I sit down with ROMAIN right at the end of a 1500km bike journey from France. Crazy as it sounds, it is not even the most impressive journey this autodidact who goes with the flow, wherever it may lead him. If he passes near you, don’t miss the chance to host him: https://www.couchsurfing.com/people/romain-lacharme
Episode breakdown:
• 00:00 – Introduction.
• 00:25 – On his bike from Valence (France) to Valencia (Spain).
• 02:25 – Organization for a thousand miles bike trip.
• 05:20 – Meeting people on the way and receiving a rose for Sant Jordi.
• 08:52 – Inspiring people on the way.
• 09:37 – Discovering bike-friendly Valencia and discover yourself in your travel.
• 10:45 – Travelling to Australia at 21, without knowing English.
• 13:08 – The way back from Australia (through Asia).
• 14:25 – The difficulties to settle down back “home”.
• 15:45 – New opportunities to travel for work and building on past (and new) abilities.
• 19:20 – Doing the first step is the most important part of the journey.
• 21:20 – Future plan: around the world on a sailing boat!
• 24:30 – Inspire other plans and get inspired by then. Rules of Attractions.
• 28:08 – Conclusion.
[Music] welcome to this new episode of travel stet today I’m speaking with Roma from France hello Roma so hi everybody I’m Roman I’m 35 coming from France I come from nearby Leon but considering myself as a citizen of the world so we are talking today in the beautiful city of Valencia in Spain because you just completed one ,500 km on your bike so that’s quite an achievement can you tell me what triggered this sudden trip to to Spain so that was just a dream you know watching videos of people just traveling with bike and having a bike myself and just thought that if I can put all of my needs on my bike I can reach wherever I want to go so that was the first idea then after I build like uh the setup for my bike and choose um what I like to be in the mountain so only use mountain bike Road and end up in Valencia which wasn’t uh the goal at the beginning but there is no plan So the plan is there is no plan what was the goal at the beginning what were you thinking to accomplish when you jumped on your bike so I just uh follow um track that uh goes through Europe and uh come nearby my home so I just started in Valance but in France French Valance yes exactly the French Valance and the goal was to finish the track which end up in sages in Portugal but during my travel uh I had some issue with paperwork in France so because of that I chose to uh just stop in a halfway in know 1,500 kilm and just go to Valencia and catch a bus but at the end uh everything has been solved and now I just uh I’m just in Valencia with my bike and uh go with the floor and enjoying some spare time and this is uh where we met this is actually what is lead to this podcast today so that wasn’t a bad plan to stop in Valencia I think now I have some more spare time exactly more practically so how did you organize for your bike trip I mean you had you had to take the minimum stuff with you minimum clothes minimum food did you have some apps as well that you were using on your mobile so I spent the winter with deciding my head that uh I would like to travel but now in my life I don’t have big Revenue big job and everything as before and so I just um choose the the minimum and watch a YouTube video listen a little bit of podcast on the subject object then just think um what are my needs and when I identify my needs because you need to sleep you need to eat and you need to ride with your bike so just uh buy um the minimum stuff to allows me to cook in the nature sleeping bag little tents and uh just um put everything on my bike and just start uh paddling you know that’s it just start to ride and you have all the time to start it one day and I just wait the good weather because I didn’t want to be like in trouble in the mountain because I was using a track that only follow a mountain path tracking or hiking road so didn’t want to be like in the negative temperature or something like this for my comfort and so I wait a bit and and that allows me to uh prepare my uh my travel how long did it take to get used to the bike journey I mean you were from the first day from the beginning you were into it or you had some days to to get used to to the travel to the journey it took me like uh around 3 days I think to get uh used to the bik to everything but to be out of civilization more in the nature more in the L Village because that was the aim of my travel just to uh be out of the rush of our modern society and everything and yeah it just took me three days and um this is not a long time you know to be like out of the of the modern world and everything and to reach your goal from those three day until now I just go with the flow and uh really enjoy and meet interesting people have uh good talking with them and uh no that even in the little village you know you don’t need to go in Big City meet a lot of people just have to be yourself and you will meet people that’ll talk to you and have like common idea and uh life is uh is great for that so I guess you you have a lot of uh nice meeting on the way nice stories uh during your travel uh can you share a couple of them yeah I met a lot of of people because I was cycling so people get interested of uh my bike get interested of my travel um I’ve got so many meetings uh like uh with local people that couldn’t speak a word of English but we had like great talking really some writers along the way and uh had like different conversation about my ride and everything had lot of talking with a street guy that I met on the road and we were like Foodies uh both so we really enjoy like having like uh a good meal talking about the difference on our country and everything in around Barcelona you got a rose for the S Jordi Festival yeah exactly exactly so yeah that’s the story where I just met a girl in the supermarket and uh we start to talk a bit about the St jorie which is a little yeah little Festival I think or I was in the medieval village and um there was just a little talking with the girl but at the end of the talking it was okay so maybe it’s you there and two days after I just met her and uh we spent two more days uh together having a really nice talking uh she was practicing uh her her English told me a lot about Catalan world because at first I thought I will learn uh Spanish in Spain which is logic but I learned Catalan first then after Spanish and that’s good because for my