GoodBye By Bicycle India-Italy

GoodByeByBicycle

India to Italy by bicycle

We are Lili and Aire, a couple training in treehouse construction, as carpenters and arborists; respectively from India (with German roots) and Italy, with our South Indian rescue dog, Schnuck.

The three of us began our journey on the 10th of January 2024, travelling from Auroville in Tamil Nadu towards the Italian village of Rasai by bicycle, connecting our places of origin.

We have travelled the length of the Indian subcontinent, from Tamil Nadu, to the West coast through Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. We have cycled over 6000 km, are now in Kathmandu, Nepal and on route to our second international border crossing.

Our route so far has been shaped by the schools, research centres, communities and projects that are involved, active and interested in the fields that motivated us to embark on this project.

The purpose of our project GoodBye By Bicycle, in collaboration with the Green Silk Road (https://www.thegreensilkroad.com), is to engage in a knowledge exchange, to learn more and raise awareness about:

conservation of native species - biodiversity,

re- & afforestation,

sustainable construction, lifestyles and practices.

We have visited over 30 projects (organic farms, reforestation projects, forest restoration, urban forests, sustainable fashion and upcycling initiatives, wildlife sanctuaries, wildlife rescue centres, research stations, educational communities and experiments, rainwater harvesting projects, vocational skills centres and more) and over 20 schools, across 9 states.

We are sharing our lived experience of Auroville (a UNESCO-backed project of living sustainability and human unity: https://auroville.media/what-is-auroville/), one of the world's biggest examples of afforestation, along with what we have learned through our work with the Treehouse Community (http://www.treehousecommunity.net), TreeCare India (https://treecareindia.com/about-us/) and what we are learning through this project.

Our approach to sharing and gathering knowledge is focused on storytelling and theatre, alongside taking part in local practices of sustainability.

Currently we are documenting our experiences, as well as the network we are building, through our social media presence. We have plans to share this on other platforms once we have completed this journey. GoodBye By Bicycle.

The choice to travel by bicycle is in line with the Green Silk Road mission to reduce our carbon emissions through ecologically-conscious travel and to set a pace which will allow us to experience the local realities and the human relationship to our environment.

Where next?

We had planned to travel through Pakistan and Iran to reach Turkey. However, with the current political situation, we are now looking at alternative routes. We have travelled from India to Nepal, will travel through Tibet, to mainland China from where we aim to cross to Kazakhstan, along the Caspian Sea (with a transit visa through a small section of Russia), to reach Georgia and from there travel into Turkey on the planned route to Europe.

We are raising funds to finance the next phase of our journey.

Our bicycles, Schnuck's trailer and our gear have been well tried and tested. In terms of gear we are set for the following countries and next steps of our journey.

While on the road we sleep in our tent, which we carry with us and when in cities we are hosted by the schools and projects we visit and by new and old friends who offer us a place to stay in their homes, so we do not spend on accommodation.

This means our main expenditure is:

food,

visas and the cost of agents,

public transport,

hiring guides to cross borders and traverse territory around border areas.

Our aim is to travel overland all the way from India to Italy, taking into consideration the political and social contexts of the time and with a focus on our safety.

We are in need of sponsorship and financial support to succeed in our mission to travel overland and to reach projects, communities and schools across the different countries we traverse, to learn more and to raise awareness about the themes that drive us.

We hope that the experience, research and knowledge we gather and share along this journey will become a valuable resource for overland, sustainable travel and inspire, motivate and add to a culture of creative, sustainable practices.

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Ciao,

Siamo Lili e Aire, una coppia impegnata nella costruzione di case sugli alberi e appassionata di arboricoltura e treeclimbing. Proveniamo rispettivamente dall´India (Auroville, con radici tedesche) e dall´Italia (Val Belluna); saremo accompagnati dalla nostra cagnolina indiana Schnuck.

A gennaio 2024 inizieremo un viaggio in bicicletta per connettere i nostri luoghi di origine (Auroville - Rasai) in circa 8 mesi di viaggio.

Questo progetto, in collaborazione con la Green Silk Road (https://www.thegreensilkroad.com), ha lo scopo di ricercare e condividere saperi e conoscenze riguardanti la riforestazione/afforestazione, l´edilizia sostenibile e la conservazione di specie autoctone.

Porteremo con noi la nostra esperienza di vita ad Auroville (un progetto sull´unità umana e sul vivere sostenibile, sostenuto dall´UNESCO, https://auroville.media/what-is-auroville/), unita alle conoscenze acquisite lavorando con TreeHouse Community (http://www.treehousecommunity.net) e TreeCare India (https://treecareindia.com/about-us/).

Attraverseremo l´India da sud-est a nord-ovest, passeremo per l`Iran per poi entrare in Europa dalla Turchia, con meta finale l´Italia. Il nostro tragitto sarà guidato dalle scuole, comunità, centri di ricerca e progetti coinvolti ed attivi nei nostri campi d´interesse.

La scelta di spostarsi in bicicletta è in linea con lo scopo della Green Silk Road di ridurre le emissioni di CO2 attraverso uno stile di viaggio più cosciente e consapevole; ci permetterà inoltre di apprezzare a pieno le realtà locali e il loro rapporto con la natura.

Condivideremo le nostre esperienze ed il nostro sapere attraverso rappresentazioni teatrali e il racconto di storie, così come prenderemo parte a progetti e pratiche locali di vita sostenibile.

- RACCOLTA FONDI -

Questa raccolta fondi ha lo scopo di aiutarci a coprire le spese generiche del viaggio (cibo per noi e Schnuck, pernottamenti, visti turistici ecc.) e quelle per l'equipaggiamento (biciclette, attrezzatura da bici e campeggio).

Speriamo che l'esperienza, la ricerca e il sapere accumulato lungo la strada possano diventare una risorsa per altri viaggiatori nonché ispirare, motivare e arricchire la cultura delle pratiche sostenibili.