I BIKED 7,000 MILES ACROSS AFRICA

HERE ARE THE 5 LIFE-CHANGING LESSONS I LEARNED ALONG THE WAY

- TEGAN PHILLIPS

"YOU WANT TO DO WHAT ON BICYCLES WITH MOM?"

When my dad first told me he wanted to do a yearlong bicycle trip through Africa, I wasn't sure I'd heard him correctly. He'd recently sold his IT company and, after years in the corporate world, was ready for a long break. My mom was in the middle of studying for a master's degree and hating it, so I suspected it wouldn't be too difficult for him to convince her to join. The break made sense, and the urge to travel wasn't a surprise, either-my parents loved exploring off the beaten track. But...on bicycles? I had never heard of cycle touring and absolutely could not get my mind around it.

"You'd have a car with you?"

"No, there are special bags we can attach to the bikes to carry some tents, and then you just ride and camp," my dad explained. "It's a very low-impact way to travel." Ah, his newfound interest in the environment. This was starting to make more sense.

"But what about security? And aren't there, like, lions and things?"

I sounded like some of the people we met when we traveled overseas: Upon finding out that we were from Cape Town, South Africa, they would pepper us with questions about pet lions. They always seemed disappointed when we described our suburban house and dogs and the industrial zones and shopping malls of our city. Now the one asking about lions was me.

"We'll deal with that when we get there," said my dad.