Latest / Wander the World with Pippa Hudson / Wander the World: Motorcyclist travels from Cyprus to Cape Town

Transcript

Wander the World: Motorcyclist travels from Cyprus to Cape Town · Wander the World with Pippa Hudson

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Live wealth here in terms of experience and of sharing,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: and of exposure to new countries and new places and
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: new cultures. That's what's today's travel story is all about.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: I want to catch up with an adventurer who recently
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: completed a forty three thousand kilometer road trip that ended
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: right here in Cape Town. His name is Nikos Leonitis,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: and he although he was born and raised in America,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: his cultural heritage through his mother is from the island
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: of Cypress, which he has actually called home since twenty sixteen.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: So what made him leave America and move to Cyprus,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: and then leave Cypress at the age of thirty nine
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: and set off on a Yamaha scooter in search of adventure.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: We're going to find out as we welcome Nikos on
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: the line. He's joining us by a zoom this afternoon,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: having already left Cape Town. I'm sorry we didn't get
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: to do this in person, Nikos, but welcome to the show.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: No worries, thank you. I'll believe you can hear.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: Me, all right, Yeah, we're hearing you loud and kire
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: not true here, okay.
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: Great, good, well, thanks for having me today. It's a
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: shame I'm not there in person. But maybe when I
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: get back we can do something else as well.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: That sounds like a good show. Thank you so much
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: for making time to chat to us. Nichol was born
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: and raised in America initially, But did you always feel
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: a strong sense of being tied culturally to Cypress.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: Yes?
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: Yes, so most of our families from Cypress, and we
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: spent all our years, our summers there and battling back
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: and forth.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: So we had a deep rooted heritage there as well.
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: And you know, in America everything is kind of a
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: mixed part anyway, so people struggle to find it entities
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: where they can. So it's nice to have a little
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: bit of heritage when you're growing up in the US.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, what made you decide to move to Cypress in
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: twenty sixteen? Was it about exploring your roots, to being
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: with family or just needing a change of perspective?
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: Well, actually, actually I have South Africa to blame a
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: little bit for my travels because up until up until
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: around twenty fifteen, I had never done any traveling really
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: other than going to Cypress and Greece and maybe to
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: Canada or something like that.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: I had done the same thing every year my whole life.
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: But then I have a friend that lives here in
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: Cape Town and he actually invited me to his wedding
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: and we were a big group, but international group of
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: about thirty forty people. And like I said, up until then,
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: every year the same setting in Cyprus. And then I
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: came to South Africa, which is completely different to anything
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: I've ever done. And I said, oh, what have I
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: been doing this whole time, my whole life, just going
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: to the same place every year, which is beautiful. I
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: love I love Cypress, I love our island, but I
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: see something completely different and then I have to blame
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: you guys, because of that trip.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Then I couldn't stop traveling. So I went all over.
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: Asia, Europe and South America and all kinds of places,
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: and so ever since visiting Cape Town in twenty fifteen,
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: I've just continued traveling.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: I love it, and I've cut the bug from coming here.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: Wall Well, I'm sorry for the sickness we gave you,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: but it's a very nice one to stuffer problem, though
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: it's a very expensive one to supper from. Because I mean, okay,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: so you start traveling and you you go exploring the
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: world all over the place, But when did you start
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: playing with the idea of the kind of trip you've
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: just finished off getting on a motorcycle and driving the
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: entire length of Africa, and not just that, you did
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: a whole section of southern Europe first before you headed
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: into Africa.
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: What what what where did that take route?
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: So growing growing up in the States, you know, everybody
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: drives cars. There, there's some people drive motorbikes, and maybe
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: there were more warm climates and just for the summer,
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: but it's not like a primary way of transportation. So
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: I was I was barely interested in cars, let alone
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: motorbikes most of my life. But one of my trips
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: to Southeast Asia, specifically Vietnam, there they have you know,
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: motor scooters and motorbikes and people, so that's kind of
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: the culture there and starting traveling.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: A big trip people do is usually either from the
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: north or the.
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: South to the opposite direction, and they'll they'll buy a
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: scooter for maybe a few hundred euros and then they'll
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: they'll sell it and then and then continue on their travels.
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: So that's where that kind of started for me. It
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: gives you kind of a sense of freedom, maybe in
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: a different way than like a car or a vehicle
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: can because you're you're more likee you're more compact and
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: you can just go wherever you want. And really, so
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: that kind of started, and I did a lot of
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: trips all over Southeast Asia with my motorbikes. There. I
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: must have bought like four or five different ones. And
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: then originally my plan was to ride from Asia to Europe,
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: but then COVID happened and that was very difficult to
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: do and there was a lot of civil unrest in
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: a lot of the countries where I was trying to pass.
