But first, no worries, it’s just for a few months and I’m explaining you why in this post.

What’s my background?

I’ve left my flat in Paris in December 2013 and from that time, I’ve had my own bedroom twice:

  • 3 months in Australia when I was living in Airlie Beach. It was during winter 2014 in Australia.
  • 3 months in New Zealand when I was living in Wanaka and again it was during winter, in 2015.

We are now in June 2017 and I feel the need to settle somewhere and get my own bedroom again. Like if every winter I needed my cocoon even though here it’s not winter anymore but it might just be a cycle thing.

Life on the road is great and can be tough

Life on the road is great! It’s amazing to see every single day many different sceneries and experience new things and meet new people. But it is sometimes exhausting to just be changing place daily, following those routines of unpacking, sleeping, repacking, moving…

In addition, South East Asia is wonderful but the heat and especially the humidity makes it very painful to cycle through. I tried cycling at night and it is even more humid than during the day. Physically and mentally, It’s been hard. It’s never cold, even at night.

Since I came back from France, I enjoyed the ride most of the time but during the last month, my motivation became weaker and in this kind of trip, motivation is key. As my motivation was weaker, I was struggling, and indeed, not enjoying the ride anymore.

I lost my creativity & I’m feeling lonely

Finally, when you ride a bike all day, every day, sometimes listening to podcasts, sometimes listening to my mind, ideas are flowing like crazy.  I think that my mind was getting overwhelmed by having all those ideas stacking on top of each other without having the time neither energy to take action on it.

I’ve realized that I lost the interest of getting lost to create photographs and that is what made me realize that I was in trouble.

Even if I was meeting many people on my way, I’m still alone 95% of the time. Living at the same place for a certain period of time will let me connect with new people not just for 1 day or 2 but it will allow me to create deeper connections. Things that I lack a lot currently.

I was in a rush

Finally, I was feeling that I needed to rush on my trip to be back home the soonest possible. Maybe it was to work on new ideas or to be with my family and friends. This made me push on my body way too much sometimes. I hope this pause will break that feeling and I will be able to create again my own peace and enjoy the ride again.

All of those reasons are why I decided to stop my bike trip for a little while and enjoy something different.

Bike touring taught me a lot, especially about hard working, never giving up, and breaking up big goals into more achievable daily ones. It will, for sure, be such a great help in my future projects but for now, I will take a break from it.

What’s next?

I’m currently in Laos and I will spend a week learning how to make bread, croissants,  jam, paté… with a French baker. Then, I plan to cycle from Savannakhet to Hanoi, it’s a 700km ride. I plan to settle in Hanoi for the time that I need. In Hanoi, I will teach French and English as there is lots of demand.

I need to be creative again so I will teach myself graphic design and try to get my video making and editing to the next level. I might as well be working on developing my new website www.thenomadwolves.com and some other stuff that I will keep for me for now… I told you it’s been boiling in my brain on the road!

Why Hanoi?

Hanoi is a big city in North Vietnam. It’s close to China where I intend to go cycling when I’ll be back on the saddle. There, I can teach English and French and the internet connection is strong enough to be able to work on the internet. Vietnam got many amazing places to visit and especially the biggest cave in the world, and the cost of living seems to be very reasonable.

If Hanoi is on your way, I’ll be absolutely delighted to meet you and host you if you are in need of a warm shower and a place to crash for the night and let you bicycle get a rest well deserved. You’ll find me on www.warmshower.org when I’ll be settled.

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4 Responses

  1. Leo

    You are awesome brother! Wish Ibwas doing that also! “It’s not luck, it’s choice ” right??
    Yewwhu best of luck

    Reply
  2. Claire Rogers

    Alex,
    We began to experience the fatigue of the road on some of our long rides. It is very normal and especially if you are riding alone.
    Also wanted to let you know the nomadwolves.com link leads to nomadwolf.com. Is that correct?
    Claire and Bob

    Reply
    • Alex

      Hi Claire and Bob! I hope that you are doing well! Yeah I guess the bidy needs to rest especially in this heat. For thenomadwolves.com redirevting to thenomadwolf.com it’s normal for now as the website is not finish yet. 😉 are you touring currently?

      Reply

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