{"id":160726,"date":"2017-07-31T13:39:01","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T13:39:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=160726"},"modified":"2017-07-31T13:49:37","modified_gmt":"2017-07-31T13:49:37","slug":"blog-hera-van-willick-managed-stay-road-13-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/07\/31\/blog-hera-van-willick-managed-stay-road-13-months\/","title":{"rendered":"BLOG: Hera van Willick &#8211; How I Managed to Stay on the Road for 13 Months"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>It\u2019s been four weeks now since I landed back in the Netherlands. Yesterday, I did my first presentation about the ride from Alaska to Costa Rica. Now it\u2019s time to also write about how, looking back at it, I\u2019ve experienced this trip. But I also want to explain some practical stuff and how the financial situation looked like.<\/strong><!--more--><\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-160726 gallery-columns-2 gallery-size-large'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P5242758-scaled.webp'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P5242758-1024x683.webp\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P5242758-1024x683.webp 1024w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P5242758-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P5242758-768x513.webp 768w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P5242758-1536x1025.webp 1536w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P5242758-2048x1367.webp 2048w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P5242758-1920x1281.webp 1920w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P5242758-272x182.webp 272w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P5242758-1920x1281.webp 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P1130205-1-scaled.webp'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P1130205-1-1024x683.webp\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P1130205-1-1024x683.webp 1024w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P1130205-1-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P1130205-1-768x513.webp 768w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P1130205-1-1536x1025.webp 1536w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P1130205-1-2048x1367.webp 2048w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P1130205-1-1920x1281.webp 1920w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P1130205-1-272x182.webp 272w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P1130205-1-1920x1281.webp 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>I started this trip with a one month ride on<strong> Iceland<\/strong>. I decided to do so mainly because my flight to Alaska had a stopover there and for only a few bucks more I could spend a month on this popular island. The first two weeks I was struggling to really get into the flow.<\/p>\n<div class=\"shortcode-ys-post-pinup\"><article class=\"loop-simple post-141669 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-ride2unite tag-iceland tag-travel\" data-postid=\"141669\" role=\"article\" data-post-id=\"141669\" data-word-count=\"1084\" data-headline-length=\"79\" data-category=\"#Ride2Unite\" data-author=\"Hera van Willick\" data-published=\"2016-06-30T13:10:08+00:00\" data-published-day=\"Thursday\">\n    <div class=\"entry-thumbnail article-thumbnail\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/06\/2332131331_42114231334-150x150.webp\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2016\/06\/30\/blog-travelling-world-hera-van-willick-peacuful-spacious-rugged\/\" class=\"image-holder\" target=\"_self\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/06\/2332131331_42114231334.webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/06\/2332131331_42114231334.webp 900w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/06\/2332131331_42114231334-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/06\/2332131331_42114231334-768x512.webp 768w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/06\/2332131331_42114231334-272x182.webp 272w\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 1200px) 300px, (min-width: 768px) 25vw, 100vw\" alt=\"blog-travelling-world-hera-van-willick-peacuful-spacious-rugged\"\/><\/a><\/div>    <div class=\"entry-meta\">\n        <a class=\"label label-secondary post-category\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/category\/ride2unite\/\" title=\"#Ride2Unite\">#Ride2Unite<\/a>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"entry-details\">\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2016\/06\/30\/blog-travelling-world-hera-van-willick-peacuful-spacious-rugged\/\" class='entry-title-wrapper'>\n            <h3 class=\"entry-title\"><span>Blog: Travelling the World with Hera van Willick: Peaceful, Spacious and Rugged<\/span><\/h3>\n        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n    <\/article>\n<\/div>\n<p>The first days riding from Reykjavik weren\u2019t particularly beautiful (TIP: Start, if possible, with a few beautiful days of riding.) I never really research the places I\u2019m going to, something that proves sensible on days like those. Luckily, the surroundings became more impressive soon enough. I\u2019d love to go back there someday to cycle the eastern half of the country.