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: So I kind of scrapped that whole plan, and I
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: decided later I'll do it the other direction.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: And so originally I.
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: Was going to ride all the way to India from Cyprus,
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: but things didn't.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: Work out as well as I plan and the timing.
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: I didn't want to get stuck through Turkey and Iran
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: in the winter, so I just stided, you know what,
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: I've got a lot of friends in South Africa.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: I'll do that direction instead. But I didn't realize how
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: what a big.
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: Commitment that would be, because you know, the continent of
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: Africa is very big, gain it's very massive, very diverse,
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: and it's not easy like Southeast Asia or Europe.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: It's not a very easy trip. There's a lot of
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: people who do it.
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: But I didn't realize what I was signing up to,
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: which is maybe a good thing, because I might have
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: not done if I was going to say I knew
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: how challenging it would have been.
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, just for anybody who's.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: That's basically how I got start.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Okay, just for anyone who's coming in midway to this conversation.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: And Nicos leonsis speaking to us. Sorry, I think I
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: gave you an extra syllable at the beginning there, but
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: it's Nicos leonsis He recently finished a forty three thousand
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: kilometer motorbike ride.
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: He started in Cyprus.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: He made his way through a few parts of Europe first,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: but then traversed the entire length of the continent of Africa,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: ending up in Cape Town just a couple of weeks ago.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: And okay, so let's talk about the how you managed
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: to do this, Nichols, Because it's one thing to have
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: the dream and have the courage to undertake the unknown
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: and set off on the open road. But it costs
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: money to travel. Visas cost money, You've got to pay
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: for accommodation and food along the way. You've got to
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: pay for petrol or diesel, whatever it is that goes
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: into the bike along the way, and you are doing
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: this while not going into an office working earning a
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: salary every day. I know that the nature of your
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: work does help in this case, but tell us a
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: little bit of how you were actually able to fund
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: a truck like this.
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: Well, I would be lying if I said everything was easier.
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: But I do have some savings which helps that I
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: rely on. But I try to be as simple as
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: basic as I can. Traveling really doesn't have to be
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: expensive if you don't want it to be. So I
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: the way I travel, which maybe a lot of people
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: wouldn't like, it's very basic. And I also volunteer, so
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: a lot of my expenses are covered, such as accommodation
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: and meals and things because I go very slow and
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: I try I visit schools, I visit farms, and I
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: visit all kinds of associations as well, So that cuts
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: a big expense out. But even with that, you know,
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: Africa was probably more expensive than some trips I've done
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: in Europe.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Really, Oh dear, the zoom line just wobbling a little
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: bit there. I hope we can get Nichos back again. Apologies,
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: let me just recap while we try and re establish
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: that connection. Sorry, Nichos, were just we struggling to hear
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: you on this side. I'm going to teach you back
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: to my producer to see if we can just maybe
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: drop and restart the zoom line, which might be the
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: best option here. And while we do then, in the background,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: let me just recap for anybody who's come in midway,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: our guest Nicos has just completed a forty three thousand
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: kilometer motorbike ride across the length of Africa. In fact,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: he left Cyprus, he traveled through Greece, through some of
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: the former Yugoslav countries, across France to Spain and Portugal,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: and then made his way down through Morocco into Africa
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: and down, excuse me, down the rest of the continent,
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: ending up here in South Africa and specifically in Cape
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Town just a couple of weeks ago. And as he's
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: been explaining to us in the background, part of what
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: made that possible was his commitment to the idea of volunteering.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: If you've ever heard of the concept of the platform
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: work away, which encourages people to travel and work at
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: the same time. And for example, you can visit and
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: stay on a farm and part of your commitment is
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: to do some hours of labor on the farm in
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: exchange for your accommodation.
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: That's the kind of concept that.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Nikos applied to this trip and it got into all
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: kinds of unusual volunteering opportunities. Nichos, before we talk about
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: the challenges along the way, share with us a couple
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: of examples of the I mean the jobs. When I
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: looked looked at the list of things you had done
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: as part of the volunteering on this trip, it ranged from,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: as you said, visiting schools, helping out on farms, helping
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: out at wedding receptions. Tell us a bit more about
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: some of the most memorable jobs you did.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so through Europe.
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: Probably one of the most memorable was in Italy, in
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: the north of Italy that we went to. It was
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: the seventeenth century villa where there was a count living there.
