Meeting Matt In Almaty

We stayed with such a brilliant @warmshowers_org host recently.⁣

Matt (not pictured) was an Englishman living in Almaty, Kazakhstan. ⁣

He has completed his own world cycling tour and published a book of his adventures. This is impressive, but what left me more impressed was Matt’s full-on lifestyle. In the time we stayed in Matt’s home he’d managed to host 5 travellers, run half a marathon, play 2 football games and work his full time job as a teacher. I was exhausted just watching him dash in and out of the house between emails and sleep…and I thought I kept myself busy at home! ⁣

With his busy life style pulling him away from the home we were mostly left to our own devices. Matt opened his home entirely to travellers. It was such a pleasure to have a full kitchen with an oven!! Honestly we haven’t had access to an oven since Bulgaria!⁣

We stayed in Matts home with Laura and Pierre pictured. They were a French couple travelling by bicycle. They were an absolute joy! Laura spoiled us with her culinary delights – lasagne, homemade pizza and cookies! We ate so many cookies!⁣

In the evenings we relaxed together with board games and it’s the most “at home” feeling we’ve had for a long time.⁣

On our final night we returned Laura’s generosity by cooking for them, Matt and another traveller, Josh. I introduced them to the Sunday dinner, which we coincidently ate on Sunday!⁣ Cooking for French people … oh the pressure!

We’ve been dreaming about getting a place with an oven so we can have roasted chicken with potatoes. It was so good!

#warmshowers #roundtheworld #aroundtheworld #worldbycycling #worldcyclingtour #bikepacking #adventurebybike #cycletouring #cycleadventure