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-2' class='gallery galleryid-141669 gallery-columns-2 gallery-size-large'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P6050246-scaled.webp'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P6050246-1024x684.webp\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P6050246-1024x684.webp 1024w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P6050246-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P6050246-768x513.webp 768w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P6050246-1536x1026.webp 1536w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P6050246-2048x1367.webp 2048w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P6050246-1920x1282.webp 1920w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P6050246-272x182.webp 272w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/P6050246-1920x1282.webp 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/IMG_20160610_005410.webp'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/IMG_20160610_005410-1024x576.webp\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/IMG_20160610_005410-1024x576.webp 1024w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/IMG_20160610_005410-300x169.webp 300w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/IMG_20160610_005410-768x432.webp 768w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/IMG_20160610_005410.webp 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>From Iceland I flew to <strong>Alaska<\/strong>; the country it all started with. Looking back now I\u2019ve spend quite the majority of the greatest moments of my trip in that state. <strong>The Dalton Highway, the five days I <\/strong><strong>spent<\/strong><strong> with the 70-year-old Chip in his wilderness camp, all the wilderness camping, the breathtaking nature.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"shortcode-ys-post-pinup\"><article class=\"loop-simple post-141827 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-outdoor-mountain tag-hera-van-willick\" data-postid=\"141827\" role=\"article\" data-post-id=\"141827\" data-word-count=\"1289\" data-headline-length=\"79\" data-category=\"Outdoor\/Mountain\" data-author=\"Hera van Willick\" data-published=\"2016-07-13T13:18:27+00:00\" data-published-day=\"Wednesday\">\n    <div class=\"entry-thumbnail article-thumbnail\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/07\/4984874_7849849-150x150.webp\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2016\/07\/13\/blog-travelling-world\/\" class=\"image-holder\" target=\"_self\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/07\/4984874_7849849.webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/07\/4984874_7849849.webp 900w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/07\/4984874_7849849-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/07\/4984874_7849849-768x512.webp 768w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/07\/4984874_7849849-272x182.webp 272w\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 1200px) 300px, (min-width: 768px) 25vw, 100vw\" alt=\"blog-travelling-world\"\/><\/a><\/div>    <div class=\"entry-meta\">\n        <a class=\"label label-secondary post-category\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/category\/outdoor-mountain\/\" title=\"Outdoor\/Mountain\">Outdoor\/Mountain<\/a>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"entry-details\">\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2016\/07\/13\/blog-travelling-world\/\" class='entry-title-wrapper'>\n            <h3 class=\"entry-title\"><span>Blog: Travelling the World with Hera van Willick: A-LAS-KA! \u2028ALASKAAAAAAAA!!!<\/span><\/h3>\n        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n    <\/article>\n<\/div>\n<p>Camping in the wilderness had been something I looked forward to but also kind of scared me a little. But soon enough it became my second nature. Every afternoon I would just take a turn into bushes and look for a nice spot to camp. Pitch my tent, make a fire, cook. I enjoyed it to the fullest. This will always remain the trip in which I became super comfortable with wilderness camping.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-160738\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/dsc06132_31223999911_o.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"7673\" height=\"5115\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/dsc06132_31223999911_o.jpg 7673w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/dsc06132_31223999911_o-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/dsc06132_31223999911_o-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/dsc06132_31223999911_o-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/dsc06132_31223999911_o-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/dsc06132_31223999911_o-272x182.jpg 272w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/dsc06132_31223999911_o-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 7673px) 100vw, 7673px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In the far north of <strong>Canada<\/strong><strong>,<\/strong> I spend some more time in the wild. The Icefields Parkway was definitely one of the highlights of my trip. A road that I\u2019d looked forward to ever since I left the Netherlands. But before I could start on it I had to recover from dehydration for which I\u2019d been hospitalized. Something I hated but also scared me and made me feel incredibly stupid for letting that happen. I was so happy to be on my bicycle again ten days after I collapsed. A lesson learned.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-3' class='gallery galleryid-141827 gallery-columns-2 gallery-size-large'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/8MBmax-DSC08004.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/8MBmax-DSC08004-1024x683.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/8MBmax-DSC08004-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/8MBmax-DSC08004-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/8MBmax-DSC08004-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/8MBmax-DSC08004-1920x1281.