understanding of the story of the country that was really good and for me that was uh quite easy because Catalan is really close to French but um another story that I can tell you so for example one day I was just uh soaking wet after a big rain and uh just stopping by a little bar in the little village just to ask for a hot tea and um just uh two girls just told me where are you coming from with this bike and all of this luggage and everything so I start to tell my story and she told me why are you sleeping tonight it’s just raining so much much and everything and I just said yeah maybe I contact somebody on an application for cyclist to give me a hot shower and the H is called hot shower by the way but for the moment I have no answer from them and they told me okay uh just keep in touch if you have no answer we will be pleased to have you with us and that was an amazing uh meeting with those girl we talk a lot about uh her situation and everything and about the difference between Catalonia and frania and I just had really great moments but never planned those moments and because of that they are so great because when you don’t expect it’s so good to have something you know on your way the people who met you were very impressed by your travel yeah exactly and even more when they learned that the bike is not electric because at first my bike is like big on Duro bike and because of that the people say oh it’s electric it’s easy and I said no way it’s not electric you know yeah it’s carbon it’s light and everything but no I have to ble to uh go through mountain and uh and just reach my goal you know so yeah they were more impressed by being that my bike wasn’t electric that by the thing I was like kind of traveling the whole way you know not like with a new fancy electric bike like lot of people you know uh have now did you know that that Valencia was so bike friendly before you to come or you just discovered it here no not at all not at all I just knew Valencia on the map not really been there before and yes I just discover like a really friendly bike City and to be honest I discover as well a passion to ride a bike through the city because I’m a mountain bike guy I go in ski resort to do mountain bike but never quite like bike in the city feel it like dangerous and everything and yeah wasn’t really into it and as I am with my bike here that give me the ability to travel the city so fast and uh to discover more about myself you know and when you travel this is the good thing that you can find in your travel because experience come from the travel I really believe in that I just discover myself like a big passion to go f City with bike and be like low Footprints able to enjoy a good ride yeah so I know that it’s actually not your first travel but have you ever felt this urge to travel from a very young age or when did it start exactly from the age of 20 when I stopped studying have the the diploma and start working I just felt like uh yeah it’s good but um it’s not the life I want I want it it’s uh I want to discover and from the age of 21 I just went to Australia at the time I was an electrician doing a interesting but um a bit boring world to be honest in the in the building just doing like uh the same thing every day and one of my friend was about to go in Australia so I just said do you mind if I go with you and he was quite happy at the time because Australia is really far away for first travel like 20,000 kilom more than 24 hours of plane that was kind of scary back the time you know so we decide to go in Australia and just put oneway ticket to go there and this is uh how it starts you know just making the first step and keep on going and at the end I just spend one and a half year over there learn English over there and because you didn’t know English when you arrived no not really I just learned English but really late at school and wasn’t into school so I wasn’t able to communicate to be honest I when I arrived in Australia I wasn’t able to communicate I know how to look for a job and to find a job and so my colleague was um really good speaker we make a plan you speak and I’m looking for the world that’s it and uh at the end it work really well like I said spent one and a half year over there learn English and the most important thing just believe in myself travel is a really good thing to uh teach you life and believe in you and uh I think this changeed my life because after I was able to speak English and I have like a more open mind to just allows me to think uh out of the box and this is uh what Define me in life I think on the way from Australia you visited Asia yeah yeah yeah um so when I come back you kind of become addict you know if you don’t like travel you just go in a place you don’t like you go back to your life and you know how to start it again but I become kind of addict of travel and on my way back I said yeah I need to stop to Asia because uh it’s kind of closed on the way back if I may just visiting uh Vietnam then after going to Cambodia LA and hand up in Thailand to catch my plane to go back to France and uh with the plan if is there is no plan you know you start in uh in Vietnam then after you I really love to talk with local MH or with people Travelers and I just follow their advice because I really think that local people just know more what is good to see in this area you know what I mean you don’t need internet or something like this you need internet to prepare then after just go with the flow and meet locals or traveler and listen to experience of people I think this is a good way to learn so when you came back to France how did you feel well when I come back to France I just uh find a job like regular people and earn money and get back in my uh like previous life routine and to be honest that was a really really hard moment for me there was like everything that I live before in Australia all of this energy that I had just disappear and now that I know more myself I understand why this is because I need to get back back again on travel and just leave my dream and when you listen to other people they told you yes this is good to have a dream but now you just have to wake up and earn money that’s life and if and even if you are not happy with it that’s it and I listened to to them but uh for me wasn’t working so I just decide to like switch back and go to Switzerland like this I can still be in the society and money little bit more to be honest and um does uh change my life again because I discover