I recently came back from a bike ride around Lake Constance and it was really cool!
I was on the road for a total of 9 days, got over BeWelcome, Trust Roots and Warm Showers slept with different hosts and only needed around 40€ in total - not counting the 30€ for registering warmshowers).
From my home it started via Radolfzell, Stein am Rhein to Konstanz and from there via the Swiss side to Hohenems, then via Bregenz, Lindau, Friedrichshafen, Überlingen and Sipplingen back again 🙂
Here are some pictures from the first days:
It was always very hot, so I made sure that I was out and about a lot, especially in the mornings and evenings, and that I either chilled somewhere in the shade in the hammock at noon or lay in the sun and cooled off in the lake 😉
I had a tent and a sleeping bag with me, but I didn't have the tent at all and only used the sleeping bag once because I could always sleep with hosts from Trustroots, BeWelcome or Warmshowers. These are platforms that work like couchsurfing, but now they do has become commercial. Maybe you've never heard of it, so I want to share a few experiences here, which are also some of my highlights:
Appenzeller country
Here I slept with a woman who had a farm in Ukraine and above Workaway has accepted volunteers from all over the world to help her with various things.
Not only did I get a place to sleep and food, I also got an insight into their lives and the Appenzell region:
Sankt Gallen and the Rheinspitz
Sankt Gallen is a city like any other (a lot of traffic, noise, shops, etc.), but there I went swimming at a pond and had a nice view of the city. I was also at the Rheinspitz, but it wasn't really worth it, so there's a nice view, since you drive quite a bit to the middle of the lake, but that's an extra 10 km (there and back):
Vorarlberg
In the Vorarlberg region in Austria, I had a great host with whom I was not only in turmoil, but also on the “Hohe Kugel” mountain at 1645 m. We then ran up 1200 meters in altitude – I ran down again and he was there flown down with the paraglider:
Our trade-based society
On a trip like this you get to know the world more and more, be it in Nepal or around Lake Constance - the effects of our trade-based society are noticeable everywhere, sometimes more, sometimes less.
waste
You've probably heard of food waste before, but it's still interesting to see only a fraction of it. Here is some of the groceries I saved with one of my hosts in just 1 night from just 2 supermarkets:
Another example of massive waste is all the boats I've seen. We produce an abundance of pretty much everything and most people don't have access to it because they either don't have the money or the time (because they're probably working). And so it happens that hundreds, even thousands of boats are lying around in various ports on Lake Constance and are either used very rarely or maybe not at all:
Armament industry at Lake Constance
Interestingly, there are dozens of companies in the Lake Constance region that earn their money in this industry (Those). Tanks, weapons, ammunition, etc. - that throws this scenic region in a pretty ugly light.
But what brings money, brings money... and secures jobs 😉 this way of thinking is so backwards. Let's be honest.
destruction, pollution, etc.
Of course, as far as I know, there are no longer any original forests or landscapes. Almost everything is taken over by us humans, changed, destroyed. Some bike paths are located next to roads and the traffic is annoying. How much cooler would it be if we just had fewer self-driving cars and also more trains and buses, all freely available!
Work, work, build houses
That describes the Swabian culture very well. But it's the same on the Swiss side, where everything works like "Swiss clockwork" and it's guaranteed that many people in Vorarlberg are also interested in making more and more money. The economy must be booming...
A Trustroots host told me how meritocracy is for most people – when people meet, work and business are almost always talked about. If you don't have a respectable job and don't go to work, then you are worthless in the eyes of society. People define themselves by their job, completely forgetting that they are human.
The European Championship 2021
The European Football Championship is taking place at the moment and has been since my bike tour. I haven't seen a game and do you think I missed something?
I know what it's like to love and watch football. I used to play football myself, watched the Bundesliga, Champions League and national team games. But is it really that important, interesting and relevant that Germany beat Portugal 4-2?
We have a Book about football and you probably know it yourself - millions of salaries for the players, Corruption, pressure to perform, painkiller abuse etc.
Of course football can also bring people together and often people from different parts of the world play together, but nevertheless this sport is completely overrated in our culture and is so blatantly hyped because many people earn their money with it (footballers themselves, coaches, managers, all employees various clubs, TV stations, associations etc.).
Ultimately, there are 22 players who run after a ball and otherwise bring nothing relevant. So calm down and think about it, is it really the end of the world when your favorite team loses?
In any case, I found my bike tour more exciting than watching the EM and/or betting on the games like thousands of others do every day 😉
Finally, here are panorama pictures, which I always find particularly cool and which actually turned out really nice:
