HELLO. MY NAME IS ALEE. ✌️
I TRAVEL, WRITE, TAKE PHOTOS AND MAKE FILMS
I love creating awesome content about bikes and travel. I travel for days, weeks, months and even years at a time by bike and wouldn’t have it any other way.
Based on everything I’ve ever learned about bike travel, I recently created a simple book on how you too can go bicycle touring. Check it out HERE!
I LOVE WORLDWIDE ADVENTURES
I set off with my partner (at the time) to ride from the Netherlands to Australia. I wanted to find out if the world was indeed as big as I’d heard.
During my 31,000kms of bike travel over two years, I learned that people make the world go ’round: it is always the people who make a place, who change your perceptions and who open your hearts and eyes. I had the most incredible travel experiences in the dullest of places. I also learned that the world is much bigger than it looks but that no matter how different its people look, act or cook; we humans are all fundamentally the same. And that is AMAZING!
I film my experiences, talk at schools and am a guest speaker at events. The aim of making my life public is to ultimately INSPIRE others to give it a go, but if that isn’t realistic I know I can still change people’s perceptions and perspectives about the world through my experiences.
THINGS THAT HAPPENED ALONG THE WAY
I knocked on strangers’ doors to ask if I could stay with them
I crested snow-topped mountains after climbing for days on end
I slept in city-centre parks filled with cats and crazy people
I drank horse milk
I gifted a night in a 5-star hotel (and was almost too scared to touch anything!)
I witnessed death
I was invited to live with people for an entire year (all expenses paid)
I had people open their hearts to me
I rode my bike across entire deserts in 50c+ degrees
I had mothers and fathers refer to me as their son
I camped through almost all conditions
I lost track of time for days on end
I ate more unidentified food than I’d have liked
I saw the sky look exactly like the depictions of heaven
I taught people that life isn’t about their career
I wore clothes until they could no longer be worn anymore
I found insects that have surely never been discovered
I volunteered on farms and in poor communities
I learned how to build a website from scratch
I watched storms of shooting stars light up the sky
I rode through potholes deeper than my shoulders
I spent more than a week without a shower
I left my fully-loaded bike outside and trusted people not to take anything
I had conversations using only hands and feet
I saw more sunrises and sunsets than most
I invented meals
I hitchhiked with a tandem bike
I took a hot air balloon ride
I learned how to make short films without any training
I made music by a river with new friends
I rode until I had saddle sores…
WHAT BIKE DO I USE?
For my first big bicycle tour, I used a beautiful tandem made by Co-Motion. After riding a few tandems I can say that there is nothing stiffer and more wonderful to ride. It surprised me with what it was capable of every day!
I used my favourite touring parts including a Rohloff 14 speed hub, a Gates Carbon Drive Belt drivetrain, S&S couplers, Ryde Andra 30 rims, a Schmidt dynamo hub, Tubus racks, Supernova dynamo lights and Thomson accessories. You can see the breakdown (including weights) HERE and a fun video introducing the tandem HERE.
HOW DID I AFFORD THE TIME AND COSTS INVOLVED?
I worked for about one and a half years, saving as much of my earnings as possible…
I then sold off the possessions I knew I wouldn’t need over the next few years. After saving so much that I didn’t believe my account balance; after selling so much that very little was left at home; after being entirely thankful that I live in such a lucky and affluent country, I was able to travel for more than two years.
Along the way – before I left and on the road – many people expressed a desire to “do what I do” but lament they cannot: quoting work commitments, family size and monetary insufficiencies. It so often comes to money.
I realise I am hugely fortunate to have been in the prime of my life, to have a supportive family and good job; but it doesn’t matter who you are – if you want to escape to explore the world, you can. It’s about priorities. I don’t use a car, own a house or have a mortgage. I choose to spend my life and money investing in the knowledge, experiences and skills that bicycle touring brings.
There are families of four, five and larger travelling around the world on bikes, on donkeys, by van, by foot. There are people living without money by working on farms and hitchhiking, there are people from every walk of life who have made the same decision as me. If you want it, you can achieve it.
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
Head over here to read the FAQs that people often asked Kat and I as we travelled around the world on the tandem.