It's All Ed Sheeran's Fault

July 16th - August 2nd, 2024

After returning to the States from our last motorcycle adventure in December of 2023, we didn’t anticipate returning to Europe quite so soon. Fortunately, we have one ginger-haired pop star to thank for this. Let me back up and explain…I am a shameless Ed Sheeran fan, and I have been trying to see him in concert for the past 10 years. One April afternoon while living in Amarillo, TX for my three-month PT travel contract, I pointed out to Brian that Ed was going to be performing in all of the places in Europe we had just been last summer - talk about poor timing. Apparently, this sparked an idea in Brian’s head, because when I got home from work that day, he proposed a plan (complete with an Excel spreadsheet) of how we could fly back to the motorcycles, ride to an Ed Sheeran concert, and continue on to Norway during the short weather window that Norway is rideable. Now I will pause right here and say that I am fully aware the last sentence is the epitome of privileged folly. Although we have saved a good bit of money from working and make it a point to live below our means to afford these trips, Brian and I acknowledge that we are extremely fortunate to have the lifestyle we have. Still, we are firm believers that life is short and health and longevity aren’t guaranteed, so we want to make the most of the time we have. Thus, before we knew it, we were leaving our over-packed storage unit with all of our belongings behind, and we were on a plane bound for Bulgaria! 

Three delayed flights and a two-hour car ride later, we were reunited with our motorcycles at Motocamp Bulgaria! We spent the next few days performing oil changes on the bikes, replacing my leaky water pump, replacing Brian’s clutch, and making new motocamp friends. 

Figuring out how to pack all of our camping gear. Feet for scale.

One of our new friends, a French guy from Australia named Didier, was heading in the same direction as us and had never ridden two of our favorite roads in Romania. We made plans to reconnect in a couple of days and spent another day getting the bikes ready to go. As always, prepping the bikes and packing took a little longer than planned, but we eventually hit the road and headed toward a ferry to cross the Danube River into Romania. 

It was an incredibly hot day, but with a few extra rest breaks to cool off in the shade, we made it to Pitești where our friend Didier was waiting. After some help from Google Translate to communicate with the older lady who ran the hotel we had booked, we were told our room had a plumbing issue and there was no running water and no other rooms available. Two peculiar, off-putting, and very insistent neighbors of the hotel overheard our conversation and offered to put us up in their “penthouse” but we politely declined. Everything else we saw online was double the price, so we decided to just roll up to a hotel six minutes down the road and see what price we could get in person. When we arrived, we were offered the room for half the online price and spent the evening listening to accordion music, drinking overpriced beer, and people-watching the wedding party that was happening in the hotel.

The next morning, we met back up with Didier and embarked on a two-day route to show him some of our favorite roads in Romania. Our first stop was the famous Transfagarasan. We were anxious to introduce him to our roadside grizzly bear friends from last year, and introduce him we did!

After a few closer-than-wanted interactions, we continued making our way up the pass, stopping for lunch at our favorite restaurant on the route. 

The views on the first side of the pass were stunning, but after crossing over to the other side we emerged into a giant opaque cloud. We quickly donned our rain layers and rode through a downpour before emerging into the sunshine near Motocamp Sibiu.

We had stayed at Motocamp Sibiu twice on our last trip and had become friends with the owner Doru. After dropping off our gear and catching up with Doru, we walked down the street to a local family-run restaurant. Every weekend, the family turns their backyard into a delicious restaurant for locals to enjoy and luckily we had arrived on a Sunday. After a nice dinner chatting with Didier, we met the owners of the restaurant - a lovely Romanian couple - who insisted we try some of their homemade brandy. What started as a small sample turned into a full-on tasting of every single brandy the owner had. We chatted and laughed as he poured us a comical number of shots for three people, insisting we try “just one more” every time. After multiple “one mores,” we said goodbye to our new friends and made the short walk back to the motocamp. We spent the evening chatting with some fellow moto travelers from Slovakia and Germany.