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: He had narrated it through his family and he basically
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: turned the whole place it was like a mansion, into
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: a wedding venue. So every weekend in the summer he
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: would have all kinds of international weddings, and we were
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: like a team of three or four and we would
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: just help anything anything you can imagine, anything needed to
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: be done or prepared for the events. And then there
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: was other ones such as farms.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: Yoga retreats, all kinds of everything you can imagine.
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: Really, and then in Africa it did get a little
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: bit more difficult because sometimes the concept is a little
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: bit borran, you know, and it starts to become a
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: little financial. So the more and more south I was going,
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: the more difficult it would get to find something that
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: same kind of concept. In Morocco, I did a lot
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: of nice ones, in the Gambia, in Senegal, even in
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: Kotevoir in Ghana, it was it was amazing.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: Mostly was at schools.
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: But then sometimes it gets a little bit of a
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: financial aspect where you're you know, because some of these
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: places are very impoverished and the funds are not so
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: readily available as in Europe, and so sometimes there gets
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: an expectation of financial exchange, which kind of defeats the purpose.
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: So towards the end of.
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: West Africa, I did a little bit less and I
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: was just more focusing to get here, and then when
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: you get to Namibia and South Africa, the concept starts
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: to exist again.
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: And there's a lot of a lot of options here
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: even in South Africa and projects you can join and
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: all kinds of things. But yeah, in parts of West
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: Africa specifically like Cameroon, Congo, it kind of just disappears.
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: And it's also a challenging places to travel as well.
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: So that's that's mostly, that's mostly how I travel.
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Okay, let's talk about some of those challenges.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, you just said a few minutes ago that
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: it's probably a good thing you didn't know what you
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: were getting yourself in for, because you might not have left.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: What were some of the biggest challenges you faced along
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: the way.
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: Well, the number one thing that would have stopped me
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: from even leaving Europe I probably would have turned around
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: if I knew is the visas alone. Now for South Africa,
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: I think it's much easier for you guys to travel
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: through Africa with the visas and things, but of course.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: Abroad is difficult for you guys.
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: So I kind of got a feeling of what you
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: guys feel like in the other direction. So I think
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: all in total, from leaving Morocco until here, here's like
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: the first free visa I've gotten in the whole trip.
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: The rest I had to pay every country, and it
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: was probably more than two thousand euros in visas alone.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: And if someone told me the minute I left.
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: Morocco, you're going to pay two thousand euros just to
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: across the land, I probably would have turned away. But
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: I'm glad I.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: Didn't research that part because it was worth it in
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: the end.
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: You know, it was slow travel, so it kind of
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: wasn't one big deal all of us.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: But what about mechanical breakdowns?
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: I mean, Keith asking, did you know much?
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Did you did you do any training on how to
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: fix the black before you left?
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: And did you have any issues along the way.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: So I learned a lot on the road.
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: So, like like I was telling you, I learned to
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: write in Vietnam and Thailand, and that's there. They have
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: more boat motorbikes than people. They have more mechanics. Then
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: you guys have coffee shops and wineries, you know, So
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: you don't need to know anything. You just need to
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: know how to ride. And in Asia you're okay.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: But here's a different situation here.
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: I think if I had a little bit more mechanical
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: inclined to knowledge, I would have been a lot better.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: Unfortunately, I learned a lot on a road what I need.
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: How the bike I learned, every single part is from
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: all the problems I had and my bike specifically. I
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: think you guys sell it here, but there was maybe
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: just two or three countries in the whole trip that
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: actually had this model. So it was very hard to
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: get service because people didn't understand it and sometimes they
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: don't have parts available. I would get people to help
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: me bring parts from Europe or from Asia, and yeah,
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: that was the most difficult and probably most expensive part,
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: just because also the roads are so different than anything
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: you guys have here and anything we have in Europe
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: or Asia.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: It's a real challenge.
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: I think any vehicle, and you know there's hundreds and
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: hundreds of people doing this kind of trip every year,
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: from any vehicle you can imagine, from toyotas to land cruisers,
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: to motorbikes to even bicycles.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: And I didn't meet a single person.
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: I must have met at least one hundred people all
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: doing overland trips, and I didn't meet a single person
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: who didn't have a breakdown. So West Africa is a challenge.
