Sandrine Roy : Vol Biv & Freedom Unfiltered : A Human-Powered Odyssey By Paragliding, Biking & Sailing Around The Globe

Guest: what is up everyone welcome back to another episode of paragliding atlas and i know guilty as charged because i've been having way too much fun in the air to bring these episodes to you without fail but bygones are bygones and today we are back with a very special episode all about the topic of wall biv Now, a little bit of an introduction, which I'm sure many of you don't need, but still, for those listeners who are wondering, this term, vol-viv, comes from the French language, which combines two words, the first of which is quite simply vol, which means flight, and buvac, which means a temporary camp. And I think it's safe to say that

this practice is as old as the dream of human flight itself, at least in paragliders. Although don't quote me on that one, but here's the coolest twist about this. The adventure pilots in this discipline do not just chase distance or speed, but instead they get to chase freedom. Because VolBiv is all about stitching together days, weeks, or whatever timeline you're working with for flight harmonized with nature's embrace. It's raw, it's minimalistic, and most importantly, it's utterly liberating. So here's another cool thing about Volbev. I think it's more than just a discipline in the sport. It's some sort of a philosophy. The kind which is more or less a rebellion against the

modern day hustle. Some would say that it's a way to reconnect with nature, the sky, or maybe even your own resilience. Because the pilots who do this trust their skills to navigate some of the most unpredictable elements that the nature throws at them. So needless to say, it's not for the faint of heart, but for those who dare, I guess it's pure magic. And the reason why I gave you a little bit of a backstory behind this is because today's guest on this episode has turned this philosophy into her life's compass, I would say. Sandrine Roy is a French pilot that I happened to meet when I was flying in Birbilling in India. And one day I get to the takeoff and I see this small little tent by

the takeoff. One of our mutual friends introduced us to each other and one conversation led to another and soon she ended up telling me about her adventures where she is exploring the planet across continents, oceans and cultures using only her paraglider. a bicycle, and sometimes a sailboat. I mean, how cool is that to reduce the carbon footprint, you know? No planes, no cars, no shortcuts, just pure human power adventure. And in this episode, we dive deep into how Sandrine embodies the spirit of freedom, how she has used it to craft a life as untamed as the landscapes she explores. A quick disclaimer, because we recorded this out in the wild, so we have had to throttle the audio quite a

bit to kill the background noise, due to which you might hear a little bit of robotic tint here and there. But trust me, the stories more than make up for this. So without further ado, it's so good to be back, and I can't wait to keep this momentum rolling. And on that note, I would say, tune in, and I hope you like it.

Sandrine Roy, welcome to Body Lighting Atlas. How are you? Thank you. I'm good. Thank you very much. Thank you for having me here. It's really

Aninder: cool. Sandrine, you have been chasing adventures across the globe for quite a while now. Tell our listeners a little bit about you and what are

Guest: you up to? What's your mission? Right now, my mission is going back to France by bicycle. We started a big journey four and a half years ago by

Aninder: bicycle from my home, sailing across the ocean, cycling across the continent and flying as much as I can, but actually not so much. The rest was the goal, going from home to home, but with a full world tour in between without fuel cost or as less as possible. So basically what I can

Guest: see is your motivation is to reduce the carbon footprint. And there's a lot of sustainability angle in this journey that you embarked on. Yeah.

Aninder: It is one of the major points, but it's not the main point. The main point was to have this feeling of the land in your legs, in the sea, in your eyes, and just to see how big is the world by your self-power, not being jumped from one place to the other by a plane, like having this line continuous around the world. That's a major point. Was there a specific route that you had in plan or were you trying to make any kind of shapes with your

Guest: routes or was it like just go with the flow and see where life takes you when you embarked on this? Yeah, I had some points in mind like Manila, in

Aninder: Australia, like Nepal was one of my main goals. In Nepal, especially because my mom who passed away two years ago, she really wanted to be there. So I was there for her, but also for me. And on the itinerary for me was more like construction on the way, because at the beginning with COVID, it was hard to plan. I could plan only in Central America because everywhere else was closed. So I had to change my plans so many times. So yeah, the main itinerary is going on the floor, but I have some dots, some goals in between. Tell our listeners a little bit about how did this