like another country uh with English I was able to like apply to other job and uh things go down once you were in Switzerland uh that was the end of your Journeys and of your travels not really because um as I wanted like to be in the in the Society on money and everything and just put a bit the travel on the side I just felt like I need to travel again but I don’t have like really the money the time so I just put all of this CID together and just said I can speak English uh there is a lot of company in Switzerland so I will find a job that allows me to travel and this is what I did so I started in the little um company in startup and with my previous experience in France I was able to apply to this job and which brought me aboard a lot so for one and a half year I just travel that wasn’t easy but it was so rewarding for me because I was earning money and traveling and that was my dream at this moment so where did you travel with this job where did it send you oh in a lot of place for example uh on the first day I just be employed and start my uh my day in Loan in swis where the company was and took a plane and hand up in Turkey for example that was my first day then I think two weeks before I was in Portugal but after yeah I went to uh Tunisia Russia lvia so all of this and just met wonderful people really like uh improve my professional competence improve everything I just kind of this moment of my life of reaching my goal of uh having a a job that allows me to work and allows me to be like self-sufficient so yeah this time I wasons responsible of my job which was a important job because I was like doing a validation in the pharmaceutic company but for those who think that’s wow it’s high position and everything uh I’m not a chemist I’m not a pharmacist I wasn’t able to speak English five or six years before but as I just L myself to leave my dream go in Australia come back have more experience and then uh just dream about applying to some job and somebody give me my chance I think you have to knock at the door and then they will open you know if you don’t knock nobody will open door and oh you know what we were waiting you really so yeah the advice I can um give to somebody who is dreaming now like listening the podcast and what can I do with my life and everything I would like to travel and just think about the abilities that you have and just sell them and for example the abilities of the wish that you have to travel can be a big abilities you know because company are sometimes looking for guys or girl that can travel around the world and your dream is to travel you are pay for that that’s kind of a good life absolutely you said that yeah so you travel to Turkey Tunisia Russia and so on so when one hears you say all these stories it sounds very easy it sounds you never overthink uh your your travels your things how do how do you make the first step actually I think it’s all the T start with a wishes like everybody everybody have wishes have dream but no no I don’t agree with you that it’s easy for me no no no not really you know uh for example when I uh want to start my uh Journey with my bike I was like all the time go to ski Resort or doing downhill and I’m not able to like going Hill and my biggest travel with my bike was 30 kilm and I did like 150 in one day just to come to Valencia so I think you just have to believe in yourself and start somewhere but I want like the people that listen to the podcast I’m like everybody you know sometimes I’m in the bad mood this is really hard for me to like motivate myself and everything but I all the time think that you need to do the first step and when you do the first step you just begin the journey and then things goes on motivation will come and everything but I will say it again a second time this is not easy for me too I just like wish and make the first step and then after things goes on and go with the flow and everything and this is why we are doing this podcast now to Valencia because I made the first step but uh when I made the first step I wasn’t thinking about yeah somebody will give me an interview in Valencia because uh that wasn’t the plan to go to Valencia at first and now what what are your future destinations and what are your future plans so I have a dream which is like going around the earth with a selling B I’ve been on selling Bon like once or two but I never sell like for week month and years and this is my dream but for the moment I’m just thinking of how I can build my abilities to go around the world and I’m in Spain learning Spanish and that will be an ability because I think if I I’m able to speak for the moment French English and Spanish one day and I think I will be like that will be really easy to travel the world with that and then you need to learn how to sell but for that just buy books looking videos I’m planning to like ask people to meet them I will ask people to like maybe go on the boat and uh be part of the crew or something like this but uh I’m starting from nothing nobody is sailing in my family and when I talk to then they told me yeah you’re crazy ran you never sail and you want to go around the world yes but I never made more than 30 kilomet and now I can be proud to like came from my hometown to Valencia in Spain using no Road and going only uh by a mountain bike Road and so when you believe in yourself when you believe in your dream when you believe believe you can achieve I think just believe then achieve and sure make the make the first step what about uh you told me also you had some plans in Vietnam I really love uh motor biking and I love Vietnam because as I told a little bit earlier when I made my roue to France from Australia I just stopped to Vietnam and saw that in the streets there was a lot of motorik and that just G me an idea to one day I have to come back and do motorbike in um in Vietnam it took me like 10 years to be able to go back there and do like a motorbike trip in Vietnam but I really would like to come back to Vietnam and do another motor trip maybe we will took me 10 years or something like this but just believe in your dream just have dream and life is really grateful and will give you back when you dream and you when you like LS you to have dream you will have when you talk with um people and you’re talking about your passion maybe we can talk about not deeply but the love of Attraction that’s uh a book that I read and if you haven’t read it just uh have a look on Internet and you will understand I think