I was heading back from my 2 day trip to London sitting on the plane with a mix of emotions: somewhere in between yearning the fact my taste of London had been way too short and trying to decide if I had time to catch on sleep on a 2 hour flight. I grabbed the in-flight magazine and mindlessly flipped through its pages about all the amazing places I should go to and drooling over pictures in remote Italian islands with colorful cityscapes. But then it dawned on me: isn't it time I start discovering more of Denmark?
The word microadventure hasn’t made it into the dictionary yet, but it might soon. The term – for a low-maintenance mini adventure you can do near home has become a cult hashtag on Twitter and the newest way to channel your inner Bear Grylls without actually having to eat bugs and drink your own piss. The day after I came back from London it was still the middle of Easter Vacation and the sun was shining more than ever before. I decided to grab my bike and hit the dust on the rode. I mapped a general route that passed through some really small nearby towns and looped all the way back. Rather than thinking about it as a stupid alternative to the big and impressive destinations all air companies promise to take you, I thought that if I wasn’t going to be doing this, I’d probably be doing nothing at all. I chose to make the most out of my vacation and the most out of Denmark.
I went down the path that leads really out of the city. Past a hill, over the sunny embrace of the open road and in between the seldom family farms that spring up in the landscape. Everything was either a deep shade of green or a charming wash of light blue sky. Sometimes seeing horses would surprise me and I would stop my bike to try to get their attention as if they were dogs. They kept grazing, I kept biking.
The word microadventure hasn’t made it into the dictionary yet, but it might soon. The term – for a low-maintenance mini adventure you can do near home has become a cult hashtag on Twitter and the newest way to channel your inner Bear Grylls without actually having to eat bugs and drink your own piss. The day after I came back from London it was still the middle of Easter Vacation and the sun was shining more than ever before. I decided to grab my bike and hit the dust on the rode. I mapped a general route that passed through some really small nearby towns and looped all the way back. Rather than thinking about it as a stupid alternative to the big and impressive destinations all air companies promise to take you, I thought that if I wasn’t going to be doing this, I’d probably be doing nothing at all. I chose to make the most out of my vacation and the most out of Denmark.
I went down the path that leads really out of the city. Past a hill, over the sunny embrace of the open road and in between the seldom family farms that spring up in the landscape. Everything was either a deep shade of green or a charming wash of light blue sky. Sometimes seeing horses would surprise me and I would stop my bike to try to get their attention as if they were dogs. They kept grazing, I kept biking.
At some point I reached a part of the journey where I was in between road after road of what looked like a flower field. They were tall yellow flowers that stood up high insatiably trying to catch the last bits of sunshine. This made me happy. I stopped my bike and spent quite a bit of time trying to assimilate to them, walking in between rows, and observing them. Some had just started their journey: their buds were just peaking out; the immature mixture of green and yellow was refreshing. Others were majestically designed with the sole intention to make them stand out beautifully against their green backdrops. There was a breeze so sitting there by my bike and taking in the field was easy.
In due time I kept going. When ever the light hit me just the right way I would maneuver my phone in one hand and control the bike with the other just to get a shot. Denmark has taught me this. I feel so comfortable in my bike now that I can be a Dane and only use one hand, if any. I know exactly what gear to use for different slopes. I enjoy speeding down the route and having full range of view to intake where you are going.
I saw a little hill in the side of the road at some point and decided to make a little camp to eat the food I had packed for the day. The hill had a little tree on top, the only tree in a vast grass field with a great view. I sat here for another bit of time, watching the seldom car pass by on one side of the road and catching the occasional distant bird who would fly in the sky and make the landscape vivid.
I kept going until I suddenly reached probably the cutest small European town ever. It comprised of the most charming library I had ever seen in my whole entire life, a pond and a cool windmill structure among a handful of houses.
On my way back home after biking around the small town and passing by others, the clouds started to get real dark and eerie. I hesitated for a minute but then it started raining hard and I was wet. It was liberating. The sun was still shining and the droplets of water were shining like they were diamonds falling from the sky! When the rain was over, probably 5 minutes from home I saw a double rainbow and all of the sudden this microadventure was actually a pretty big one.