On a sunny day in July, we were going around Helsinki and trying to find equipment for our (already started) challenge called 300. Usually, we have everything ready and packed properly before we start our challenges, but this time was different. We decided to cycle from Helsinki to Berlin with €300 each. Sounds easy, right? The difference is that we needed to buy bicycles, camping equipment (a tent, sleeping bags, sleeping mats), and food for the entire journey within this €300.
We both took a backpack, water bottle, personal hygiene stuff, clothes which we were wearing while starting the challenge, recording equipment and chargers, and beloved Selle San Marco saddle. We knew that in order to have a comfortable ride, we had to have a good saddle. We started from Helsinki and the first thing we needed to find were the bikes. We found one bike from the 80’s and one from the 90’s. The older bike was €40 and the newer one was €45. The rest of the equipment we found from Helsinki cost a total of 95€.
We started to cycle from Stockholm and attached plastic canisters with metal wires to our bikes. Those were working as our panniers. We found our "panniers" in the dumpster of a petrol station. We put our equipment to the panniers and swapped out the saddles for our own ones. We need to mention that both of our old bikes had Selle San Marco saddles (Peyman's bike had a 45 years old Selle saddle) which were pretty comfy indeed. But we love our 2 years old Selle San Marco saddles with cut-outs in the middle. We changed the saddles and gave the old saddles to a bicycle shop in Stockholm, so they will be used for some years to come.
After organizing and finding a place for everything on our bicycles, we started to cycle towards Berlin. The terrain in south Sweden is pretty flat and it is covered with beautiful forests and whey fields. We also named the route ”The Cherry Route” because the sides of the road were covered with cherry trees and we kept stopping and eating those cherries. It was like a moving cherry tasting. We highly recommend this route!
During the challenge, we had some rainy nights and got all the gear wet because our €16 tent didn’t keep water out so well. After this, we started to check the forecast very carefully in order to avoid tenting in open areas when it was supposed to rain. We found very good places to sleep for those rainy nights. Under the bridge has been the best option so far. The weather started to get better after a week. In Sweden, the highlight was in a small village called Gränna, where we ate the most delicious ice cream that we ever had in an Italian ice cream shop. It ate up 3 days of the budget but it was totally worth it. And sorry to say, even in Italy we haven't had such good ice cream.
In Sweden, Sailor’s rear tire's rim cracked in a way that needed a new wheel. Peyman fixed it first with duct tape but we got a new rim for free after three days of searching village bike groups, bike shops, and online groups. Peyman built a new wheel on the roadside and it was an interesting process because the spokes we had were not the correct length for the new rim. We also want to thank everyone who helped us to get the new wheel done, because of the help of people we could continue our challenge and stayed within our budget.
We cycled to Helsingborg and took a ferry across to Denmark. The terrain stayed flat in Denmark and it was super easy to cycle with our bikes. Peyman got a flat tire for the first time of this challenge but it was very easy to fix with our cheap fixing kit which we bought on our first day of the challenge. In Denmark, we discovered the world of dumpster diving. We didn’t have much money to buy food and we were counting every day whether we had money for a cucumber on our bread or not. But in Denmark, we found a lot of very good food from the market's dumpsters and when we asked the staff if it was okay to take food from their dumpster, it was always okay. We spent €2.75 each in Denmark. Unfortunately, cherries were not as present as they were in Sweden on this part of the journey, but we spotted very good plum trees in Denmark. And because of the money saving actions regarding the food, we still had more than €60 left each for Germany.
We took a ferry between Gedser and Rostock. So that’s how we arrived in Germany. Bye bye, dumpsters! In Germany dumpster diving is illegal and food is cheaper so we bought our food from grocery stores. There wasn’t much left of the route and we had a solid trust in our bikes so we started to buy coffee from cafes during our midday breaks. Germany is not as good for cyclists if you compare it with Sweden and Denmark, because roads for cyclists are not very well maintained. Often there are no bike lanes either but the closer you get to cities, bike lanes are in better shape.
After 24 days of challenge and spending €280 each, we reached Berlin. It was such an adventure and experience from wet sleeping bags to beautiful sunsets. We met so many people who wanted to help us by fixing our bikes and giving us food. We had delightful talks with such open minded and kind human beings. You could do this kind of adventure with more money and with better equipment but we wanted to show you what it looks like if you don’t have much money to start your adventure with.
And let me ask, which one do you think you’ll remember better: your all-inclusive holiday or entering Brandenburg port with your €40 bike from the 80's, after cycling with it from Helsinki in 24 days? Everyone can do their holidays how they want but don’t let the money stop you from experiencing adventures.
