And some people think we're a little crazy

One of the things we value most about this trip is the chance to make random connections with people. While walking between two villages in the Norwegian fjords, we met Etienne Leroux, a South African who was just beginning a three-year odyssey to bike around the world. He had a 15 kg bike and another 16 kg or so of packs (he put our packing light to shame, as he also carried camping and cooking gear and more electronic equipment in not much more volume than us.) and was covering about 100 km or so a day.

This isn't the first long distance trek he's done. He's biked across the middle east, from London to Istanbul, and other such adventures. We really enjoyed talking to him about travel and life philosophy, and look forward to following his adventures on his site. It certainly re-inspired us (not that we were uninspired) to approach this adventure with the right attitude.

And for anyone who is looking for an free and easy way to sleep while travelling around the world? Etienne highly suggests football (soccer to the Yanks) fields. Every town has one and even if they do have a security guard, they are usually more than willing to let you crash for an evening.