We are early. The following is small and growing, and we would rather say so than dress it up. What we can promise is nineteen months of daily material from 20 countries, and a story that is already travelling further than we are.
Euro Weekly News wrote about Samuel on 17 August 2026, and their editor is coming to the departure himself. Katadyn came on board first, with the water filter and the cooking gear, and Kryptonite followed with the locks.
Samuel puts in his training kilometres on his own bike, most days after school. It was not built for twenty thousand kilometres, but it is his and he rides it.
Two second hand touring bikes are lined up for October, one for each parent. What has not been bought is almost everything that goes on them: the panniers, the tent, the spare parts and the camera that will film 56 shelters.
Katadyn said yes first, and sent the water filter, the pans and the stove. Kryptonite sent the locks. Water, cooking and keeping three bikes where we left them are solved. The rest of the list is not.
The filming has already started. Before a single kilometre had been ridden, Samuel walked into a shelter in Málaga and filmed his first dog. Her name is Pandora, she has three legs and she is still waiting for a home. That is what the next 56 look like.
We are going either way. On 15 November we leave Málaga with whatever we have managed to gather by then. That was never in question.
The only question is what we leave with. Whether we sleep in a tent that keeps the rain out. Whether the spare parts are already in the panniers when something breaks in the mountains. And whether Samuel rides the next twenty thousand kilometres on a bike that was actually built for it.
A family trip, not a company. No packages and no contracts. If you make any of this, you already have what we are looking for. You send it, we ride it for nineteen months across 20 countries, and it ends up in every photo and film because it is what we are living on.
Ideally everything is here by 1 October 2026, so there is time to fit it and test it before we leave. And partial help counts. A tent you send is a tent we do not have to buy, and a discount is help too.
We had planned electric bikes. Then we found out that lithium batteries above 160 Wh are not allowed on passenger aircraft at all, and this route has three flights in it. Shipping them as dangerous goods costs hundreds of euros each time and days of waiting on the other side.
So it became ordinary touring bikes. Harder for Samuel. A great deal simpler for whoever helps us. No export licence, no dangerous goods declaration, no dealer network needed in Asia. A bike in a box, shipped once, and that is the end of the logistics.
It also means that when the bike comes back after 20,235 kilometres, everything that held up and everything that did not is down to the frame, the wheels and the parts. Not to a motor.
Somebody reading that list is going to recognise one line of it as something sitting in their warehouse right now. If that is you, this is what you can expect from us in return.
We will use it and we will say where it came from. Your gear ends up in the films, the photos and the stories simply because it is what we are riding, wearing and sleeping in every day.
We will send you real feedback, in writing. Most people promise this and few actually do it. If something holds up for 20,235 kilometres across 20 countries, that is worth knowing, and you are welcome to use it. If it falls apart in Cambodia, you will hear that too, first and privately.
What we cannot promise is a fixed schedule. We will post from the road most days, because that part is quick and it fits around the riding. But some stretches have no signal at all, and then it has to wait until the next town. Nobody is going to sit in a tent chasing a deadline. We would rather say that now than let you down later.
That list is only what we could think of. You know your own trade far better than we do. A workshop along the route that could look the bikes over. A night's stay on the way. Help with a visa. A shelter you know that sits on the road we are already taking.
If you have an idea that is not here, we would love to hear it.
Not everyone has a warehouse full of tents. If you simply like what this boy is doing and want him to make it to the other side of the world, you can help with that too. Ferries, visas, food and a safe place to sleep are the costs that never stop.
Every donation goes through GoFundMe and is covered by their Giving Guarantee. Managed by Wendy Dirksen Hermans on behalf of Samuel Cycles the World. This is a private family journey, not a company or a registered charity.