycle-for-mental-health-785801924913942/

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/cycle4mentalhealth

https://www.facebook.com/CyclewithWomen/

What I Can Share with Hosts

I love cooking - very happy to cook and have some great food together. Let's share travel stories and experiences. Come to visit in Uganda, Czech Republic, or join me on a cycling trip somewhere in the world. I will provide endless amounts of peanut butter and encouragement when getting up hills.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Germany, Iceland, India, Italy, Malawi, Norway, Poland, Rwanda, South Africa, Spain, Uganda, United States, Zambia

Countries I’ve Lived In

Czech Republic, Uganda, United Kingdom