After years of dreaming about a bicycle tour around the world and months of planning one, I finally pushed my bike out of my parents courtyard. Too be honest I didn’t think saying goodbye to my family and friends would be this hard, but as I was riding out of my hometown Wasserburg I didn’t cry, but the next few hours on the road were pretty emotional. I went through what I would like to call the emotional stages of bicycle touring around the world:
1. Sadness because you leave your friends and family
2. Excitement for what is about to come
3. Impatience because you have a long way to go
4. Happiness because you realise all is well when you are on the road
When you leave home you think about all the good times you had. Especially during my last few days my mother cooked up all my favorite foods, my father helped me fix up my bike and my brother and sister did their best to make me laugh. Good times!
Now I think of all that is ahead of me and I realise that it will probably take a couple more days or even weeks to fully adjust to my new lifestyle on the road.
As I am writing this on the day after my departure I am still lying in my tent at 1pm waiting for the rain to stop (which I know it won’t).
About a week ago it was obvious that the weather would suck, but I planned my departure so long ago that I didn’t want to delay it. And in the end a couple of days of bad weather won’t make a difference when you are outside every single day of the year. 
My plans for now are to go further West into France and then to the UK (unless the weather there sucks too much compared to let’s say … Spain).
But until I reach Strasbourg and it becomes time to decide which way to go I just keep riding and singing in the rain …