We had initially planned to stay only one night at Motocamp Sibiu, but after learning that the world’s toughest Hard Enduro Rally, the Red Bull Romaniacs, was happening in Sibiu in two days, we decided to extend our stay. The next morning we left our luggage behind and set off to show Didier another one of our favorite roads in Romania - the Transalpina. We had incredible weather as we took curve after curve through the Carpathian mountains.

After a tiring but rewarding day of riding, we spent the evening at motocamp chatting with a riding couple from France. 

The next morning we packed up our bikes, said goodbye to Doru and our new French Friends, and rode the 20 minutes into the town of Sibiu. Doru let us park our bikes in his garage in the city and then we walked to the center to watch the start of qualifying. We observed in awe as the riders skillfully navigated the course full of large tree trunks, tall ramps, tire jungles, and steep drop offs.

The main event began at 4:00 pm, but since Brian and I were already two days behind schedule to make it to the concert, we decided to press on and said goodbye to Didier. We rode to Oradea, a town near the border we had never heard of but quickly came to love. We admired the beautiful architecture at sunset and ate the best homemade pasta either of us had ever had.

The following morning we crossed the border into Hungary. We had contemplated going to Budapest, but every rider we met told us the ride to Budapest is flat and boring and they recommended we save Budapest for another time. We also knew Budapest is a place we would want to spend a few days exploring, but we didn’t have time for more than one night. So instead, we followed the route advice of the Slovakians we met at Motocamp Sibiu.

The day started off with a straight stretch of highway. While stopping for gas, a Hungarian man who spoke very little English approached us to comment on our foreign license plates. This was a common occurrence for us, but what wasn’t so common was what came out of his mouth next. After inquiring “Colorado?” he followed up with an enthusiastic “Casa Bonita!” - the Mexican restaurant in Colorado with a cliff diving show that was made famous by the TV show South Park. We nodded in confirmation and had a good laugh at the absurdity of his remark.

Back on the road, we continued our ride toward the city of Eger, passing some of Hungary’s ubiquitous cardboard cops.

We stopped for lunch at a small restaurant in the Valley of the Beautiful Woman and had fun trying to pronounce the names of the food. We ordered Vörösboros marhapörkölt (a beef stew in red wine) and Hortobágyi palacsinta (savory meat crepes), both of which were delicious! With our stomachs full, we rode into the city of Eger and admired its quaint city center before the afternoon heat pushed us back on the road. 

As we continued north, we entered the hills of Northern Hungary and the roads began to curve and flow through the countryside. We made one final stop in Hungary in the village of Hollókő, a well-preserved ethnographic village of the Palóc people, with traditional wooden architecture that is a testimony to rural life before the arrival of modern farming practices.

After Hollókő, we took the final stretch of road to the border of Slovakia. Per the recommendation of our new Slovakian friends, we stayed in Banská Bystrica, a city located on the Hron River and encircled by mountains. That evening, we walked the beautiful city streets and people-watched in the main square. 

The next morning, we continued north toward the Tatra Mountains which form the border between Slovakia and Poland. We stopped for lunch at the Strednica ski resort with a beautiful view overlooking the mountains and sampled the national dish of Slovakia - bryndzové halušky, which is potato dumplings topped with sheep cheese and fried bacon.

We admired the lush greenery as we wound our way through undulating roads and crossed into Poland.

Once in Poland, we made our way to Zakopane, a picturesque ski town in Southern Poland that reminded us of Vail, Colorado. Despite being a weekday during the off-season, the traffic and crowds were crazy; so after making a quick stop for ice cream, we fought our way through the traffic and continued north toward our destination for the day - Kraków. We managed to arrive during rush hour and were relieved when we finally made it to our hotel. That evening, we walked along the beautiful Vistula River and got dinner at a Nepalese restaurant.

