Heading Abroad for a Semester by Bike

MCI student Tobias Bogie is kicking off his semester abroad in Istanbul with a bike trip from Austria to Turkey

While many students book the first available flight for their semester abroad, Tobias Bogie, a bachelor’s student in Environmental, Process, and Energy Engineering, chose a much more unusual route: He hopped on his bike and rode from Vienna to Istanbul.

The Preparation

He came up with the idea for the bike trip together with his roommate, who would later join him on the journey. It was important for Tobias to have enough time to plan, since a bike trip was uncharted territory for him – he didn’t even own a bike at the time. 

The schedule was quickly set: they would start in August to arrive in September, about a week before the semester began. “The hardest part was figuring out how many bags and how much storage space we’d ultimately need on the bike,” Tobias said regarding the preparations.

When planning the route, they based their itinerary on a 30-day route through the Balkans to Istanbul that they found on Komoot. They wanted to follow this route as closely as possible, which turned out to be a good decision, as it allowed them to largely avoid mountainous sections.

The two always planned the next day’s stages the evening before. They also booked their accommodations no more than two days in advance. “We definitely wanted to have the freedom to take detours,” explains Tobias.

Highlights of the Trip

For Tobias, one of the highlights of the trip was that they were able to visit many capital cities. Sarajevo, in particular, captivated Tobias with its beauty. Away from the big cities, the trip always took them through remote towns and idyllic natural landscapes for four to five days at a time. After a few nights in a tent, however, he looked forward to a warm shower and a soft bed in the hostels in the cities. There, Tobias enjoyed meeting all kinds of people and even found another travel companion.

In summary, Tobias says that good planning is just as important as not taking on too much. Since neither he nor his roommate had the necessary physical conditioning, they were able to take it easy during the first few days. On such a long trip, he says, the important thing is to simply hop on your bike every day and let the day unfold as it will. Ultimately, your mind and your own thoughts are the biggest hurdle. With the right mindset, even the cars honking on the road suddenly become your own fans.