Guest: whole concept come to your mind and what was the real motivation? As you shared, there are personal reasons and there are, of course, professional ones at all for some. But for you, what was it that kind of made you decide to embark on such a huge adventure and take it on by yourself? First, I didn't thought it would be such a huge adventure at the beginning. I really thought I would go for two or three years and

Aninder: maybe come back by plane. We start two people. So my last partner, who is also a paraglider, and yeah, we were going with the flow. So I didn't imagine to be five years after still in Bir, talking to you now. And the whole concept started like 10 years ago. I really wanted to go, yeah, full time around the world cycling and joining two big points. First idea was going Greenland to Antarctica, but it was a little bit too big adventure for first one. So I thought, okay, let's do just a world tour, maybe cycling. And later came up the idea to sail because I had a

flatmate, Landry, and he knew how to sail. He teach me. And then it makes sense at that point that I will combine the two. And I was reading the adventure of Olivier Perre, who is a paraglider, who did seven years world tour with his glider. And when I read this book, it was from like a kid. I should do that with my glider as well. And let's see how far I can go. What I'm understanding is that there are various reasons and various

Guest: motivations which allow you to propel and go in this direction. But how does someone start preparing for this? What is the mental process? What are the steps involved when you start thinking about this and you start visualizing this, eventually making it happen? I think you really need

Aninder: to be willing to do it, fully motivated. I haven't prepared much. I finished my PhD and 15 days after I left, I had my bicycle. I used to climb a lot in mountain, do alpine climbing, so I had all my ideas already. Yeah, I didn't plan that. You really need to be inside, deeply motivated. So

Guest: just believe in what I'm, like, manifestation. Sometimes, yeah, you just think about it. You dream about it. You dream of cycling across the

Aninder: Himalayas, across Tibet, across Nepal. So you make images in your mind. Yeah. I think it helps. I knew I would have to go through cold weather, high altitude or lower altitude, sea, so I had some idea what I should have on clothes, but then you... I've been changing clothes on the way because everything is ripped off. So you don't... I don't keep anything from France, just the bicycle. Everything here on me is from the urn. Ah, the glider. The paraglider. I was just about to mention that. Of course. I had to save. Okay. Yes. And money, regarding money, you have to save a lot. Yeah. That's the main point. Right. So I saved for five years to be able to not work for three years. And I bought this paraglider.

Actually, it's my partner who helped me to buy it. And yeah, and I work again in Australia to afford it. I founded it. Before I move on to the next

Guest: part of the show, tell us a little bit about visas and how hard is it transiting? Because of course, overland travels with such amount of luggage comes with its own responsibilities. So how does the paperwork look like and what can people trying to visualize this in their life expect when it comes to administrative tasks like this? If you decide to plan all the world tour before to go, you never leave home because it's a

Aninder: nightmare of paperwork. You have to plan each time two countries before. Now I already know how I do paperwork in Pakistan and Iran. I'm not quite sure about Iraq and Kuwait. I know it's easy because I already read some stuff, but I haven't prepared anything. It's each time like this I'm preparing. two countries in advance to be sure I'm at the right timing and I have the right paperwork. I also have a computer. It's not mandatory, but it makes paperwork easier. I know people date with their phone, but me, I prefer to do everything on my computer. So for me, I also have a French passport. It's completely unfair to everyone else in the world, but it's very easy. you almost never get rejected for unarrival

tourism visa. So each time at least you get one month Maybe not in Russia now. Yeah. This is not possible. We are, maybe they give us a transit like four or five days, but I'm not going to Russia. Yeah, it depends on our politics, geopolitics. With French passport is an open door and it's very unfair to everyone else. I'm lucky and I take advantage of that. Yeah, I think that's the most important part, realizing the potential

Guest: that you have and then utilizing it. That itself is quite nice. More power to you, I'd say, Sandrine. That's quite a way to live life. But tell our listeners a little bit about paragliding. How has paragliding looked for you in this tour so far and how much airtime and how many flights have you had? Don't talk about airtime because I will be far behind you and any pilots here. No, but we're just chasing adventures.

