European Travel

You are certainly not mad. When I was young I also had similar dreams of travel. In the beginning I retained them as dreams but once I brought the subject up with a coworker who was close to retirement and I was in my late twenties. I had been thinking about traveling to Europe. It was about ten years after WWII when most Americans did not travel that far. "Do it now," she urged, "because later you will marry and you will have so many obligations, you will never do it." ell, I did nad never regretted it. So, if you can, DO IT; don't let it be just a dream.

It's not something I would have ever done even when I was young enough.  But if you really want to do it and are fit enough, then go ahead.  You can always change your mind at any point along the journey and find a train, put your bicycle on it, and travel that way until and if you want to get back on the bicycle.  That kind of trip would give you much freedom to see and do what you want to, and there would be much to see and do.  If you go, have a happy time and take care of yourself.

No your not mad at all. Cycling is a great way to travel around europe. Last summer i cycled from northern france to Oslo in norway (about 1100 miles) and its one of the best things ive done. Im currently planning a 4000 mile cycle from calais to the ukraine via italy, greece and romania. Im just guessing but i recon paris to istanbul would be something like 1600 miles depending on your route. if your fit you could do that in 18 days but you wouldnt get to see much. the great thing is that you can take as long as you like and go where ever you want. if you were trying to see as much of europe as possible id recommend taking a 2 months or more to do it. 40 miles a day is easy and would only take about 4 hours/day. go for it, but plan it properly because you dont want to find yourself in germany with your plane leaving in 48 hours.