I started this trip with the sole purpose of travelling. What it actually involved, I did not know.

I plotted a line through Europe and started I following it. It took me two and a half months to get the real the sense of it.

One of the most obvious, but unintended views, was that on ecological travel.

The reason I use solar panels is only for economical reasons. I wanted to travel as long as possible & as cheap as possible. And my research came to this kind-of-hybrid-bicycle. The range is 100km/ day with all my gear – in genuine bicycle-terms it is complete overload- and it costs me nothing ( in running costs).

I saw it as my means of transport, but everybody around linked the solar panels directly to eco-friendly, so my whole trip gets automatically the eco-friendly-label.

And that flatters me, because I do not only travel the way I love it, but apparently I inspire a lot of people by this new way of travelling. And being put in the eco-friendly corner suits me well, as I have been convinced of the ‘inconvenient thruth’ that we are not doing what we should to #leavenotrace. And not only leave no trace, but simply:

‘Try a little bit less ruining what we still have!’

I love the leave-no-trace principle, because it is so easy as it is simple.

In my current minimalistic lifestyle it is easy. I have only a handful of waste per day, unfortunately mainly plastic packaging. I fill my drinking cans with tap water, and one of my drinking bottles is used to add syrup now and then as a bit of a luxury 😋. I bought some plastic bottles, not more then ten, and most of them were with deposit, so they went back from where they came.

One giant frustration.

There has been one big disappointment on the trip! Now I made around 9000 km. And for every km I am convinced that there is at least 1 kg of waste to be collected on the roadsides.

I cycled gravel roads with no living soul but there are plastic traces everywhere. I arrived at most stunning sites but was always finding cigaret butts. I drove through nature reserves, but plastic bits were present each time.

That there is a discussion about global warming is silly, but understandable, a lot of parameters are involved and measuring is difficult. But the plastic problem is so obvious and no room for discussion as it is a 100% our fault.

Travelling thought me the problem is bigger, much bigger then we see at home. I’ve seen the problem growing while travelling, and I have only been in developed countries so far!

“When it comes to Mother Nature, I’m a real mommy’s boy”

So let’s be serious and make sure you #dontleaveatrace en now and then pick some other plastic up as well!