Travel manual
Here are some handy tipps for you! Send me questions and I will be happy to upload more of this.
#1 Whats warmshowers?
Warmshowers is a network of cyclists. It's about cyclists hosting other cyclists. Basically you can meet bike tourists, bike fans and hosts all over the world. I used it in Colombia, Perú, Argentina, Brazil - and now here in France. I have met amazing people, camped in beautiful gardens, slept in comfortable beds and sometimes even been invited to share a delicious meal with my hosts. It's a cultural exchange - you share your travel stories and they give you an insight of their life. I usually write them online one or two days in advance. It's always a surprise where I will sleep or who I will meet. But I have never been disappointed. People are trustworthy, helpful and lovely to be with. It's an experience I can highly recommend for anyone traveling by bike. Check it out: www.warmshowers.org
#2 Where to camp?
During my trip I received a lot of help from locals. I asked at churches, police stations, firefighters, schools and municipals to camp. The best advice I can give is to be open and of course friendly. Travel with a tent that way you can always just ask for a safe spot to stay. If you tell them you are just here for one night and will leave early in the morning they are usually willing to help you and maybe offer you even a roof or some food. Sometimes I also camped in public parks but I always ask for permission before. Of course you can find hotels and public camp grounds in South America, too. Hotels in Colombia for example cost between 15.000-25.000 COP ( 4-5 dollars) for two people a night. They are basic but offer a lot of comfort when you don't feel like camping.
#2 How I navigate
For my route planning in South America I use maps.me - it's free and you can download the areas/countries you need and navigate offline. You can choose between driving by car, walking and biking. In South America I used the navigation for cars 99% of the time. The roads were always good for biking, too. The bike option did not work very well, the distance was a lot longer than necessary. But the bike navigation shows you the elevation - so I checked it always as well.
Maps.me is satisfying for but I don't only rely on this. I always ask locals about the way, traffic, sights, POI, etc. Also, when I have wifi, I like to check Google maps. To be honest, I like to change the plan a thousand times. So my recommendation for any long term travel is not to plan every stage ahead. I think it's good to know your general destination of your trip. But it's also as important to know your weekly destination and then plan your daily destinations from there. It's better or the motivation and you won't waste too much time in exact planning. Remember it's a journey not a race.
I put my phone on top of my luggage in front, pinned under my straps. It's not professional, but it works perfectly (like you see in the photo). When it rains, I put it away of course.
#3 Keeping track
Besides navigation I use maps.me to remember the places I stayed overnight. With maps.me you can put a pin and save the place like a bookmark. My travel diary is on strava. I use it to rember exactly the roads, the time pedalling and the elevation. I have a Garmin vivoactive watch to record my daily ride. I bought it second hand around 60€ and it's perfect for me.
