Brit on 14,000 cycle across world trained by working for Deliveroo
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
True Love on Two Wheels? What Happens When You Motorcycle Around the World With Someone You Just Met on a Dating App
In Sept. 2017, Heather Lea stepped off her BMW G 650 GS in Magadan, Russia, the final stop in a 58,247-mile motorcycle ride through 40 countries. Seven years later, her book about the journey will soon be released, detailing the trials and rewards of embarking on the trip with a man she had started dating only 27 days prior. By all accounts, Lea's life has been one of well-weighed risk versus reward. She says she's 'more inclined to whimsically agree to stuff and then worry about it later,' a way of living that has taken her solo backpacking in Africa and cycling from Paris to Istanbul. Her 2-year motorcycle trip around the world was born in the same way: a serendipitous match on a dating app and a suggestion to ride down to Patagonia — and then keep going. Lea sat down with GearJunkie to chat about the experience, including an excerpt from the book below. 'Riding Full Circle': Excerpt I follow Dave down the dirt track we came up last night, and out onto the logging road, where the morning sun lights up the dust disturbed by his rear tire. We come to a junction and Dave turns left. After crossing a bridge over the St. Joe's River we're back on the Idaho Backcountry Discovery Route. As soon as we hit the double track made for all-terrain vehicles, Dave's off like a flash. He's the only person I know who speeds up when he sees a dirt road, whether he's in a 4×4 truck, or on two wheels. I ride carefully. Ahead on the trail I see two boulders as large as woodstoves that I'll need to squeeze through, but I'm concerned about my hard-case panniers fixed onto luggage racks on both sides of my bike. Am I too wide to fit between them? Slowing to twenty-five miles an hour, I look where I want to go. Just when I think I'm past the rocks, an abrupt impact slams into my body and my motorcycle starts veering out of control. I take in the Ponderosa pines above me, the river to my right, and the ditch on my left. Look where you want to go. Half a second later, I'm stuck under my motorcycle, where it has come to rest in a pine-cone scattered gully. My brain elbows through the last few minutes of memory. I was off-center and hit one of the boulders with the hard aluminum pannier on my right side. The collision was so jarring, it sent me into the ditch. Sound comes flooding back to my ears once the white noise of alarm has quieted. I hear the river and listen for Dave. No sign of my boyfriend. Even his dust has settled on the track ahead, which follows a curved line of deciduous trees dropping golden leaves to the ground. If the stars were aligned any different, I'd be face down in the St. Joe's river right now. Luckily, I'd swerved left instead of right, toward the ditch, not the drop off. A gulping cry-laugh bursts from my mouth. Shit! When Dave suggested we ride our motorcycles around the world, one of my biggest fears was crashing. Now, less than two weeks into a two-year adventure, I'd done just that. Finding my point-and-shoot camera in the tank bag strapped between my handlebars, I walk up the trail for a good perspective of the accident scene. In 20-plus years as a freelance writer, I know a good story is nothing without photos. Snapping off a couple shots, I return to zip the camera back into my bag. It's then a searing pain shoots into my wrist at the base of my right thumb. Adrenaline—nature's morphine—is clearing out and boiling blood rushes up and down my arm. Dizzy and frantic, I sit, cradling my hand. Please don't be broken, please don't be broken. It's September 25, 2015—my 41st birthday. Author Interview: Heather Lea Lea: I had been online dating for about a year and went into my account to actually shut it down because of too many weird experiences. That was when I saw Dave as one of my 'matches.' His profile was different from any of the others I had seen, so I decided to send him an email. And then 27 days into dating, Dave suggested we ride motorcycles to Patagonia together. I said yes before he even finished the question. Yes, and Dave didn't even have a motorcycle yet, but he always wanted one. I hadn't considered getting into long-distance riding until Dave suggested it. We were in his room looking at a big world map, and he said, 'If we're going to ride to Patagonia, why don't we just keep going?' We planned the trip for over a year. We wanted to wait until we took off-roading courses, and I wanted to learn Russian and Spanish, but if we waited for all that to happen, we never would have gone. We actually ended up leaving in September 2015, a year earlier than planned. It started when I was 12 years old. My dad had a motorcycle, and it always scared the shit out of me. But he was selling his bike, and said, 'This is your last chance to ride,' so I went with him. I was blown away and thought, 'This is amazing. I love this feeling!' But my mom worked in emergency rooms, and because I was a 'good daughter,' I put off getting a bike and just had that one ride until later in life. When I was turning 40, I decided I wanted to do something really cool for my birthday, so I learned how to ride. My dad had another motorcycle at that point, and I thought he and I would ride around together and maybe take some trips. But I really loved going out on forest roads and camping, so I knew I needed a different bike than the Harley cruiser-style bike my dad had. After passing my license, I got a Kawasaki Super Sherpa, and then eventually a BMW G 650 GS. The