(CNN) – Even after hundreds of miles on his two-wheeled journey, Kleon Papadimitriou says he was still unsure of getting home.
The 20-year-old Greek university student had been trapped in Scotland, where he studied, with no possibility of returning to Athens while the flights were closed due to the pandemic.
He then decided to bike the approximately 2,175-mile route instead.
“Now I realize how great this achievement was,” he says of his 48-day journey. “And I learned a lot about myself, about my limits, about my strengths and my weaknesses. And I would say that I really hope that the trip has inspired at least one other person to get out of their comfort zone and try something new, something great” .
At 20 years old, it took them 7 weeks to get home
Courtesy of Kleon Papadimitriou.
Papadimitriou, now about to embark on his third year of study at the University of Aberdeen, says it was in the last days of March that he decided to seek an earlier flight home, hoping to overcome the rapidly spreading effects of the coronavirus to across Europe. Most of his friends were already gone, but he says he lingered to make sure he didn’t miss a lesson. He booked three flights, but they were all canceled.
“By April 1, I knew I would be quarantined at least next month in Aberdeen,” he said.
But then he had his idea.
Canned sardines, a bicycle and a carp
Trapped thousands of miles away from his family and eager for an adventure, Papadimitriou says he began investigating what it would take to make the trip on two wheels. He says that he had competed in a race in 2019 and that he had briefly trained this year for several weeks, but that it was all the cycling experience he carried with him.
Initially, he says the idea was more of an “impossible dream.”
But soon he started buying the equipment he would need. He bought a bicycle, told his friends, and broke the news to his parents. They agreed, he says, especially because “they thought it was just an idea that he would eventually give up.”
Kleon Papadimitriou, photographed here in southern Germany
Courtesy of Kleon Papadimitriou.
His father offered a condition for the trip: They had set up an app that would allow his family to be able to constantly track him and know where he is.
On May 10, armed with canned sardines, peanut butter and bread, a sleeping bag, a tent, and equipment for his bicycle, he began his journey.
Dozens of miles every day
Papadimitriou told CNN that he would travel anywhere between 35 and 75 miles per day, initially crossing through England and then towards the Netherlands. He pedaled down the Rhine in Germany for several days, passed through Austria, and cycled down the eastern coast of Italy before taking a boat to the Greek port of Patras, and from there biking to his Athens neighborhood.
Throughout his journey, he had established a camp in fields and forests. He spent the last moments of each day writing his progress, tracing the path of the next day, and contacting family and friends. As the weeks went by, he said more people found out about his trip and tuned in, receiving updates from his friends and family.
This was Papadimitriou’s luxurious hotel room for most of the trip.
Courtesy of Kleon Papadimitriou.
As he made his way through different countries in Europe, Papadimitriou says he sometimes approached friends or acquaintances offering him a bed and a shower, a sweet alternative to his usual wooden stops at night.
“As a relatively introverted person, I was forced out of my comfort zone in the sense that if I didn’t do some things, I wouldn’t have a place to stay, I wouldn’t have water,” he said. “It forced me to have those interactions and get there.”
On June 27, nearly 50 days since he first hit the road, he returned home, where his family along with dozens of friends, as well as complete strangers who had been following his progress, were waiting to celebrate his arrival.
“It was very emotional,” he said. “Coming from a family of two parents who were very adventurous in their younger years, seeing me follow in their footsteps, I think it is very emotional for them and obviously gives me a lot of meaning.”
“But I think they felt relief in any case,” he added.
Papadimitriou packed canned goods and bread for his 48-day trip
Courtesy of Kleon Papadimitriou.
‘Set the bar really high’
Now back in Greece, Papadimitriou has left Athens to work a summer job, and says he’s still mulling over his seven-week bike trip.
“I think I got better as a person, I have more confidence in myself, I have more confidence in my abilities,” he says. “If I didn’t know that I already made the trip and you asked me if I could do it, I would say no, how could I do all those things?
But nevertheless, knowing that he successfully completed what he set out to do, Papadimitriou says he is now eager for the “next big thing”.
And it has a tip for those who (rightly) think a 48-day bike trip is a great undertaking.
“When you set the bar really high and you try to reach a really ambitious goal, whether you achieve it or not, you will have improved,” he said.
“You will learn things about yourself and be amazed.”
.
