Post-trip summary

Thanks to all of you who followed our bike journey! Posting was really just a way for me to journal it with pictures (which I love to take tons of!). Dan has been dreaming of doing a bike trip like this with his family even before Noah was born, and now that we were all the right age, post the worst of COVID, the time was now. He planned this trip for months with little help from me. All I really did was plan the pet care!

Though we ended up biking less than half the mileage planned (under 100 miles in total instead of 200+) mostly due to colder weather than forecasted, we all agree that we would do it again. This was intended to be a practice trip to see if it’s something we might continue doing. Dan insists that the work he put in and did throughout this trip was all worth it; the joy of biking through the Netherlands and Belgium far outweighed the bike work (he has much more stamina than I have!). Many have asked: why not just rent bikes there? I even asked Dan several times myself, and I can guarantee there are many reasons why taking our bikes made very good sense and I know Dan would be happy to share if anyone is considering this type of vacation.

The 3 of us consider ourselves a very close-knit team. We introduced Noah (and ourselves) to the hostel life for a couple of days and how that can lead to meeting with and talking to people from other cultures. He learned how to try his French language skills in real life (and learned some Dutch phrases too) and how appreciative folks are for making that effort and for polite manners. We balanced that with treating ourselves to a more comfortable lush hotel at the end of our trip, which was much needed as my cold grew worse and worse.

Noah discovered a hurt inside for seeing people sitting on the street (especially those with pets)and insisted on giving out every euro we had. He also turned into a peach during this trip while he ate all the peaches! He was super helpful and assisted Dan every step of the way with getting the bikes built, unbuilt, and packed and unpacked. He never once complained about anything.

We were very lucky that nothing bad happened on this trip! I tried to pack very light, but learned to follow my gut instincts for next time and pack much warmer (still no heels for a bike trip)…I think Dan learned that I have less tolerance for inclement weather (mainly the cold) and that I need to bring clothing that works better for me next time, which maybe just means an extra bag! Most importantly, we all learned that as a family we can all work together and make anything work, and that learning from other cultures is an important family value for us.

Oh, and I had a bubblegum mojito AND a bubblegum macron and those were the actual life-changing things for me on this trip!

Tammy