Aninder: It's not more about the pleasure of being in the air in a place where almost nobody has been. Sometimes I just, on cycling, I just spot a place and I say, okay, let's try to fly and boom, it works. And you spend... Okay, maybe you spend 10, 15 minutes in the air, but also then you land somewhere, nobody knows paragliding, so you broke the ice, everyone comes to you, you talk to the villager, and it creates the journey. So it's about seeing the world from up, having lots of pleasure flying, and also having contact with others. Here I've been flying maybe, I don't know, 100 sites around the world. But per year, I probably fly below 50 hours. Probably below 50 hours. Sometimes it's two minutes, sometimes

it's three hours. Let's say maximum two hours and a half. Yeah. Do you have a list of places that you can tell our listeners about that you have

Guest: been to? Yeah, I have a list, but I should update it on my website. I've been flying a lot in Central America, Costa Rica, In Nicaragua also, I

Aninder: really love to fly in Indonesia. I flew from Ridjani volcano. It's a small height, but it's actually an active volcano just in front of you. Once you are flying, the volcano El Fuego is erupting. You mean you can actually see the lava? Oh my God. Are you kidding me? No, it's true. It's very famous. I'm not the first one to flew there. It's famous. But it was one of my best flights of 2022 really. I can imagine flying over live. You keep distance horizontally. I think people try to do it over. Maybe there was one video, I think. But me, I kept my distance. I think with that

Guest: kind of heat, there must be a good thermal around that. Of course. Maybe it's your last ever. But yeah, last place, of course, it's beer. But

Aninder: previously beer was Nepal. I really enjoyed to fly in Langtang Valley and was very privileged to be flying over those seven southern meter mountains around you. Wow. I was flying just at five southern level, but it was mind-blowing from like I'm from the Alps. My thing is above four southern. Yeah. Just perfect. I can imagine the delight of Himalaya is quite nice in itself. It's a bit tricky for my wing as well. I was like in a washing machine all the time. I didn't know anything about aerodynamics in Himalaya, so I have to understand quickly how it works. It's very turbulent, very strong winds, quickly, and as soon as the sun gets up or the sun gets down, it changes so fast. It's very kind of

terrifying sometimes. It's quite brave of you to just go around the paraglider and explore the sites which are unknown to you. But that's

Guest: what I was coming to. How do you do the decision-making when you reach a new site where you said there are five minutes flights and there are 50 minutes flights and you have explored places where no paragliders have ever set before. So how does the decision-making look like when choosing a site and then eventually deciding to take off and land? What's the whole process around that? I think it's like every pilot when

Aninder: you are in a new place, you just sit for 15, 20 minutes, you look around, watch the landscape, try to have a map in your head of where is the flow going, air flow. If the wind is tipping in a good direction, if you are feeling If it's your scale of taking risks, if you're not too much over, the problem with bicycle is that you really want to fly because it has been a long time you didn't fly. So you push yourself each time. You're like, when will be the next time? It has been a month I haven't fly. So sometimes you push the risk a little bit over your capacity, over your

knowledge. But to me, I'm not a big risk taker. So usually it's okay. And then you wait, you validate in your head and then you go. And normally it works. Normally it works. You know, fingers crossed it stays like that. Sometimes there is things you haven't planned, haven't seen and it's too late. Then you have to manage it. So some of the most, do you have a discipline that you follow? Are you an acro pilot? Are you a hike and fly

Guest: pilot? Are you a cross country pilot or are you? I'm let's say a hike and fly pilot. At my place, I used to hike a southern metal fly and then go home

Aninder: or do another one. But I'm not a HD fly, neither, how do you say, acro. Let's talk about your equipment a little bit. What wing do you fly?