After a good night’s rest, we set to exploring the city. Kraków, once the nation’s capital, is one of Poland’s oldest cities with over 1,000 years of history. It is full of stunning architecture and vibrant culture. Its well-preserved medieval core is centered around the iconic Rynek Glowny (Main Market Square) full of Gothic churches, Renaissance buildings, and cobbled streets. The Wawel Castle stands as a symbol of Poland’s royal heritage, while Kazimierz, the historic Jewish Quarter, offers a mix of traditional charm and trendy cafes.

Kraków also provides a somber reminder of the past. During WWII, Kraków was occupied by Nazi Germany, and Jewish people were forced out of their homes and into the Kraków Ghetto before many were deported to concentration camps such as the nearby Auschwitz-Birkenau.

With so much to see and learn, Brian started the day out at the Oskar Schindler Factory museum, immortalized by the movie Schindler’s List, while I opted to start by exploring the old Jewish quarter.

We met back up later in the afternoon for a free walking tour of the city. We learned that Kraków is one of the few Polish cities whose architecture was mostly unscathed by the war. We enjoyed taking in the stunning architecture surrounded by ample green spaces and a beautiful riverfront. Walking through this city steeped in history allowed us to feel the weight of the past while also appreciating the resilience of a city that has since blossomed into a cultural and intellectual hub.

That evening we had some highly-anticipated pierogies for dinner. They rivaled the Podracky pierogi recipe and we may or may not have eaten 30 of them between the two of us.

After a good night’s sleep from our food coma, we spent the morning doing some laundry, walking around the castle one last time, and trying some of Poland’s famous Pączkis (filled doughnuts), before packing the bikes up and hitting the road.

We wanted to make some progress toward the town where the Ed Sheeran concert was happening the following evening, so after gathering our laundry and loading up the bikes, we left Poland and crossed into the Czech Republic. We found a hotel in the beautiful city of Olomouc, just three and a half hours from the concert venue. We rode into the center of town and had dinner in the charming cobblestone square surrounded by pastel-colored buildings that matched the color of the sky with the setting sun. Brian tried a traditional Czech dish called svíčková: beef tenderloin in a savory sauce served with dumplings. With our appetites satiated, we rode back to our hotel and called it an early night.

We awoke bright and early the following morning, and I could not contain my excitement as we took the winding country roads toward the concert! The concert was at an outdoor venue in the small city of Hradec Králové. Even two months in advance when we were planning the trip, most of the hotels in the city were already booked or ridiculously expensive. We ended up finding an affordable room inside an 18th-century fortress (Josefov) 20 minutes north of the venue.

Fun and super random fact: every year this fortress hosts an open-air extreme metal festival and this sleepy fortress town is overrun with heavy metal fans.

This Ed Sheeran fan, however, could not have been happier that the concert day was finally here! After a quick lunch down the road, we both hopped on Brian’s bike (to avoid paying double for parking) and made our way to the event!

The venue was an outdoor fairground with multiple food stands and pre-concert activities. Brian was a good sport, following me as I eagerly zipped around just smiling and taking it all in. We sampled some Lángos, a deep-fried Hungarian flatbread that tasted like the savory version of an elephant ear, while we listened to the opening acts. Ewa Farna, A Polish-Czech pop-rock singer, and Callum Scott, an English pop singer, both put on a good show.

When it was announced that Ed Sheeran would be coming on shortly and the clock on the stage screen began to count down, I squealed with excitement! Brian and I had secured tickets in one of the grandstands surrounding the circular stage. It quickly became obvious, however, that anyone could go down into the general admission area close to the stage. So instead of taking our seats, we made our way up close to the front of the stage and I watched in disbelief as the concert I had been waiting 10 years to see began!

I’m pretty sure my smile never left my face for the next two hours as I bopped and danced along to the songs. Brian would later tell me that his favorite moment of the night was when I said: “Hold my purse, I need to jump!” Needless to say, it was an incredible and perfect night.

