Sometimes I get information requestst. Please don't hesitate to contact me on fienhiel@gmail.com
Have a happy day!
Fien
Monday, October 31, 2016
Monday, November 24, 2014
Blog Contest
Dear friends,
With an article about this bycicle adventure (in Dutch, sorry for my English speaking friends), I am nominated for a blogging-contest. Please help me win and click the link below http://www.damespraatjes.nl/2014/genomineerden-blogwedstrijd-lef-zijn-bekend
and then the blank next to my name (costs 2 seconds of your time). Forever grateful!
Love,
Fien
and then the blank next to my name (costs 2 seconds of your time). Forever grateful!
Love,
Fien
Friday, July 11, 2014
Reflection
So in the end, you just get on a plain, put your bike together, start pedaling and deal with whatever happens when it happens. Sometimes you loose yourself in the highs, other times you desperately look for a way out when you're crying and want to go home, 3 days into the trip. There is no way to foresee these happenings.
8368 kilometers or 5200 miles I bycicled through swamps, deserts, mountains, icy areas, urban and desolated fields. I can't help but feel a tide rip of nostalgia wash far off and tremendously close by faded and fresh memories on newly discovered shores. Places I didn't know the existence off, inside and out, opened up to me, showed me their passion, beauty and uniqueness.
I found myself surprised, intrigued, ecstatic, sad, loved, out of breath and cracked open in a smile. Talking to people, strangers, friends, fauna, landscapes and to myself.
This journey through time, I escalated on a different dimension, on a counter-cultural wave. Traveling slow, nomadic, I got lifted and carried away, cared for and consorted. Homeless, I don't think so. Not all those who wonder are lost (J.R.R. Tolkien).
Cycling for 1000s of miles, I found in myself a bundle of cheer and joy, a lust for life. And when I let my thoughts absentmindedly hover over the widespread ocean, I wonder why it is I don't feel more excitement on this final float to end-destination. But a sudden stir and single tear of elation make me realize I'm not done yet. This is not the end but merely the beginning of a life on a journey in search of a story. In the end, it's not the years of your life that count, but the life in your years (A. Lincoln).
It was a pleasure sharing my adventures, encounters, lessons and beliefs with you. Maybe we'll meet again, but for now it is Adieu.
Love,
Fien
8368 kilometers or 5200 miles I bycicled through swamps, deserts, mountains, icy areas, urban and desolated fields. I can't help but feel a tide rip of nostalgia wash far off and tremendously close by faded and fresh memories on newly discovered shores. Places I didn't know the existence off, inside and out, opened up to me, showed me their passion, beauty and uniqueness.
I found myself surprised, intrigued, ecstatic, sad, loved, out of breath and cracked open in a smile. Talking to people, strangers, friends, fauna, landscapes and to myself.
This journey through time, I escalated on a different dimension, on a counter-cultural wave. Traveling slow, nomadic, I got lifted and carried away, cared for and consorted. Homeless, I don't think so. Not all those who wonder are lost (J.R.R. Tolkien).
Cycling for 1000s of miles, I found in myself a bundle of cheer and joy, a lust for life. And when I let my thoughts absentmindedly hover over the widespread ocean, I wonder why it is I don't feel more excitement on this final float to end-destination. But a sudden stir and single tear of elation make me realize I'm not done yet. This is not the end but merely the beginning of a life on a journey in search of a story. In the end, it's not the years of your life that count, but the life in your years (A. Lincoln).
It was a pleasure sharing my adventures, encounters, lessons and beliefs with you. Maybe we'll meet again, but for now it is Adieu.
Love,
Fien
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Closure
The final days of this already epic bike-tour I spend in Ocean-area. The
Bosporus-feeling was right on. I was surprised how much Seattle's waterfront
reminded me of my Istanbul days. The harbor market on the other side was very
much like so many I've strolled through backpacking in South-East Asia. It's
funny how big and diverse the world is but then again in a remarkable way kinda
all the same. Globalization, where?
Then at last the final, real, day of cycling to the San Juan Islands. It was absolutely astonishing scenic beauty. In downtown Seattle I hopped on a ferry as to avoid in- and outgoing traffic and not so appetizing Seattle-suburb-surroundings. So this day started off with a nice view off the Seattle skyline.