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: So it doesn't matter what vehicle you have, you will
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: have issues. But I don't want to pretend I did
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: this all by myself. You know, there's a lot of
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: people out there YouTubers and blog rows or whatever. But
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: we have a big community, actually an overland community, and
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: we all support each other. We share information, and so
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: many people have brought me parts. I'm kind of infamous
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: in our little community of all my breakdowns and everything,
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: and so many people have brought me things, brought me
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: a new clutch, brought me all kinds of arts and things,
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: and we help each other, so there's no way I
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: couldn't have done this alone. I really want to give
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: them their props because this community. We all networked, and
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: there's a another group on Facebook for West Africa travelers
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: as well, and we all share information and help each
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: other on the road.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: And it's really yeah, this is the trip that you
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: can do on your own. You need help, you need
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: the community, You need people.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: What about the communities you moved through along the way,
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: Because when you look back on the experience, any highlights
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: for us any particular places where you were received with
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: such warmth that it really touched you, or conversely where
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: you had a terrible experience.
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: You know, I really keep reinforcing the idea of there's
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: not a place in the world you can go you
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: don't fall in love with something. So every country I went,
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: I was very Africans in general have a very warm
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: spirit and welcoming and people have been very hospitable. Probably
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: one of my highlights was in the Gambia because the
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: first border crossing I had was in Senegal, and that
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: it was a kind of an infamous border for a
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: lot of corruption and difficulties, but then you get in
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: to the country and that people are actually beautiful. So
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: I never liked to hold the people accountable for how
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: their borderies.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: Borders can be quite difficult.
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: I think they're separate from the country, but it was
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: a very challenging border.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: It took me about six hours to cross.
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: And I was with another writer as well, and they
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: wanted a lot of money and things, And at that
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: point I thought, you know, maybe I'm not cut out
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: for this trip. Maybe I advertised a little bit too
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: challenging for me. Maybe I'll turn around. But then I
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: ended up in the Gambia. I was volunteering at a
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: farm there and it was a local woman. She had
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: a farm, she had a lot of initiatives, nature conservation, all.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: This kind of things.
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: She had a women's football team that she managed, and
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: she had just decided to open up a guesthouse, so
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: she was on booking and her first guest was a
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: young man from the Czech Republic and he stayed two
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: nights and then he ended up staying two months. And
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: when that's when I arrived, and she had he had
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: no money, he had no passport. The guy was about
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: twenty five twenty six and he was in a wheelchair
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: as well. So his story this could take like two
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: hours to tell it all, but basically his story was
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: quite complicated and he was there and they didn't have
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: any heart to throw him out, which he was stuck
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: in the country it turned out for like two years.
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: So anyways, to make it a short story between me
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: and her and also her neighbor, which was a pastor
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: from Nigeria, we tried to find a solution and we
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: made a lot of videos online about his.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: Story and everything.
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: We ended up brazing over two thousand euros to get
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: him that kid to go home, also get a new
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: pathport and as well compensate. And the woman because she
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: had fed him and sheltered him for two months without
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: any payment or anything in return.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: So it was a very positive story. And it was
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: interesting because.
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: You know, the woman, she's a Muslim woman.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: The neighbor he was a pastor, and me a Greek said.
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: We were all different religions, all different ethnicities and everything.
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: I think the boy even he was Jewish, so we
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: were all different people. We were working together just to
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: solve a problem, and it was a beautiful thing.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: And that's what really motivated me to keep continuing the trip.
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: And it was funny timing because that was actually the
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: point where I was like, well, coo cool.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: Oh dear, the zoom line seems to be dropping on us,
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: on us again, but look, I mean, Nikos the one
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: amazing story.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: I believe and started, so it was it.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: I'm so sorry we just lost the zoom line again there.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: And I'm also looking at the clock taking away from us,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: so I'm gonna have to wrap the interview there with
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: profound regret that we don't have another hour to listen
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: to Niicos, because we've only got as far as the
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Gambia and we still have to cover all the round
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: all the way through the Capeton to finish the trip
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: many months later. If you want to read up more
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: about his experience, you are googling. If you just google
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: Nikos forty three thousand kilometers Cyprus, you'll easily find some
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: of the media articles about his trip, or find your
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: way to his own Facebook page where he has covered
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: much of the adventure, where you can see some of
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: the photographs and read up a little bit more about
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: the stories of the people he met along the way. Nickos,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: it's been a pleasure to have you on the show today,
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: and I'm sorry that we haven't been able to have
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: you on for longer to hear more of the adventures
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: on the road. But thanks for weiting our appetite for
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: the road as you've done, and we wish you all
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: the best for your onward journey from here. It's been
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: a huge pleasure to have you on the show this afternoon.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: Nikos Leontis speaking to us about his trip all the
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: way from Cyprus to Cape Town.