Bicycle Luke in Istanbul Turkey

Bicycle Luke in Istanbul

Bicycle Luke, one of the more vibrant characters of this travelogue over the past few months, has finally arrived in Istanbul. He began traveling by bicycle from Scandinavia at the beginning of summer and rode all through the north of Eastern Europe, down to the Croatian coast, up to Bratislava, and met me in Hungary before going off to Romania and Bulgaria on his long Road to Turkey.
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Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Upstate, New York, USA- September 21, 2008
Travelogue — Travel Photos
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I had lost track of Bicycle Luke after a few raging nights in Budapest last summer until I received the following email. He had clearly arrived at the end of his golden rainbow:

“Well my European leg of the journey has also come to an end as I fınd myself ın Istanbul. Flyıng out ın 2 days after nearly 2 weeks explorıng thıs ıncredıble place. Defınatly the most excıtıng place ı have every stumbled upon. The fact that ıt ıs currently ramadan may have somethıng to do wıth that as well, as the festıvıtıes just go off!

I am off to the UK for 4 weeks before headıng to Thaıland where ı wıll meet my cousın and rıde for 3 or so months through the neıghbourıng countrıes.”

Bicycle Luke has crossed the finish line in Turkey!

So Bicycle Luke will keep riding on chasing horizons. This guy is a traveler – he sleeps with the crickets, only stays in hostels when in big cities, eats food from grocery stores, worked hard to save up his travel funds before setting out, knows now to save money, and has made his way across a continent under his own steam.

Bicycle Luke’s crazy ride through Eastern Europe (I assume it looks something like this).

Luke and I both set out on the long road for Turkey, he arrived, and I ended up somewhere else. Whereas I just bumble my way about planet earth, Bicycle Luke travels it.

Links to previous travelogue entries:

• Worst Public Transport in the World
• Baby Bananas and the Beady Eyed Fruit Man
• Not to Columbia Journalism Department