Welcome to World Biking!
We’re Eric and Amaya, two ordinary people on a quest to bicycle through every country on the planet.
World Biking began in June 2006 as a 30 country/30,000 kilometer ride through Africa.
Somewhere between Senegal and South Africa we fell in love with the idea of becoming full-time bicycle nomads and touring the world.
Now we’ve cycled more than 90,000 kilometers through almost 80 countries in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. The latest leg of our two-wheeled journey is a tour of Southeast Asia.
Our aim is to become the first couple to cycle through every country on the planet. All 195 of them. It’ll take a while, but we figure our cycling legs are still good for another 20 years or so.
What’s on World Biking
You’ll find the latest news from our ride around the world in the Tour Updates section.
For help planning your own bicycle tour, have at look at the posts filed under BiciHow.
And if it’s bicycle touring inspiration you’re after, turn to the the A-Z of Bicycle Touring Project. This is a collaborative effort of the international bicycle touring community to inspire more people to get on a bike and explore the world.
Touring Talk is a series of interviews with people just like us who are cycling around the world.
Get the latest News Direct
More about Eric Schambion
Eric has had a passion for travel ever since he was a small boy accompanying his father in the cab of his lorry throughout Europe. He grew up in Obernai, France and later moved to Darmstadt, Germany where he began his career with the European Space Agency.
More about Amaya Williams
Amaya, cycling through a remote part of Guyana.
Amaya grew up in Montana. She set off to explore the world in 1995 wthen an old high school friend (thanks Tracy!) asked her the probing question, “Is this really what you want out of life?” Caught up in the corporate rat race at the time, the answer was an emphatic ‘NO.’ Within weeks she was off to Asia to teach English and explore the continent.
Amaya, cycling through a remote part of Guyana.
Eric and Amaya
As fate would have it, we met in Vientiane, Laos and spontaneously decided to continue our travels around Asia together. A need to replenish our financial resources eventually brought us to Europe. Seeing the tax advantages of marriage, Eric proposed and we tied the knot on December 30th, 1998–Amaya thus counting as a whole year of tax write-offs.
Having once tasted the freedom of extended travel, we found settling down to the easy routine of western life less than fulfilling. In 2001, we dusted off our backpacks and set off for 12 months exploring Latin America from Mexico City to Buenos Aires.
Another stint working in Europe followed, with Eric returning to Eumetsat (European Meteorological Satellites) and Amaya doing freelance work as an English teacher.
We’d always had a trip through Africa in the back of our minds and were busy stashing away money for our eventual escape from the workforce. Then Amaya–who had a lot of free time on her hands during those bleak winter days and frittered away long hours on the internet–ran across the site of Alastair Humphreys who was biking around the world.
Being spontaneous–some might say impulsive or rash–she immediately decided biking was the way to travel. Eric (a more prudent soul) had many doubts.
“We might get caught in the cross-fire of a civil war! Would if we lose our way in the Sahara and die of thirst? But there are no roads in some of those countries,” he fretted. Eventually his objections were overcome by Amaya’s one and only all-encompassing argument: if a Brit can do it, why can’t we?
Connect with Us
Contact us via e-mail
If you’ve got any bicycle touring questions or would just like to drop a line and tell us about your own cycling experiences, please get in touch at worldbiking@gmail.com.
More bicycle touring inspiration
Our new site, GoBicycleTouring! is a guide to the web’s best bicycle touring blogs and resources. Check it out and find the right site to help you plan your next bike tour.
It takes courage to make it. We all gather a set of constricting habits around us —ones that trap us in a zone of supposed comfort. Most of this prison is build of consume wishes that never end.
What makes driving a bike the perfect vehicle for this nomad adventure, is: that you can make 100km a day with it, carrying all what you really need, without polluting the world very much. You can fix it for yourself, or carry it if needed. Healthy as a horse, by riding yourself.
I stumbled across this blog completely by accident and I’m amazed at what you guys are doing.
If you happen to have any further info how a westerner in Taiwan can arrange a bike trip, knowing no Chinese, I’d love to hear it.
-Maria
Hi guys!
You didn’t tell us about your great cycling project when we met, your site is very nice and we hope you’ll complete your dream around the world one of these days.
Keep cycling safe and enjoy your trip!
Claudine and Till
It was great to meet the two of you and thanks for doing such a great interview and sharing your Southeast Asia bicycle touring tips. Happy cycling!
Amaya
First of all, your site, at least from Santiago, Chile with a MacBook from a Hostel/WIFI not working all that well.
For example, you email link. Secondly when I input my URL: http://www.cyclingpeace.org it says ‘Please enter a valid URL’).
WE NEED TO COMBINE FORCES! I’ve been doing the same thing at 70+years of age since 2006 as well. For example, I’m an ‘expert’ in tour-cycling in China (some 50,000KM there alone). We take groups up into Tibet.
Ever heard of Alvaro Neil (www.biciclown.com)? He’s doing the same thing, as well as another Spaniard, Salvo (currently in Mexico).
The most famous is a German, Hans Toch, going for a ‘Guiness Book of Records’ number of countries, over 100 now.
But, for now, I need help with Chile, I’m in Santiago, and cycling north soon. Can you suggest a route to San Pedro de Atacama and beyond…? Thanks.
F.A. Hutchison
http://www.cyclingpeace.org
‘Hutch’
cycling the world.