My name is Holger Meinck and I was born on the 24th of January 1977 in Cuxhaven/ Germany.

I have always been interested in traveling. When I was in school, every geography teacher had a nervous breakdown because of my knowledge of the world. But who the hell had to know the names of all capital city’s in South America? I think today I would put them in the corner with a dunces cap on... . Who knows how you develop yourself?
Some people who know me, twisted their eyes about my my travels or said:’ If somebody is doing it, then it’s Holger.” The best thing I heard from my mum as she met a friend in our hometown, he said:” He’s doing WHAT, well he was always bit strange!”
My first trip overseas led me to San Francisco and Los Angeles and I traveled with two friends. That is when I became infected with the travel bug. After a couple of years, I flew again for 2 weeks to San Francisco, this time alone and with my Mountainbike. The bike was just for cruisin’ around and not for travelling. The desire of a big trip grew larger and wanderlust became pretty persistent. 
After I finished my job as an Interior Designer, I did compulsory Service. After Military Service I started working for IKEA in Dortmund/Germany, but even at the interview I knew that I wanted to live my dream. I had one year to plan my cycling trip around the world. I spent this time in buying my equipment, reading travel books, and made two trips with my packed bike to my hometown Cuxhaven (300kms), planned my route, cancelled it and finally just wanted to let it go. You also can overplan your trip and things never happen according to plan.
My focus was on buying good equipment and insurance so I got a Health Insurance,- and had vaccinations against all kinds of tropical diseases. I prepared my travel pharmacy and bought equipment which I could trust.
In May 2000 I worked my last day, packed all my stuff together, packed up my flat and moved back to Cuxhaven. After I received my last equipment I said good bye to my family and friends and started out, at the age of 23, on the 11^th of June from my hometown Cuxhaven in my big adventure around the world.
Behind my back people made bets, that I would be back within a month. They didn’t believe that I would get past Italy.
I spent my 24^th birthday in India, near the Nepalese border - well, that was very close to Italy wasn’t it?
The postcards became more exotic and the longer I was on my trip the quieter were the critics. After a while it became clear that I was serious about my trip and that I took my life in my own hands and made my own decisions. It also became clear that I was on a cycling trip around the world.
When I was in Bangkok I had an offer to write articles for a local newspaper the Cuxhavener Nachrichten, this became one of my incomes. You have to finance a trip like this somehow! Also photography became one of my hobbies.
It may seem pretty cheap to travel by bicycle, but it is not. If you are travelling by bus, you can cover 500kms easily within 5-7 hours. With a bike it will take 5 days, weather-and street conditions not included!. So you need accommodation and food for 5 days, but you have the big advantage to see things with more time and also you are closer to teh “action”.
I choose the bike, because for me it is the ideal form of transportation. You are very close to action, have more contact to locals, feel the weather, smell the different smells and experience your own limits. Besides that it keeps you fit and it is easy to repair, IF you can get spare parts, but that is another story!
In my opinion, travelling is not a holiday and has nothing to do with staying on the beach and being serviced all the time.
 You are in a totally different country, with a different culture. You are dropped in the deep end, not knowing the language or how to get around or buy a train ticket or simply order a meal. In this environment you have to be culturally aware and try to respect their traditions and rituals as well as being open to new experiences. You risk your health because you are exposed to the traffic with their reckless drivers and not every country has got unleaded fuel! As a cyclist you are sometimes the lowest part of the food chain, but you have to get yourself through! Some cyclists have paid for trips with their lives, because they had accidents, got robbed or were just in dangerous area (with or without knowing it). You have to know the risks, some physical, some emotional and to be honest, saying good bye to people all the time became pretty hard.
Some people might think that I’m just a dreamer who is travelling in some fantasy world but believe me, that is far from the truth. To be honest I planned the practical aspects of the trip and read a lot about my destinations but I knew that the reality would be very different. If I had any illusions I was brought back to earth very quickly, sometimes in some very unpleasant situations. But at other times I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty of some places and the kindness of the people. 
Besides that you have got the get used to your “normal” life , when you go back home. In my opinion, you have to be braver to go back than to start a journey- people who traveled longer time, should know, what I am talking about.
To reach my daily goals, I usually woke up before sunrise, cycled the whole day and crawled in the night into my sleeping bag, dead tired. In the morning I pack my stuff again, and hop back on my saddle in every weather condition. Sometimes I was rewarded for my travels, when I got invitations from locals, or had magnificent views over panoramic landscapes.
To finance my trip, I work, mostly in “dumb” jobs, with crappy wages. Every cotton picker would feel like on holidays!
 Because I don’t smoke and drink and always try to camp, I can also save a bit of money.
“Why the hell you are doing it, if it’s all so stressful?” people might ask. The answer is pretty simple: even if I have a daily routine and plan a lot, one thing I have for certain, and that is freedom, adventure and experiences without limits. You are free in your decisions, can do whatever you want, experience different exotic cultures and get a much more wider point of view, a feeling which is highly addictive!