Krause Travels

More (and brown) hair; less money. More energy; crappier equipment. More wide-eyed enthusiasm; less common sense. Looking back at our very first international bike adventure, it’s the contrast with the selves we are now along with how we currently plan and travel that has outlasted most of the memories we have from our inaugural cycling trip 40 years ago.

A short day trip in Ireland on rented bikes at the end of a backpacking trip through Europe in the early 80s sparked the idea to return for a long bike vacation in 1986. Now married and with our first real—yet still low-paying—jobs, we saved money, did a few training rides, and bought as much equipment as we could afford. None of our gear was waterproof, and we made some unfortunate clothing selections (think cotton). Of course, no one was really making readily available waterproof panniers or wicking athletic apparel back then, so we managed with what was available.

None of the devices or services we depend on for travel today were available in the 80s. The rules and regulations and general travel atmosphere were vastly different, too. Instead of booking plane tickets online and presenting them on our smartphones to humorless TSA agents, we went to a local travel agent who handwrote our tickets which we gave to smiling airport employees while our families saw us off right from the airline gate. Luggage was free with no extra charge for bicycles on international flights. Contrast that with today’s price tag of $75-$100 round trip per suitcase unless you have an airline credit card. Speaking of which, those were rare. We stood in line at banks to exchange our travelers checks. Ask your parents or grandparents about those.

We navigated with paper maps, and we booked accommodations either by calling a number listed in our budget travel book using a public payphone or knocking on the doors of places that had B&B signs out front. And we paid in Irish pounds, called “punts” then, instead of Euros. We used heavy 35mm cameras, carried extra lenses, and shot slide film instead of preserving moments with today’s miraculous cellphone cameras.

As we have changed in the 40 years since we first visited, so has Ireland. It has become a modern European country digitally and physically connected to the world with satellites and cellphones, international businesses, and too many tourists on every city corner. However, there is still a hushed magic in the spaces between urbanity which bicycling has helped us find and which has enticed us to visit again. We have been back two more times: once for a couple of weeks so Robin could complete research for a bicycle travel book he wrote.; the second time was a six-week vacation with our very young children and five members of our extended family using bicycles as our main mode of transportation. Looking back, we realize that trip was a whole ‘nother level of crazy with three kids under eight years old and one who turned 12 during the trip, two tandems, one third-wheel trailer cycle, one teenager, and four adults who were still underfunded and overenthusiastic.

Our gear, our bodies, and our travel IQ have certainly changed, but our cycling trips today are not really all that different than they were long ago. After four decades it still boils down to wheels on the road, gear on the back rack, and rears in the saddle.