This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Angela, an academic and content creator in her early 40s who travels solo in Europe. Angela requested that her last name not be shared for privacy. This essay has been edited for length and clarity.
A bikepacker who's been on the road for 8 years says he's turned his lifestyle into a business that covers his costs — here's how.
26.02.2024 - 03:11 / insider.com
Tristan Ridley was days into his first long-distance trip when he met with a life-threatening incident.
He had just crossed a river by foot, and was pulling up his bicycle to the shore, when a group of men drinking asked him to stop. People he had talked to about Papua New Guinea had warned him not to stop in a situation like this.
“I got straight back on my bike and I cycled past them. I just kind of gave them a wave, and as soon as they saw me, they immediately got to their feet. They started running at me shouting — most of them had machetes,” Ridley told Business Insider in a video call.
He managed to get away and carried on with his trip with the goal of cycling from Papua New Guinea all the way back home to the UK.
Ridley, now 33, is a full-time “bikepacker” who has been traveling the world for eight years. He started using bikes to travel in 2015 and has since ridden the lengths of Africa, Asia, Europe, and nearly all of Oceania.
His solo travels started with nights in hostels and traveling by buses and trains. From there, he moved into hitchhiking and camping. Wanting even more flexibility, he began considering cycling. After a few painful trips, it became his vehicle of choice.
“I wanted to do this big trip, which I figured would take about a year. I had saved just enough from part time work in Australia that I could manage it on a very tight budget,” he said, referring to his first long-distance trip which covered Southeast Asia, China, Central Asia, and Europe.
“You really don't need much money to travel very long distances on a bicycle. In my first year I was living on about five pounds, or $6.30, a day, slightly less even,” Ridley said. He budgeted 4,000 pounds, or $5,048, for the year-long trip.
Ridley has done most of his traveling solo. He said that depending on himself through road accidents and visa troubles has made him mentally tough.
“There's times when I'm very grateful to be alone,” Ridley said. “For personal growth, I think traveling solo has enormous value.”
He said traveling alone taught him how to improvise, be comfortable under pressure, and how to deal with people. In terms of security, he finds that personal skills and forming accurate judgments are his “first line of defense” and more useful than knives or pepper spray.
As Ridley spent more time on the road, more people started reaching out to him looking for advice.
“It was getting to the point where I just felt like I didn't really have the time anymore to reply to all of these messages,” he said.
He decided to start a coaching service and found that clients were willing to pay because they needed support to plan routes and buy the correct equipment.
Ridley’s YouTube channel, where he shares short smartphone videos of
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