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What do you do when your extended family is going on a river cruise, and you want to be with them but hate cruises? You take your Bike Friday pakiT folding travel bike and ride along the cruise route, self-guided, self-contained, and unsupported, and you meet them in cities along the way from Budapest, Hungary to Nuremberg, Germany. When I arrived in Budapest after more than 20 hours of traveling, I squeezed into the micro-elevator to the 3rd floor Airbnb apartment where I would stay for a few days while exploring Budapest. After 45 minutes of unpacking and assembly of my 16-inch-wheeled bike and six hours of sleep, I was ready to join life in the local time zone. In the morning, I took the bike case to a nearby post office. Despite no common language between us, the postal worker and I completed the shipping form and I forked over 10,784 Hungarian Forints (approximately $42.00 USD/$35 EUR) to ship the case to Nuremberg where I would end of my trip. When I met my family at the cruise port, my 85-year old aunt couldn’t believe I was going to ride “those little wheels” and keep up with the cruise ship to meet them in Bratislava, Melk, Linz, and Passau. After confirming meeting plans, I headed out of Budapest for my 101 km ride to Esztergom, Hungary. Along the route I encountered city streets, bike paths, busy roadways, and farm roads. Late that afternoon, I took a wrong turn on a dirt farm road just before the village of Esztergom while running out of daylight. A young family stopped to help when they saw me standing beleaguered at a three-way gravel intersection. They threw me and my bike in the back of their pickup with the mom and their dog and dropped me off on the bike path where I should have been. Conversing in broken English, German, and Hungarian, I learned that wild boars would have found my legs tasty if I had stayed in that rural area past dusk. Esztergom to Győr, Hungary was a long 84 km ride mostly on sand, gravel, and pebbles. It was a hot and challenging day where fields of sunflowers and soybeans were my constant companions. The 80.5 km route from Győr to Bratislava, Slovakia the next day was filled with bumps and root heaves that made me appreciate all the lifts and jumps we practice in indoor cycling classes at the YMCA. While riding along the Danube River in historic Melk in the picturesque Wachau Valley, I caught up to my family’s cruise ship waving at them as I rode by! “You’re here,” my family shouted as I pulled up beside them outside of Dom St. Stephan in Passau, Germany, just in time join them for the noon concert of the world’s largest pipe organ. Sitting on the cathedral’s marble floor I enjoyed the cooling tiles and the bass vibrations, both welcome after a long day in the saddle. Upon arriving in Nuremberg, I was thrilled when the hotel clerk wheeled my red suitcase out from behind the front desk. After nearly 600 km over ten days across 4 countries, I celebrated an excellent adventure with a seat in the shade and six small Nuremberg sausages grilled to perfection with weinsauerkraut and kartuffel salat and a dunkel beer in the world’s oldest bratwurst restaurant in the world. So, can a great little city bike go on big adventure? Jawohl! Ten Lessons I Learned from My Solo Adventure: 1. You’re never lost when you are on a bicycle. 2. Hydration is more important than you think. 3. Stop and smell the flowers and take pictures with them. 4. Don’t be in a hurry while riding on gravel or loose sand. 5. Always wear your rear-view mirror. 6. Keep your headlights and taillights charged; you’ll need them. 7. Don’t forget sunscreen on your ears. 8. Get a good night’s sleep every day. 9. Look for remarkable things when the route is not remarkable. 10. You and your bike can do amazing things when you work together.