While others her age are just getting used to life after high school, Erin Nelson is taking on the world on her bicycle.
At 18, she left her home in Turlock, California, in November 2010 and pedaled across the US, Europe and Asia on an around-the-world bicycle trip that now finds her in China. [See her video below.]
Why an around-the-world bike tour? She wrote an early blog about some many people living lives of contentment:
“I don't want to be happy being content. I want to be happy because I'm making the most out of my short life so when I die I don't have regrets.”
Erin's adventures, which she writes about at her blog, ErinsWorldBike, have led her to a night in jail at a border crossing, injuries and street riots.
She contacted her local newspaper (the Modesto Bee) recently to report that she's traveled about 12,000 miles and visited 21 countries. A former school teacher told the Bee how amazed she is that Erin keeps going.
“She's had some real mishaps and some really bad things to overcome, and she just keeps going.”
One of the biggest hurdles for Erin seems to be the daily grind of traveling. Last fall she wrote at her blog:
“This is I guess the half way point. And it's the longest I have traveled. Little by little I'm going crazy. My wrist is almost healed but it's pretty weak. … The hard past is dealing with boredom. I don't worry about where I'm going to sleep anymore. I don't worry about getting lost. But it's getting more difficult to go from country to country.”
The blog descriptions of the cultures she experiences are refreshing and frank: Egypt sucked, but the pyramids were cool. … The air was so polluted in India that “my snot and spit is black. That is pretty gross I know.” … In Israel she sees guards everywhere. “Guns, GUNS, GUNS that is what everyone seems to have here.”
Erin writes about making friends along the way and staying with families, when she's not camping or finding inexpensive lodging. She writes about the friends she makes:
“Deep inside me I will never forget the fun people, the ones I was hoping to meet. Good people are not hard to find, good people you can be good friends with are. I see them smiling even though they're gone.”
She has had some close calls.
In Romania, she was chased by wild dogs on an isolated road. She was so scared she ditched her bike and jumped in some water. In India, a guy who tried to steal her possessions was beaten by a mob. In Egypt, she was recovering from a broken wrist she suffered when she fell over a cliff going about 40 mph.
She had to spend the night in jail at the Hungary border because of some passport issues that resulted in her bicycling to Budapest to get a new passport.
The Bee says Erin plans to stay in China for a while, then bike through Southeast Asia and Australia before she returns home.
We wish her well and look forward to hearing about her experiences.
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