day 11

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France

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Damn it. France wins again.  I've always joked that, of course the French are snobby, wouldnt you be if you invented baguettes, croissants, and human rights? But, after traveling in Austria and Slovenia, I just couldn't imagine anything topping it.  The first day I entered France from Switzerland I was a little shocked, there was peeling paint, and even some abandoned buildings! Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia feel almost like someone built the "Idyllic Village" Lego set...10,000 times and lined them up and I was riding through them day after day. France just has a romantic vibe that no amount of peeling paint or drab colorways can hide. In fact, this aire of not caring just adds to the charm. It gives it this totally effortless feel. I had always considered myself a Francophile, now I have the receipts.  Exhibit 1.  This video  is from my first full day riding in France. I'm getting dumped on by rain in a rural area that is not touristic at all. ...
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On traveling frugally vs extremely frugally.

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This is basically just a WhatsApp conversation I had with one of my previous hosts that I edited and adapted to a post.  First an aside: Here's a picture of an abandoned building in Switzerland. There are so few abandoned buildings in Slovenia, Austria and Switzerland. When I tour in the United States and even in Japan, I went into a lot of abandoned buildings and houses. Becky gets annoyed because I'm always pulling off the road to jump through a window.  Ok, back to the original post: So I went around a month dirtbagging it --spending no money on lodging or transport, sleeping under bridges, park benches, even one rich person's ski condo balcony when they weren't home etc-- I'm now being much more proactive finding warmshowers hosts and infilling with inexpensive Airbnbs and hostels. I even booked a train to allow me to get further and see more things....gasp. This was is much more pleasant and still frugal! But, I had fun trying the former as sort of ...
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Vienna pt2

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I'm currently in the middle of my 4th day in Vienna. I stayed with a new host last night in a flat full of anarchists. One of them inherited it but no one pays rent and they live cooperatively.  My host is one of the most interesting people I have every met. Very intelligent, and having some of the least concern with material things in ever seen. He convinced me to discard my route as planned and head directly into the Austrian Alps.  I had planned on heading along the Danube to Munich. He asked why I want to go along a touristic cycle path along a river that has been artificialky constrained on both sides when just south of there is one of the most beautiful places on earth. My thoughts went back to 80 or so kilometers outside of Vienna when I entered a forest which was so beautiful that I started weeping. Forests have energies and this one was overwhelming. And this was in the smaller hills just outside the Alps. So it's hard not to imagine this would be more impactful for m...
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