I did this when I lived in Münich–try to take a day trip every Friday to somewhere new and interesting. Fridays worked well because my collaborator had to take the train back home to her family that day, and museums, national parks, etc. were less busy on Fridays than on the weekend. So, I’m trying to continue the tradition during my residency in Berlin.
I literally hitched up the wagon for my outing to IKEA today. I brought Lucky, my folding World Tourist Bike Friday, to Germany with me packed in a standard Samsonite suitcase that can convert into a little trailer with an optional kit. I had done an overnight tour in Idaho with with this set-up, so I knew the trailer pulled well, but I hadn’t yet tried to run errands in a big city like Berlin with it. Berlin has fabulous bike infrastructure–with continuous, marked lanes and dedicated bike traffic signals all throughout town–so the 13km trip went very smoothly overall: it was raining, and I got a tiny bit of water inside the case on the way home, but I think it was because one of the latches wasn’t shut all the way–we’ll see the next time around. I’m hoping to be able to do a couple of longer tours while I’m in Europe–maybe one in Normandy and one in Ireland? We’ll see….
The Rookery 