I’m running out of excuses…

I can – of course – and have indeed, used the following:

We’ve only been back for a week, I need to time to reflect first, the laundry is all over the floor, seeing friends is more important, no point in working if I haven’t exercised, I need to send out more queries on other stuff, I need to upload my photos first,  I haven’t heard back from that new editor yet, and yes…this is only a partial list, but even I get bored with my own bs.

The facts are really rather simple. I need to write two 3000-word articles. One on the incredible trip in Hungary and the other on the equally wonderful trip in the Czech Republic. Both trips were organized through www.BikeToursDirect.com.  Might I digress for just a moment? Apparently it’s what I do. Digress, that is.

The deal with Bike Tours Direct is rather simple but also unique. In fact, I think Jim Johnson is the only guy doing this. He’s basically the agent/broker for over forty European bike touring companies. His website is a one-stop shop for all things to do with European cycling. And because he deals with companies over there, the prices for us over here, are much cheaper than some of the fancypant companies out of the U.S. and Canada.

You know the ones? With the uber-glossy catalogue that causes you guilt once you’ve perused it and thrown it in the recycling bin?  The one with the prestige factor as if you’re trying to “make a statement” by going on a bike trip?

Hello?

Instead, Jim’s company (I feel I’m on a first-name basis with Mr. Johnson, as my husband Kevin and I spent a week cycling with him on the aforementioned Hungary trip) doesn’t bother with all the frou-frou stuff. Rather than that, he personally meets and recommends and promotes cycling companies that are run by the people living in the country you’re traveling in.  What a concept.

So, instead of somebody in Boston reading a good guide book and traveling to Romania with you so you can learn the stuff together, you get a guide like Lada in the Czech Republic, who grew up under Communist rule and can tell you the stories of his grandpa patrolling the iron curtain.

Or you hang out in Budapest with Gabor and his lovely girlfriend/partner Sophie and listen to him talk about how he started his company with a couple of bicycles in his dad’s garage.

And in both countries you drink a lot of local wine and eat more pork than you thought humanly possible and you smile while gliding down a hill and smile while you talk to new friends and smile while you drink more wine.

This post is my attempt to begin to write those stories. I was really hoping this would get me started. I do after all, seem to have lots to say about the subject. On the trip, and since I’ve  been home, I’ve consumed books of fiction written by Czech and Hungarian writers, watched Hungarian and Czech films and  reviewed the guidebooks.

I’ve even eaten some more ham.

I think if I just cleaned up my office first.

And sharpened my pencils.

And probably if I sorted out the pens that are no longer working and filed the newest magazines that I brought home from the trip…then I could get at it.