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/8MBmax-DSC08004-272x182.jpg 272w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/8MBmax-DSC08004-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/DSC01288-scaled.webp'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/DSC01288-1024x683.webp\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/DSC01288-1024x683.webp 1024w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/DSC01288-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/DSC01288-768x512.webp 768w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/DSC01288-1536x1024.webp 1536w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/DSC01288-2048x1365.webp 2048w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/DSC01288-1920x1280.webp 1920w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/DSC01288-272x182.webp 272w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/DSC01288-1920x1280.webp 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>The <strong>U.S.A.<\/strong> is a country I didn\u2019t look forward to. It was \u201cen route\u201d and because I also want to see the \u201cless fun\u201d countries I decided to cross it anyway. I really missed being immersed in foreign culture and if there was anything I wasn\u2019t excited for it were fast food chains and more big trucks.<\/p>\n<div class=\"shortcode-ys-post-pinup\"><article class=\"loop-simple post-143221 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-ride2unite tag-blog tag-hera-van-willick\" data-postid=\"143221\" role=\"article\" data-post-id=\"143221\" data-word-count=\"1892\" data-headline-length=\"63\" data-category=\"#Ride2Unite\" data-author=\"Hera van Willick\" data-published=\"2016-10-17T11:12:13+00:00\" data-published-day=\"Monday\">\n    <div class=\"entry-thumbnail article-thumbnail\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/10\/515513153_970780077-150x150.webp\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2016\/10\/17\/travelling-world-hera-van-willick-taste-canada\/\" class=\"image-holder\" target=\"_self\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/10\/515513153_970780077.webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/10\/515513153_970780077.webp 900w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/10\/515513153_970780077-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/10\/515513153_970780077-768x512.webp 768w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/10\/515513153_970780077-272x182.webp 272w\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 1200px) 300px, (min-width: 768px) 25vw, 100vw\" alt=\"travelling-world-hera-van-willick-taste-canada\"\/><\/a><\/div>    <div class=\"entry-meta\">\n        <a class=\"label label-secondary post-category\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/category\/ride2unite\/\" title=\"#Ride2Unite\">#Ride2Unite<\/a>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"entry-details\">\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2016\/10\/17\/travelling-world-hera-van-willick-taste-canada\/\" class='entry-title-wrapper'>\n            <h3 class=\"entry-title\"><span>Travelling the World with Hera van Willick: The Taste of Canada<\/span><\/h3>\n        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n    <\/article>\n<\/div>\n<p>It proved again that if you don\u2019t expect much your expectations are easily exceeded. (TIP: Don\u2019t have very high expectations.) Looking back now, I\u2019ve really enjoyed cycling in the U.S.A. The coastal road was very quiet in wintertime. Looking for a place to camp became a sport I really enjoyed. Cycling in the snow was quite the experience and the National Parks were beautiful.<\/p>\n<div class=\"shortcode-ys-post-pinup\"><article class=\"loop-simple post-146997 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-ride2unite tag-hera-van-willick tag-travel\" data-postid=\"146997\" role=\"article\" data-post-id=\"146997\" data-word-count=\"1033\" data-headline-length=\"59\" data-category=\"#Ride2Unite\" data-author=\"Hera van Willick\" data-published=\"2017-03-06T09:44:51+00:00\" data-published-day=\"Monday\">\n    <div class=\"entry-thumbnail article-thumbnail\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/03\/232233232_23322332-150x150.webp\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/03\/06\/travelling-world-hera-van-willick-baja-california\/\" class=\"image-holder\" target=\"_self\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/03\/232233232_23322332.webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/03\/232233232_23322332.webp 900w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/03\/232233232_23322332-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/03\/232233232_23322332-768x512.webp 768w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/03\/232233232_23322332-272x182.webp 272w\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 1200px) 300px, (min-width: 768px) 25vw, 100vw\" alt=\"travelling-world-hera-van-willick-baja-california\"\/><\/a><\/div>    <div class=\"entry-meta\">\n        <a class=\"label label-secondary post-category\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/category\/ride2unite\/\" title=\"#Ride2Unite\">#Ride2Unite<\/a>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"entry-details\">\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/03\/06\/travelling-world-hera-van-willick-baja-california\/\" class='entry-title-wrapper'>\n            <h3 class=\"entry-title\"><span>Travelling the World with Hera van Willick: Baja California<\/span><\/h3>\n        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n    <\/article>\n<\/div>\n<p>Don\u2019t go to the U.S.A. (definitely not the west coast) if you\u2019re looking for culture (TIP), but it\u2019s great for nature.