College student biked 48 days to make it back home to his family
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▲ It took the 20-year-old 7 weeks to make it back home
Flights cancelled? No worries mate, let's bike our way home. At least this went through a 20-year-old college student in Scotland when flights were shut down due to Covid-19. That little thought led to Kleon Papadimitriou taking a 7 weeks long journey to his hometown, Athens, braving the nature and sleeping in the forests.
Before making the choice though, he had booked three flights but they were all cancelled, so he decided to begin the journey on bike. He bought all equipments, told his friends and family, who just said OK, thinking that he'd eventually give up on the idea.
▲ Papadimitriou packed canned goods and bread for his 48-day trip
His father agreed on the condition that he install an app that they can use to track his whereabouts at any time. On May 10, with canned sardines, peanut butter and bread, a sleeping bag, a tent and equipment for his bike, he began his journey.
He told CNN that he was travelling around 35 to 75 miles per day (about 56 to 120 Kilometers per day). He crossed through England and then onto the Netherlands. He biked along the Rhine in Germany for several days, passed through Austria and cycled down along the eastern coast of Italy before he took a boat to the Greek port of Patras -- and from there biked to his Athens neighborhood.
Now back in Greece, Papadimitriou has left Athens to work a summer job and says he's still reflecting on his seven-week bike ride.
"I think I improved as a person, I'm more confident in myself, I'm more confident in my abilities," he says.
"If I didn't know that I've done the trip and you asked me now if I could do it, I would say no, how could I do all those things?"
"When you set the bar really high and you attempt to reach a really ambitious goal, whether you achieve it or you don't, you will have improved," he said. "You will learn things about yourself and you will surprise yourself."
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