Balkans Express Cycling Tour: Day 0

Today, we packed up, checked out of our Airbnb, and grabbed our bikes from the Cycle Albania office to bring to the hotel where we would meet our tour group. This is our first time joining an organized cycling tour and we hardly know what to expect.

After lunch, we worked at a coffee shop. I’m learning photo editing, and Justin is learning video editing. We took lots of photos and videos throughout our EV3 bike tour, but we were so busy cycling then, and could never muster enough motivation in the evenings and on our rest days to make much progress on that front.

This evening, we had an intro meeting with our tour group where we met the entire group and went over the general logistics with our guide Julian. Right off the bat, our tour mates began enthusiastically introducing themselves to one another. We met David and Barry first, two friends who met a few years ago on a bike tour across the UK that went south after Covid spread across the group. They ended up being our dinner companions and were very interesting to talk to.

I’m feeling anxious about socializing with my fellow tour members. First of all, besides Justin and me, I don’t think any of the other 12 people in our group are younger than 60. Barry is in his 80’s and sharp as a tack. I can’t really think of any other times in life when I’ve spent significant amounts of time with people in this age range who aren’t my grandparents or members of my extended family. I was surprised by how Barry and David treated us tonight, to be honest. Being so much older than us, they could have acted patronizingly, but they were inclusive and curious, and treated us like equals.

Justin makes a good point, though. Isn’t that why we’re out here this year? To expose ourselves to different people and perspectives?

I’m curious to see what’s in store for us over the next two weeks!