<\/p>\n<p>I was pretty excited about getting to <strong>Mexico<\/strong>. <strong>Baja California<\/strong> (+Sur) was great when it comes to the scenery. Giant cacti and camp spots everywhere. The mainland was quite a disappointment, though, maybe exactly so because my expectations were high and many people had told me that the mainland is where I would experience the \u201creal Mexico\u201d. The villages with their squares, churches, and markets were really nice but the roads were big, busy, and dangerous. South of Mexico City things got better, even though the mountains were killing me with an average altitude gain of about 1400 meters a day. Just before crossing into Guatemala (at Frontera Corosal) it turned into real jungle and also the western part of Guatemala was rural and remote.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-160743\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/PC180593.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"3968\" height=\"2648\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I haven\u2019t heard many great stories about <strong>Central America<\/strong> from other cyclists. That\u2019s one of the reasons why I hadn\u2019t given myself very much time to cross it. Looking back, I sure would\u2019ve enjoyed spending some more time there, especially in Guatemala and Nicaragua. Preferably with a man by my side. Because the constant whistling and yelling of men is just exhausting.<\/p>\n<div class=\"shortcode-ys-post-pinup\"><article class=\"loop-simple post-159962 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-road-cycling tag-hera-van-willick tag-travel\" data-postid=\"159962\" role=\"article\" data-post-id=\"159962\" data-word-count=\"942\" data-headline-length=\"85\" data-category=\"Road cycling\" data-author=\"Hera van Willick\" data-published=\"2017-07-12T08:46:31+00:00\" data-published-day=\"Wednesday\">\n    <div class=\"entry-thumbnail article-thumbnail\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/heracover-150x150.webp\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/07\/12\/travelling-world-hera-van-willick-filming-costa-rica-flew-home\/\" class=\"image-holder\" target=\"_self\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/heracover.webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/heracover.webp 900w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/heracover-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/heracover-768x512.webp 768w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/heracover-272x182.webp 272w\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 1200px) 300px, (min-width: 768px) 25vw, 100vw\" alt=\"travelling-world-hera-van-willick-filming-costa-rica-flew-home\"\/><\/a><\/div>    <div class=\"entry-meta\">\n        <a class=\"label label-secondary post-category\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/category\/road-cycling\/\" title=\"Road cycling\">Road cycling<\/a>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"entry-details\">\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/07\/12\/travelling-world-hera-van-willick-filming-costa-rica-flew-home\/\" class='entry-title-wrapper'>\n            <h3 class=\"entry-title\"><span>Travelling the World with Hera van Willick: Filming In Costa Rica And Why I Flew Home<\/span><\/h3>\n        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n    <\/article>\n<\/div>\n<p>In my experience, it wasn\u2019t nearly as bad as when I was there with a man. This makes Central America a lot less attractive to me but I\u2019m glad that I, in a relatively short time, got to see this area.<\/p>\n<p>So far for my review on the countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s been four weeks now since I landed back in the Netherlands. Yesterday, I did my first presentation about the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":160730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[460,418],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-160726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-road-cycling","tag-hera-van-willick","tag-travel"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BLOG: Hera van Willick - How I Managed to Stay on the Road for 13 Months - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s been four weeks now since I landed back in the Netherlands. Yesterday, I did my first presentation about the ride from Alaska to Costa Rica. Now it\u2019s\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/07\/31\/blog-hera-van-willick-managed-stay-road-13-months\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BLOG: Hera van Willick - How I Managed to Stay on the Road for 13 Months\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s been four weeks now since I landed back in the Netherlands. Yesterday, I did my first presentation about the ride from Alaska to Costa Rica. Now it\u2019s\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/07\/31\/blog-hera-van-willick-managed-stay-road-13-months\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-07-31T13:39:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-07-31T13:49:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jakubstepanek\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/cover1-2.webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hera van Willick\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/07\/31\/blog-hera-van-willick-managed-stay-road-13-months\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/07\/31\/blog-hera-van-willick-managed-stay-road-13-months\/\",\"name\":\"BLOG: Hera van Willick - How I Managed to Stay on the Road for 13 Months - \u0160koda We Love Cycling\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/07\/31\/blog-hera-van-willick-managed-stay-road-13-months\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/07\/31\/blog-hera-van-willick-managed-stay-road-13-months\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/cover1-2.