trip began in Revelstoke, British Columbia, in September 2015. I ended up crashing my bike 1,000 miles into the trip and breaking my wrist, which caused a 3-month delay. After that, I met Dave in Arizona, and we were in Mexico by December 2015. By April 2016, we had traveled from Mexico down to the southernmost road accessible point in the world in Ushuaia, Argentina. In May 2016, we went back to Canada and then rode to the Yukon and Alaska. After that, we had to go back home until January of 2017 to wait for our Russian visas, because you can't leave your country without a passport. Finally, in February 2017, we flew ourselves and the bikes to Cape Town, South Africa, and traveled up through Lesotho, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, and Kenya. In May, we headed for Europe and rode from Scotland to Ukraine. By June 2017, we were in Russia, and dipped down into Kazakhstan and Mongolia before ending the trip in Magadan, Russia. In 2016, we rode through 15 countries. and in 2017. we rode through 25 countries, totaling 58,247 miles. Dave sold his house, and I sold my business. We really wanted to not have strong ties to anything back at home that might be distracting. After talking to some other long-distance moto travelers, we budgeted about $75,000 total for the trip. Which equals about $18,000 per person per year, or $100 per day. Some days we blew through that, especially when we did off-bike excursions, like boating around the Galapagos Islands or hiking up volcanoes. I fell off my bike 2 weeks into the trip, and I broke my wrist. It felt like such a big deal because I'd been getting all these comments online, mostly from men, about how my bike — the G 650 GS — was too big for me. So, in my head, I'm thinking, 'Everyone was right. I'm too weak to muscle this bike. I can't even get 500 miles from my house. How am I going to get around the world?' I had to go home for 3 months until it healed. Dave stayed out and did some riding on his own, and then I met him in Arizona, where my motorcycle had been trailered to. The first time I got back on my bike after the hiatus, I was scared shitless. What if it happened again? What if this time, I broke my leg, or worse? I didn't want to just stick to paved roads, but that was where I felt safest. Riding off-road terrified me, but the places we wanted to go — mountains, beaches, Baja, Mongolia — none of those were paved. I had to dig deep and basically become an entirely different person who didn't care what people said and could control my inner thoughts about fear and failure. It was a huge challenge. I am clear in my book Riding Full Circle: What the World Taught Me About Motorcycles, Risk, and Someone I Barely Knew that my relationship with Dave was rocky in the beginning. I felt he resented me for taking 3 months away from our trip to heal a broken bone. He felt like I was too stuck in fear to advance in my riding. I was so slow, he often had to wait for me to catch up, and I felt like he was too fast for my comfort level. At times, I wished he were more sympathetic, but eventually, the road ahead helped us start accepting each other. We had to if we wanted to achieve this goal together. Along with the incredible scenery and places we got to see, the top highlights of our entire trip were the people we met. When I broke my wrist, an older couple whom we'd just met for a few minutes at a gas station in Idaho invited us to stay on their ranch for part of my recuperation. More than once, we were given free fuel from people at gas stations who heard what we were doing and offered to fill our tanks. People who had no clue who we were offered to let us stay in their homes. It seemed every time we were having a bad day, someone would come out of nowhere with such genuine kindness and make us smile. You just don't get that in everyday life at home. I wanted to write a book that told the truth about traveling as a new couple doing something extremely hard but also beautiful together. Riding Full Circle was what we called ourselves online for social media. Originally, it was because we were going to start in Revelstoke, British Columbia, and end up back there 2 years later, completing a circle of sorts. But after I got home and started writing this book, I realized the trip had brought me full circle back to myself. A self that — at the beginning of the trip, with all the insecurities that come from dating someone new and dealing with extreme physical and mental challenges — started to get lost. But because of those experiences, at the end of 2 years, she was back and stronger than ever. You do not need to even like motorcycles to enjoy this book. There's far more to it than that. Anyone with a partner will resonate with the experiences we had on the road while getting to know each other, both the good and the bad times. Riding Full Circle was successfully crowdfunded and will be released soon. Reserve your copy at The Best Motorcycle Helmets of 2025 Solve the daily Crossword
Bloomberg
5 hours ago
- Bloomberg
Why A380s Are Becoming an Expensive Headache for Airlines
Good morning, it's Ainslie here in chilly Sydney. The US and China finished their first day of trade talks in Stockholm overnight. But first... Today's must-reads: • Airlines' A380 dilemma • Thailand, Cambodia ceasefire • Wall Street's growing grip on Bitcoin The world's largest commercial passenger jet, the Airbus SE A380, enjoyed an unexpected resurgence hauling full loads of passengers when global travel rebounded after the pandemic. But keeping the ageing superjumbo safely airborne is becoming an increasingly expensive headache for airlines. Read more here.
