When I meet new people and we make friends, they often ask me about a holiday I have been on that I consider the best one ever. I must say I used to be puzzled and sort of not knowing what to say because in the past I concentrated too much on my work at school. Plainly, I did not see the need of a holiday. However, everything changed last summer.
I was invited to go on a biking tour in the south of Europe, namely the Balkan countries. We set off in Warsaw where most of my friends came from. It is a long way to Sofia and Athens but we were determined to start our ride. There were ten of us with our latest models of top brand bicycles designed for long distance riding in highly challenging terrains. The sophisticated gadgetry we used included bicycle GPS trackers, buttonless computers and super bright incandescent head lights. We were well-prepared but were we?
The first few days were a nightmare. You see Polish roads leave a lot to be desired--they are bumpy, lined with ruts and cracked here and there. The effort it took to ride on is beyond description. This was especially true of some of us (like myself) who had toiled away preparing homework and cramming French vocabulary back in the school year. I was unfit to say the least. By the time we reached the Polish - Czech border I had visualised packing my stuff and catching an early train back home. But then our leader nick named the Big Biker said we should rest one day.
It was a great idea. So we lay and ate and drank plenty of liquids. To stay fit we took a short (just over an hour long) ride round the charming little town of Cieszyn. The following day we felt much better and set to go.
What I would have missed had I decided to stay behind is awesome. The Black Sea with its stony and sandy beaches, the picturesque Trigrad gorge and the classical beauty of ancient Greece as well as the scorching sun against the cloudless heavenly-blue sky reflecting in the sea around the Greek islands.
The way back home on the train was rather depressing but we promised each other to go again the following summer and that would keep our batteries charged for the long wintry months to come.
When I meet new people and we make friends, they often ask me about a holiday I have been on that I consider the best one ever. I must say I used to be puzzled and sort of not knowing what to say because in the past I concentrated too much on my work at school. Plainly, I did not see the need of a holiday. However, everything changed last summer.
I was invited to go on a biking tour in the south of Europe, namely the Balkan countries. We set off in Warsaw where most of my friends came from. It is a long way to Sofia and Athens but we were determined to start our ride. There were ten of us with our latest models of top brand bicycles designed for long distance riding in highly challenging terrains. The sophisticated gadgetry we used included bicycle GPS trackers, buttonless computers and super bright incandescent head lights. We were well-prepared but were we?
The first few days were a nightmare. You see Polish roads leave a lot to be desired--they are bumpy, lined with ruts and cracked here and there. The effort it took to ride on is beyond description. This was especially true of some of us (like myself) who had toiled away preparing homework and cramming French vocabulary back in the school year. I was unfit to say the least. By the time we reached the Polish - Czech border I had visualised packing my stuff and catching an early train back home. But then our leader nick named the Big Biker said we should rest one day.
It was a great idea. So we lay and ate and drank plenty of liquids. To stay fit we took a short (just over an hour long) ride round the charming little town of Cieszyn. The following day we felt much better and set to go.
What I would have missed had I decided to stay behind is awesome. The Black Sea with its stony and sandy beaches, the picturesque Trigrad gorge and the classical beauty of ancient Greece as well as the scorching sun against the cloudless heavenly-blue sky reflecting in the sea around the Greek islands.
The way back home on the train was rather depressing but we promised each other to go again the following summer and that would keep our batteries charged for the long wintry months to come.