A Family Bike Trip with 23 Nights with Warmshowers Hosts
We recently returned from an 11-week family bike trip through Korea and Japan with our 4 and 5-year-old daughters, and our love affair with Warmshowers is stronger than ever. During our family bike trip we stayed with 9 Warmshowers hosts for a total of 23 nights, and it was a true highlight of the trip for our whole family.
We had hosts who biked out to greet us and one who accompanied us 10 miles in the rain just for fun. We had hosts who wowed the kids with magic tricks and gifted them their own props to take home. One host surprised us at our stealth campsite 20 km outside of town and then deftly guided us through the city traffic to his lovely apartment.
Another host welcomed us just before the super-typhoon hit and insisted we spend 4 nights with them to wait out the storm, during which they entertained our kids with origami and hours of cat’s cradle. We tagged along on a house-hunting adventure in rural Korea with another couple and went to a hip rooftop flea market in Seoul with our first hosts of the trip. We were inspired by several hosts who took multi-year bike trips, and we were grateful for all the insights we got into Korean and Japanese culture.
Route Planning a Family Bike Trip with Warmshowers in Mind
As we often have, we planned our route around where we could find hosts, this time with our two young children in tow. We sometimes showed up muddy and wet, we often showed up a little bit cranky (well, 2 of us anyway), we always showed up smelly, and every single time we were warmly welcomed. We had such a close connection with our first hosts in Seoul that they booked a flight to meet us on Jeju Island a month later. Despite a typhoon that shortened their trip to less than 24 hours and required multiple trips to the airport, they still came to join us. We spent a very rainy day wandering around together, and it remains a highlight of our trip.
We returned home with a heap of amazing memories and a renewed commitment to hosting every cyclist we can.
~Maya