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
Rugby fan's huge airport surprise after landing in Sydney: 'Surreal'
When rugby superfan Lawrence Hanlin flew into Sydney from Gibraltar as the British & Irish Lions Tour of Australia got underway, he was in for the surprise of his life at the airport. There, waiting to take him to his hotel was his own private chauffeur, in the form of Wallabies legend and former captain Michael Hooper. 'Opening the door to such a legendary rugby player was surreal,' Lawrence, a former rugby player turned referee, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. 'He was incredibly friendly and genuine, which made the experience even better. We chatted about my lifelong passion for rugby - over 45 years now!' The pair exchanged banter about the classic rivalry between the Lions and Australia, and Lawrence was in for even more shocks once he arrived at the InterContinental Sydney, his chosen hotel for the stay. Not only were other top players there to greet him, namely British & Irish Lions players Andrew Porter, Tommy Freeman and Finn Russell, but he also got a signed Lions jersey, something he describes as 'the cherry on top'. RELATED: 🥬 Alternative to Coles, Woolworths saving shoppers up at $720 a year: 'Secret weapon' 🩲 'Favourite' Aussie brand slashes prices by 30 per cent: 'Available in XS to 2XL' 💄 Aussie brand's 'near perfect' dupe of $70 cult product wows for half the price Benefits and perks of IHG One Rewards So just why did Lawrence get such VIP treatment during his Sydney trip? He's a member of IHG One Rewards - the hotel chain's global loyalty program - and by just signing up for free, you're in with a chance of scoring some serious perks. 'The IHG One Rewards program is all about creating memorable, money-can't-buy experiences for our guests around the world,' Dean Jones, Vice President, Commercial, East Asia & Pacific (EAPAC), tells Yahoo Lifestyle. 'As the Official Hotel Partner of the Qatar Airways British & Irish Lions Tour, we wanted to recognise one of our members in a way that felt truly personal and once-in-a-lifetime. 'From the moment Lawrence stepped out of the airport to the final surprise in his room, you could see how much the entire experience meant to him, and we're so pleased to be able to create moments like this for our guests.' But while Lawrence's experience took a 'bit of coordination behind the scenes' to pull off, Dean explains that anyone who signs up to join the rewards program can reap a whole host of benefits - some of which can save you some serious cash. Upgrades and sports events for members 'Members earn points every time they stay across our portfolio of 20 brands, and those points can be redeemed for perks, including hotel nights, upgrades, and increasingly, unforgettable experiences, such as Lions Tour tickets, access to fan zones and activations we've popped up on property and at stadiums during the tour,' Dean says. 'There are five loyalty tiers in total, and the more nights you stay in a year, the further you move up the tiers. 'Even at our starting tier as a Club Member, there are some great perks, including free Wi-Fi, access to member-only rates every time you book and late check-out on availability. It's designed to be simple to understand, flexible, and about giving members choice in how they earn and spend their points, so it's rewarding in the way you want it to be.' Indeed, over the last few months, IHG has been offering numerous exclusive perks and benefits to IHG One Rewards members in Australia and around the world. These include Platinum rugby tickets with a Captain's Run experience, the ultimate Lions Tour prize with flights and accommodation, signed merch and more. View this post on Instagram A post shared by IHG Hotels & Resorts (@ihghotels) Members start saving immediately To date, IHG One Rewards members have redeemed over eight million points for experiences – including Platinum tickets to the Sydney Test match, which sold out in just two minutes. 'The best way to stay across what's on offer is to join IHG One Rewards and keep an eye out for key offers on our IHG One Rewards Access platform, an exclusive benefit for members, where they can redeem points for unique experiences,' Dean explains. 'We're always adding and communicating new offers and once-in-a-lifetime packages, not just for sport fans, but across music, culture and entertainment.' IHG hotels include the luxe InterContinental Sydney and Double Bay, the Kimpton Margot Sydney, the Crowne Plaza Sydney Darling Harbour and the Hotel Indigo Sydney Potts Point. In Melbourne, they're behind Voco Melbourne Central, the Hotel Indigos on Little Collins and Flinders Lane, as well as the InterContinental Melbourne and two Crowne Plaza hotels. 'When you join IHG One Rewards, you automatically unlock a members-only rate. It's a simple way to start saving straight away,' Dean says. 'Plus, as members accrue points over time, they can be used to cover part or all of a future stay, or to save money with one of our many partners, including airlines and retailers.' Rewards program a 'no brainer' For Lawrence, becoming an IHG One Rewards member was a 'no brainer' as he travels extensively for work. 'It gives me access to extra perks and offers that really enhance my travel experience,' he tells Yahoo Lifestyle. 'The program adds genuine value for frequent travellers like me.' He describes the InterContinental Sydney as 'exceptional' and in his 'top five hotels worldwide'. And there's a good reason why he wanted this trip to be extra special. 'Having stayed at various hotels in Sydney before, I knew I wanted something central, with amazing views of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. This trip was extra special as I planned to propose to my partner on the bridge later in the week.' Indeed, Lawrence tells Yahoo Lifestyle that he did end up proposing and his partner said 'yes' - making this Australian getaway one to remember forever. To learn more about IHG One Rewards, click here.