Guest: What's your harness? What does the gear look like? And how much does it weigh? Because you're on the world tour for quite a while. It has to be compact. I fly on a Skin 3P from Nivea. So I think 1.8 kilograms and it's unsheathed. You don't have the protection. Unsheathed. Yeah,

Aninder: unsheathed. And I have a harness from Cortel. It's a Cruyère 3. It's 300 grams. I have a rescue suit from Jeanne. I think it's about 800 grams. Plus the package, I think my whole setup is under three kilograms. And every gear I have is older than six years. So now I get a little bit old and not as performant as before, but I get as much as fun. That's what matters, I believe. So, if I remember it, good enough. And it fits, everything fits in one cycling bag of 24 liters. Shoes included, Gore-Tex included. So you're living the dream, aren't you? That's it.

Guest: When you're traveling with such light gear for six years, that's quite a long time for a pike and flag gear to be going through. I know. How do you maintain it? Do you have any challenges? Does it break? Do you have ripstop with you? Do I have to maintain it later? No, I can't maintain it.

Aninder: I have done zero checks on it. In France, we should do it every year. Lime, porosity check. Where should I do it? Maybe I could have done it in Australia, but it was also very expensive to do it there. I should have lived the glider for a month somewhere. So yeah, in France, you have to live it at least for three weeks to do the checks. You're not in France, so the rules don't apply here. Yeah. But so I haven't set it. I repack my rescue with help from a paraglider in Costa Rica, in Las Flores. He helped me to do all the folding because when I bought it was first time. I

think it's a triangle and I never fold a triangle. I think it's... You mean it's a Rogalo? What? Rogalo, like a steerable rescue or a square

Guest: rescue? I think it is triangle sail. I'm not sure. Okay. I'm not sure. But it was a new, a different one than I had before. So explain me how to fold

Aninder: it. That's the only maintenance I did. I flew on dunes, on sand dunes with my monosurface. It's so big. So I took off the small stand. You can't have a stand into it actually. Even if there is just one surface at the entrance, you have cells. So I just cleaned that. That's all. No maintenance almost. I feel sorry for my glider though. No, but come on. You're making your glider see the world from above in places that other

Guest: gliders won't even have a chance. So I think your glider is pretty lucky to have you as the owner. I put patches on the holes. Okay. Because we had

Aninder: one hole. Yeah. Harness, regarding harness, no maintenance as well. But it's very strong floor. Yeah. Portal quality is holding up well so

Guest: far. Yeah, it's good. It's good, really. Not a problem. Very light, very good. Fair enough. Where has your most amazing paragliding flight been so far on the trip? Because obviously 100 take-offs or more are quite a lot to choose from. But if you look at some of the highlights, the first

Aninder: two will be Langtang Valley from Tserkori. It's 5,000 and a few hundred meters. So you're talking about the country of Nepal? Yeah, Nepal. And from this volcano. Where is it really from? I can imagine. Okay, let's talk a little bit about the volcanic flight. How did the preparation

Guest: look like for that? And what did you do? I sailed to Lombok. I was skied around Katamaran. I skied the boat from Darwin to Lombok. Then when I

Aninder: arrived there, I heard there was a flying possible above the volcano. So I ran to scooter, went on the bottom of the hills, asked around guides if they know about paragliding. And suddenly someone came up, a really small pilot, like one meter and 50 centimeters. I was like, are you from here? And he said, yeah, it's actually freedom to fly on a journey. I was like, if you stop it when it's forbidden, you never fly. He said, okay, I will explain you some stuff and then tomorrow you can go. So we had a chat. I went hiking, slept on the edge of the volcano. It's below three

southern. And then you have a last hike in the morning at 4. And weather was not too bad. Took off and back to the beach 20 minutes after. Really was mind-blowing. You can see the ocean 360. Wow. So when he was telling that it's forbidden, that is just a general rule that if you ask the

Guest: authorities, it's forbidden everywhere. Correct. And if you just don't ask and do it, then that's the way to go. But why was it, like, how had the flights been over there earlier? Well, What was the paragliding landscape of Rinjan is what I'm trying to say. It's a bit tricky. It's a