more you live your life more you live your passion more you talk with people more you are like an interested people that give motivation to other and uh other will give you energy and everything and this is what is travel is about this is what travel is about really like sharing your life sharing your experience then you will meet somebody who have the same experience or that we wish that can have a a wish of travel and you will inspir ins Inspire yeah Inspire him you know I’ve been inspired by uh people for example for my uh trip with my bike and on my way I inspired people so things goes on and I think this is a real basic that some kind of Miss in our like modern society I think you could be a great great motivational speaker as well because you told me that you met someone who had a very special passion and you almost convinced him to leave his job and everything right yeah that’s true I was at the bar enjoying beer and one guy just asked me for light and thing was that but after a while I was reading a book and just put my book and just feel like the guys want to talk and like I love interact with people I just talk with him and he hand up that the GU is working in the big company uh having like a lot of work to do and everything and won’t like to give up on on this kind of life and just discover and are amazed by the travel that I I have done and he told me oh yeah this is so great I want to do it and I say yo man I like having money for the moment but travel is not about money you’re not having time this is why you are not able to travel I think because you need time to travel on the other hand if you don’t have time it’s like you are all the time on schedule rushing and you are not like you’re not in the present and you are not like taking the Wonder of the life and I talk with this guy and I ask him like a simple question have you passion in your life and told me yeah I like to make quas really you like to make quas okay that’s really interesting because uh if you can make good CA and the guys was actually like training is his apartment so passionate about the thing we talk about the process he he did and that was like the right process during three days and everything I just say man just give it your job start your cross thing and uh we’ll see what happens and you know what if you don’t like it if you not succeed you are able and you know how to get back to your whole life but please just keep me touch in one year or something like this and I’m sure that if you start it like made the first step MH this is the most important for me this is my uh module is like making the first step things goes home you will uh find a way find yeah you will find a way you will uh find a way a customer and everything and everything and you just have to start somewhere when you have a wish when you have a dream it’s already start for me it’s already your start you have a wish you have a dream just make the first it and that’s it Roman how long will you be in Valencia the plan is I have no plan for the moment okay so I’m going to see more of you in the coming days weeks right you’re going to explore more around here maybe so yeah to use a mainstream expression it’s uh travel is not about the goal it’s about the journey M so yeah I didn’t reach Portugal okay and back at home I’ll say to everybody yeah I go to Portugal okay but no I just do my journey enjoy it in the mountain calm uh with no civilization no modern society and everything arrive to Valencia and yes this is Big City there is a lot of people a lot of things but I find like a good flow in this city and then just living day PA day I’m just living in the moments maybe because of my bike travel but to be honest when you travel you are more living in your present time you are more living the moment and you are feeling okay that’s enough I need to move I need to I don’t like this or you are more taking care of your life instead of waking up every day you have to go walk or school or something because you have to now you just wake up and you do whatever you want if you’re traveling and you don’t like that the travel the school or the walk you can change because you are not like in your hometown and this is like yeah I’m born here I live here I don’t like so I stay here because I have no choice you are all the you have all the time the choice to dream and make the first step no I think and to be honest the plan is there is no plan and uh we’ll see if I stay in b Valencia I really like the the flow of this city there is a lot of architecture to watch a lot of history to understand and uh when I am fulfilled with that I will move and that’s it we’ll keep in touch anyway right oh yeah sure definitely I’m planning to travel a bit more and I wish you good success for your podcast and uh so if you got success you need more content so I will be really pleased to just second episode yeah exactly exactly you know what the second episode will be I wish and I dream for that after I took my Sailing Boat you know around the world but to be honest kind of a wow it’s keep he giving me pressure because I have to do it you know what I mean but it gives me pressure to me as well to maintain the podcast for a few more years we’ll see how it goes yeah because there has no plan as well for the podcast we’ll see how it goes no sure it really goes to success because you’re a passionate guy and you like uh meeting giving uh giv back sharing and exactly you are yeah I think life is about this travel is about this just not all the time giving just sharing yeah this is the way of life this is more easy to live this life while traveling than and just like staying in your boring busy routine you know because you don’t have uh energy to share with people I have a lot of energy now and I can continue my journey and you know I’m like really high in my mind and sometimes I’m really down but I can of understand that uh traveling and discovering new thing just uh feed me like petrol yeah if I may say that you know yeah yeah that’s my Gasolina so R thank you very much do you have any last words to say or I think you you made your point very clear right yep but I will repeat that another time just make the first step and uh things goes on thank you for listening to this episode you can find more information in the note of the episode feel free to share sh like or comment on your favorite podcast platform and on our Instagram page see you soon for a new interview with a 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