Cycling on the islands is a treat. They are lush green, come with entertaining ocean views, have nice not too trafficked roads and put just enough challenge to the pedal with rolling hills. Blue herons roam the shores, sailboats peacefully float around and all this is wrapped up in a subtle fishy whiff. They even come with a tailwind. What’s not to love?! While I lazily moseyed on, there was not one moment in which it clearly got to me this really was the end of it all.
On San Juan, the biggest and most populated of the San Juan Islands, I met Louis and Sprocket again. He’s working there and living the paradise life. Four full amazing days I hung around, biked around, and my favorite: whale-spotted around. I joined in some of the 4th of July-madness. Growing up in we-have-some-national-identity-problems-Belgium, it amazes me how much love you can feel for your country and how proudly you can display it, collectively. Sunset fireworks over Roche Harbor were just magical. But stuck on an island, it was quiet the challenge to find a working TV, broadcasting the 9am Belgium-Argentina World Cup game. Luckily my lovely host Marlyn called up half the people on the island and found a friend who was watching the game, rooting for Belgium, and very happy to have me over. Alas! Sad loss.
On another attempt to watch sunset on top of a hill, I got totally lost and engulfed in a maze of little windy bush-tracks, chased by a setting sun. That hill top I never made and I got slightly nervous when in the dark just-walk-back-the-same-way-you-came suddenly wasn’t all that easy any more. But it was not my time to spend a night in a dark forest, apparently, when I, eventually, got a main road in sight and was able to bushwhack my way over.
Next to a lot of foxes, deer, bald eagles and all sorts of whales, the island-animalia includes a camel, Mona, who lives with Edgar, the alpaca. Very cute and always in for causing some traffic jams and close-call-accidents of tourists abruptly stopping or swinging out of the window for just that perfect shot.
We went kayaking among the sea lions and had homemade sunset dinner on the west-side shore cliffs, graced by several pots of whales. It was perfect. But to Island life too came an end and I hopped on yet another ferry to Vancouver Island and after one to the mainland.
And that's how you cycle from Miami, FL, to Vancouver, BC.
Then at last the final, real, day of cycling to the San Juan Islands. It was absolutely astonishing scenic beauty. In downtown Seattle I hopped on a ferry as to avoid in- and outgoing traffic and not so appetizing Seattle-suburb-surroundings. So this day started off with a nice view off the Seattle skyline.
Cycling on the islands is a treat. They are lush green, come with entertaining ocean views, have nice not too trafficked roads and put just enough challenge to the pedal with rolling hills. Blue herons roam the shores, sailboats peacefully float around and all this is wrapped up in a subtle fishy whiff. They even come with a tailwind. What’s not to love?! While I lazily moseyed on, there was not one moment in which it clearly got to me this really was the end of it all.
On San Juan, the biggest and most populated of the San Juan Islands, I met Louis and Sprocket again. He’s working there and living the paradise life. Four full amazing days I hung around, biked around, and my favorite: whale-spotted around. I joined in some of the 4th of July-madness. Growing up in we-have-some-national-identity-problems-Belgium, it amazes me how much love you can feel for your country and how proudly you can display it, collectively. Sunset fireworks over Roche Harbor were just magical. But stuck on an island, it was quiet the challenge to find a working TV, broadcasting the 9am Belgium-Argentina World Cup game. Luckily my lovely host Marlyn called up half the people on the island and found a friend who was watching the game, rooting for Belgium, and very happy to have me over. Alas! Sad loss.
On another attempt to watch sunset on top of a hill, I got totally lost and engulfed in a maze of little windy bush-tracks, chased by a setting sun. That hill top I never made and I got slightly nervous when in the dark just-walk-back-the-same-way-you-came suddenly wasn’t all that easy any more. But it was not my time to spend a night in a dark forest, apparently, when I, eventually, got a main road in sight and was able to bushwhack my way over.
Next to a lot of foxes, deer, bald eagles and all sorts of whales, the island-animalia includes a camel, Mona, who lives with Edgar, the alpaca. Very cute and always in for causing some traffic jams and close-call-accidents of tourists abruptly stopping or swinging out of the window for just that perfect shot.
We went kayaking among the sea lions and had homemade sunset dinner on the west-side shore cliffs, graced by several pots of whales. It was perfect. But to Island life too came an end and I hopped on yet another ferry to Vancouver Island and after one to the mainland.
And that's how you cycle from Miami, FL, to Vancouver, BC.
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