With flights canceled, this Greek college student cycled 48 days to get home
Kleon Papadimitriou was studying at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland when the pandemic hit and flights were shut down, leaving him no way to get home.
So instead he decided to bike about 3,500 km home.
The 20-year-old student’s only previous experience was a race in 2019 and a few weeks of training this year. He also summited Mount Kilimanjaro last year. He began researching what he would need and purchased the right bike for the trek.
His parents agreed only on the condition that he set up an app that would allow them to know where he is 24/7. Papadimitriou also set up an Instagram account to document his journey, which garnered him fans along the way. He also journaled his experiences on the Greek travel site, EZ Greece.
As for why he chose to bike over another form of transportation, the answer is simple. “I like adventures so when I couldn’t fly home I decided to go by bike,” he told the Mirror.
View this post on Instagram
Genuinely worth the 15km detour. Feeling 11/10🕍🚴♂️
A post shared by Kleon (@kleon.vs.lockdown) on May 26, 2020 at 2:12pm PDT
He left on May 10 with nothing but a tent, a sleeping bag, some equipment for his bike, peanut butter and canned sardines. All told, carrying about 30 kg on his bike. On June 27, he finally made it back home to Athens, where his parents and others who followed his journey were waiting to greet him.
“It’s just now dawning on me how big of an achievement this was,” he said to CNN . “And I did learn a lot of things about myself, about my limits, about my strengths and my weaknesses. And I’d say I really hope that the trip inspired at least one more person to go out of their comfort zone and try something new, something big.”
He told CNN he would travel about 56 to 120 km a day. First going through England, then the Netherlands, along the Rhine in Germany, through Austria and the eastern coast of Italy where he took a boat to the port of Patras. From there he biked home to Athens.
Many days were met with multiple punctures, and he often had to deal with extreme heat and cold.
“Sometimes the bicycle tire burst two or three times a day, and that not only cost me a lot of time but it wasn’t good for my morale either. It was a lesson I had to learn to manage. I’m a bit saddle sore but it was worth it.”
Most of the time he set up camp for the night in fields or forests, although he occasionally reached out to friends and family who could offer a real bed and a shower. He spent his evenings documenting his progress and updating his parents.
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Sleeping under a roof tonight boyyyss!!!
A post shared by Kleon (@kleon.vs.lockdown) on Jun 18, 2020 at 12:53pm PDT
Now back in Greece 48 days after he first set out, he’s left Athens for a summer job.
“I think I improved as a person, I’m more confident in myself, I’m more confident in my abilities,” he said to CNN. “If I didn’t know that I’ve done the trip and you asked me now if I could it, I would say no, how could I do all those things?”