The Bike Touring Magic

There is a thing among cycle tourers loosely called “bike touring magic”. That is, when you put yourself out there with all your possessions and only human power, people tend to help you. You can’t rely on it of course, but it does happen. Buying a local SIM card for your phone sounds easy, but it can take some getting used to. I am a neophyte for sure. 

 There we were in Belgrade, sitting outside McDonalds cribbing wifi at a busy Belgrade intersection. I had my new sim card inserted into my phone and a torrent of long text messages from the celphone provider in my texts. But, they were in Serbian. I was totally lost on how this would work. “How is your tour, maybe I can help you” said the shaggy-haired, smiling stranger “I ride a bike too”. Friend or foe? We went with friend. For twenty minutes that guy and his buddy helped us get service and understand the serbian texts. He walked me back to the corner store and sorted out the prepaid plan with them on my behalf. Smiles all around. Thank you, thank you. Bon voyage. 

 Having loads of cheap data to navigate and find services, as well as google translate is a lifeline for us. You do have to be a little vulnerable to ask for help, but that is part of the magic.