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-07-31T13:39:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-31T13:49:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/d42ede5c64c67b5db7ea181a1a82b2d5\"},\"description\":\"It\u2019s been four weeks now since I landed back in the Netherlands. Yesterday, I did my first presentation about the ride from Alaska to Costa Rica. Now it\u2019s\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/07\/31\/blog-hera-van-willick-managed-stay-road-13-months\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/07\/31\/blog-hera-van-willick-managed-stay-road-13-months\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/07\/31\/blog-hera-van-willick-managed-stay-road-13-months\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/cover1-2.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/cover1-2.webp\",\"width\":900,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/07\/31\/blog-hera-van-willick-managed-stay-road-13-months\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BLOG: Hera van Willick &#8211; How I Managed to Stay on the Road for 13 Months\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/\",\"name\":\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\",\"description\":\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling magazine\",\"alternateName\":\"\u0160koda WLC\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/d42ede5c64c67b5db7ea181a1a82b2d5\",\"name\":\"jakubstepanek\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6088ff8a87539139d91121309dad6f7aee973467a9fee79888aeb2a7f7dc88a2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6088ff8a87539139d91121309dad6f7aee973467a9fee79888aeb2a7f7dc88a2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"jakubstepanek\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/author\/jakubstepanek\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BLOG: Hera van Willick - How I Managed to Stay on the Road for 13 Months - \u0160koda We Love Cycling","description":"It\u2019s been four weeks now since I landed back in the Netherlands. Yesterday, I did my first presentation about the ride from Alaska to Costa Rica. Now it\u2019s","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/07\/31\/blog-hera-van-willick-managed-stay-road-13-months\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"BLOG: Hera van Willick - How I Managed to Stay on the Road for 13 Months","og_description":"It\u2019s been four weeks now since I landed back in the Netherlands. Yesterday, I did my first presentation about the ride from Alaska to Costa Rica. Now it\u2019s","og_url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/07\/31\/blog-hera-van-willick-managed-stay-road-13-months\/","og_site_name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling","article_published_time":"2017-07-31T13:39:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-07-31T13:49:37+00:00","author":"jakubstepanek","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/cover1-2.webp","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hera van Willick","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/07\/31\/blog-hera-van-willick-managed-stay-road-13-months\/","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/07\/31\/blog-hera-van-willick-managed-stay-road-13-months\/","name":"BLOG: Hera van Willick - How I Managed to Stay on the Road for 13 Months - \u0160koda We Love Cycling","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/07\/31\/blog-hera-van-willick-managed-stay-road-13-months\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/07\/31\/blog-hera-van-willick-managed-stay-road-13-months\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/cover1-2.webp","datePublished":"2017-07-31T13:39:01+00:00","dateModified":"2017-07-31T13:49:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/d42ede5c64c67b5db7ea181a1a82b2d5"},"description":"It\u2019s been four weeks now since I landed back in the Netherlands. Yesterday, I did my first presentation about the ride from Alaska to Costa Rica. Now it\u2019s","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/07\/31\/blog-hera-van-willick-managed-stay-road-13-months\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/07\/31\/blog-hera-van-willick-managed-stay-road-13-months\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/07\/31\/blog-hera-van-willick-managed-stay-road-13-months\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/cover1-2.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2017\/07\/cover1-2.webp","width":900,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/07\/31\/blog-hera-van-willick-managed-stay-road-13-months\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BLOG: Hera van Willick &#8211; How I Managed to Stay on the Road for 13 Months"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/","name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling","description":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling magazine","alternateName":"\u0160koda WLC","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/d42ede5c64c67b5db7ea181a1a82b2d5","name":"jakubstepanek","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6088ff8a87539139d91121309dad6f7aee973467a9fee79888aeb2a7f7dc88a2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6088ff8a87539139d91121309dad6f7aee973467a9fee79888aeb2a7f7dc88a2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"jakubstepanek"},"url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/author\/jakubstepanek\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160726"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160746,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160726\/revisions\/160746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160726"},{"taxonomy":"global-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/global-categories?post=160726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}