BY: MARINELLA MATEJCIC
Katarzyna Zwolak, a recreational cyclist from Poland, was a girl who pursued her career and had an organized life where everything seemed to be in perspective. She had an excellent job she really liked, activist interests, a circle of close friends and a beautiful apartment. But Zwolak is one of those people who can’t settle so quickly, so naturally the worm of doubt came. “Is this how my life is going to look from this point on? Do I want to live like this?” The answer was simple – no, she didn’t.
From that point on, which happened little more than a year ago, she moved for a while to Jerusalem, travelled through Palestine and Jordan, volunteered in a refugee centre in Austria and is now cycling through the Balkans towards Istanbul.
Zwolak is one of those people who can’t settle so quickly, so naturally the worm of doubt came. “Is this how my life is going to look from this point on? Do I want to live like this?” The answer was simple – no, she didn’t.
“I always wanted to move. Recently, I did realize that there’s never the perfect moment to start travelling. The hardest thing is to make the decision. Being a traveller seems cool, it’s an appealing lifestyle, but from the experience of the last year I dare to say that not many people are ready to try it,” Zwolak says.
“I always wanted to move. Recently, I did realize that there’s never the perfect moment to start travelling. The hardest thing is to make the decision.”
After three months in the Middle East, which was the first step towards her decision in starting a whole new chapter of her life, she was sitting on the airplane, flying back to Warsaw, Poland knowing that her next move would be a cycling trip. The chosen direction was Gibraltar, the edge of Europe, close to Morocco and the city of Chefchaouen, which she always wanted to visit. But even that would change.
“I just knew I didn’t want to go back to an office job from nine to five. Xavier Rudd and his song Follow the Sun was on repeat, I listened to the same music number for a couple of hours and eventually, the idea struck me; my cycling route will be Istanbul, to the East, the direction of the Sun, so no Gibraltar this time.” This is how she eventually changed her mind to go and explore the Balkans and travel to Istanbul by bike, created a crowdsourcing project, and started to organize herself. Once her crowdsourcing campaign met its goal, she borrowed her dad’s 15-year-old bike, named it Peggy and began her journey.
What really matters is the experience of travel as such, not the ultimate destination you are going to reach.
“A bunch of people asked me about my precise route – so I had to make one. It’s not that I follow it. Per instance, I’ve decided to come to Croatia because the weather report told me there isn’t a lot of rain here. I just enjoy cycling and meeting new people. Although I haven’t got many perspectives, nor money, this is an immense experience.”
One of the most interesting things about Zwolak’s cycling story is the fact that she started her journey in September and was very aware of passing a majority of the route in winter. “I wanted to start while I still had the courage, you know. During my stop in Slovenia, I met two lumberjacks,” Zwolak explained. “One of them concluded that I was cycling in the winter because “everybody can cycle in the summer.” His statement is so straightforward, yet so true. What really matters is the experience of travel as such, not the ultimate destination you are going to reach. Which is why the season wasn’t my main concern but the courage was.”
Another question that a lot of people like to ask her is: “Are you not afraid?” Zwolak finds it interesting that not many of them refine that one. “It’s not that anybody asks me if I’m scared that I’ll get raped. Or robbed. Or will have an accident, or whatever. People have a hard time verbalizing explicit fears. I don’t want to be ignorant, those things happen, but you need to think, be conscious and try to avoid them.”
“People enjoy their comfort zone, living their lives organized from an external body, like church or a job – you have your choices, but in a frame.”
“People enjoy their comfort zone, living their lives organized from an external body, like church or a job – you have your choices, but in a frame. It’s challenging to live freely. I don’t know how long I will function like this. Yet my life has never lasted longer and I really don’t know when I will return to Poland.”
You can follow Zwolak’s blog and Facebook page: Girl on Bike.
Image sources: instagram.com
