May 16, 2024 – the day has finally arrived: it’s time to begin the journey. As with every departure, though, not everything went as planned. I hadn’t even started the bike when I realized the turn signals were broken, and the relay had gone haywire, ticking like a heartbeat. Perhaps the bike was excited too. After saying goodbye to a few friends, I head towards Padua, where I meet more friends, then continue towards Trieste. There, I realize I’ve forgotten the power banks, but of course, it was inevitable to forget something. As evening falls, I still haven’t found a place to sleep. I find an abandoned house and park the bike, but the ground can’t hold, and the bike falls over. I try everything to get it back up, but nothing works. Luckily, someone comes to my aid, and together we manage to fix it. I set up my tent under the balcony to shelter from the rain and prepare for my first night on the road.

During my days in the Balkans, not much happened, but I visited some beautiful places, like Lake Bled, the Plitvice Lakes, and in Dubrovnik, where I met my dad, also traveling, but by bicycle. In Sarajevo, at the Ollywood campsite, I met some amazing people, including Andy, a guy from Cyprus who was working there. Talking to him, it was the first time I realized how lucky I am to have an Italian passport, something I would come to understand more deeply throughout the journey. After saying goodbye to Andy, I leave Bosnia and enter Montenegro, a breathtaking country. I cross the Durmitor National Park, an unforgettable landscape. In Montenegro, I meet Luis, another 21-year-old traveling with his Transalp towards Mongolia. We decide to share part of the road together until we reach Greece, where we stop at a hostel in Meteora for the night.