The Reaction

I want to tell you something about the reaction of people when I am telling about my trip.
While in Switzerland the reaction was mainly:
- “Cool!”
- “Such a long vacation!”
- “Vladivostok???”
- “Such an adventure!”
- “Isn’t it dangerous?”
- “You will be an alcoholic after.”
Here in Russia the main reaction is: Wide starring eyes, an open mouth and a very slow and unbelieving shaking of the head.
The second reaction is: “You are crazy!”
And the third reaction (which in the result is the same, just the people are more self-confident – but this is not a Sigmund blog here…) “You must be very brave.”

But on the other hand I had a very interesting conversation in Vladimir. I was waiting for my host on Ploshad Sobornaya, when this man walked up to me from behind (so he saw Ina’s number plate) and started to talk to me in English: “So you are from Switzerland?” I was first of all very surprised, that he spoke English, secondly I was surprised, he could tell from the number plate where I was from, because usually, they have no Idea. So I just nodded and said “Y-yes”. And the guy looked at Ina a little and then asked: “And you are going to Vladivostok?” Can you imagine how transparent I felt? You are somewhere 5000 km from home. This guy can not only tell where you are from but he also knows you are going some place another 9000 km from here!
I know this stuff happened to Ewen Mc Gregor, but he is an actor and he announced his trip a long time before he started it and I am just an unknown nobody. So I answered: “Well yes, this is the plan, but how do you know???” He said: “At this place with such a bike and so much gear – what else could it be…” I was wordless!