We got home from the concert around midnight. Knowing that our next day of riding would be the longest distance we had ever done, we decided to extend our stay in Josefov an extra night to sleep in and complete some tasks we had been putting off.

The following day we repacked all of our bags more strategically and finally attached our “USA” stickers to our plates. During our trip last year, we learned that a country sticker is required for our bikes to be legal in many of the EU countries. Since finding a USA sticker in Europe is difficult, we brought them with us this time.

The next morning we hit the road early to begin the 700-kilometer journey to Hamburg, Germany on mostly highway. The first half went by quickly and didn’t feel too bad, but as the day wore on and afternoon heat rolled in, the minutes seemed to slow and the ride felt never-ending. Although we were tired, the rush hour traffic in Hamburg was like a shot of caffeine, awakening all of our senses as we weaved our way through the traffic. When we finally arrived at our hotel, the street was blocked off by police and there were people in handcuffs. We aren’t sure exactly what happened, but it was some big altercation that involved multiple people and many onlookers. Brian politely asked a police woman if we could pass to get into our hotel. She mulled it over for a second and then agreed. We would come to learn that like any big city, Hamburg is an eclectic mix of vibes. The front glass window of the hotel where we stayed was like a human aquarium as that first arrest wasn’t the only drama we watched unfold on the streets during our stay.

We quickly unpacked the bikes and changed out of our riding gear as we had plans for the evening. Two friends we met in New Zealand last year, Mick and Jane, were in Europe on a motorcycle trip and had extended their stay in Hamburg an extra night so that we could see them. We went out to dinner and spent the evening chatting and laughing until midnight. Similar to New Zealand, they gave us some great advice on our route through Norway as they had just ridden through the country a month prior. It was so great to see them again, and we hope that our paths will continue to cross.

The next morning we had a 9:00 am appointment at the Triumph dealership to get a new front tire for Brian and a new rear tire for me. We then ran some errands around town, trying to make sure we had everything we needed before crossing into the much more expensive Scandinavian countries. We walked through the ritzier area of Hamburg along the river, before making our way back to our hotel.

That evening we had plans to meet up with a friend of a friend. Before flying to Europe, Brian had reached out to a guy on ADVrider (a motorcycle forum) who had posted about a recent trip to Norway. This guy, Zigy, happened to live in Boulder, CO and was generous enough to meet up with Brian and give him some route tips over coffee. Brian and Zigy quickly became friends, and Zigy insisted that we reach out to his friend in Hamburg if we found ourselves there on our trip. Fast forward a couple of months and Brian and I were standing outside a pizza shop introducing ourselves to Thomas and his girlfriend Dax. Thomas and Dax were absolutely delightful and we spent the evening laughing and exchanging stories. One of my favorite things about traveling is the people I meet along the way. Traveling has helped me to realize that the world is a small place and the majority of the people in it are good.

The following day we packed up the bikes and headed north into Denmark. We stayed just outside of Ribe, the oldest town in Denmark. Although we had only ridden three hours north, the shift in temperature was noticeable. We put on a few extra layers before walking through the cobbled streets of this small medieval town steeped in history.

That evening, we joined a free walking tour called the Night Watchman Tour. We were transported back in time as the watchman sang traditional songs and told local legends and dramatic stories about the history of Ribe as we followed him on his traditional rounds through the city. The tour was in both Danish and English, but we couldn’t help but chuckle when the Danish story was often five minutes long and the English version was about 30 seconds.

The next day we rode four hours north, eventually riding through the grassy dunes next to the North Sea.

We ended the day at a popular motorcycle spot near the top of Denmark called Biker’s Rest. Strangely, there weren’t too many other people at this biker-themed lodging, but we had some nice conversations with the few other riders there before doing some laundry and getting insulted by the washing machine.

"Slut" means “end” in Danish.

The following morning we would board the ferry to Norway and continue our journey through Scandinavia!

Cheers,

Brian and Erin