Aninder: quarry slope for volcanic rocks. You know, it's rice fields. I see. And then, so you have different craters. You say caldera, no? Caldera or crater. So you have to go over them. I believe it's because there have been some accidents before. I think it was my friend's aunt or something. But yeah, for me, it was quite easy and straightforward. I had luck with the wind. I was just a little bit below the rotor from sea breeze, but for a few minutes was a bit turbulent, but then it was fine. The funny story about that flight is this small pilot, Anto, after i flew we had dinner together and he told me oh long time ago about 10 years ago a man came with his glider from france as well his name is olivier and i was

like are you kidding me did you speak about olivier per yeah and he said yeah and he's actually trying to send me glider now from france so olivier per she's the guy who wrote the book and make my journey in my mind about flying all over the world. And he met him before and I met him, I met Anto randomly. So all three were connected in Indonesia. Very funny story. Finally, I just gave him also lots of gliders from France, used glider with an association. We do exchange. to send recent used glider and we send them to new pilot or new school overseas. That's thanks to

Olivier who start that and I make it possible when I was there. I think we can put the link of that initiative in the show notes below. So if there's

Guest: anybody, one of our listeners who want to contribute, we can do the same on following footsteps of you and Olivier. I think recently Antoine

Aninder: Girard, who is also part of this association, he sent like 16 gliders in Pakistan. I'm aware of that. I think for the listeners who are

Guest: interested, Antoine has been on the show as one of the first guests. And the link to that foundation is there in the show notes for Antoine in Calgary. So if you're interested, just scroll up and you will find the details there. Sandrine, you've been on the road for quite a while and there are always two sides to a coin. One thing that I have seen from my end is that the real cost of chasing passion or something like this is quite different than your perception at times and it can surprise you. What have been the challenges on the road that you've encountered and what have been your mantra to overcome them and keep going basically? Yeah. My mantra was, go forward. In French, it's like, avance, avance.

Aninder: Because sometimes you get stuck somewhere because it's a very cool place. But also sometimes you have some obstacles in your life that make it very difficult to keep going. The major difficulty I had, I lost three siblings during this trip. I lost my grandmother, my stepdad, and my mother. In a row, one each year, 2021, 2022, 2026.

I'm lucky, 2024, no one. And I hope 2025, no one as well. I hope for a few years I'm good now. Also, I've been breaking, how do you say, separations with my partner, where I started FIP with. So you see, journey, this FIP, this word, it's not a vacation or holiday. It's life. It's become your life. And you have to assume that you are not at your home. You're far. You will not be there for marriage. You will not be there for seeing the kids of your friends. You will not be there for other people. So you really have to be really motivated. Yeah. So it's part of

Guest: life. It's part of the life. Yeah. Interesting. What do your days usually look like? How does life look like when you're chasing adventures like this? Because I'm sure there are days when you're just going out and covering distance. And then there are days when you're just sitting and absorbing whatever life is throwing at you. So how is the emotional rollercoaster around this? And just tell us a little bit about that aspect of traveling long-term. I have different type of days. I have cycling days, flying days, hiking, just chilling days.

Aninder: Like everyone, it's life. You cannot be cycling. Me, I cannot be cycling 300 days. So yeah, I have normal life. Just I spend my life on the bicycle. And regarding emotion, sometimes... You could get like full of adrenaline, super happy, and this gets for a week. In a few days, it's hard physically, hard mentally. You meet not so nice people. So it's up and down. It's really, it's up and down. Like your life, in your life as well, you have up and downs. And it's a bit more intense, I think. You get really high and sometimes really down. I can imagine. Do you ever find

Guest: different ways to keep yourself amused, like pass the time? Yeah. Seven hours on a bicycle, you need to pass a little bit of time. So I have

Aninder: podcasts, mostly podcasts, and I also listen to books, audio books. Sometimes I call my family when I'm cycling. And music, music, yeah, all the time. But mostly podcasts. That keeps me... Up to date as well of the geopolitics, what is happening in the world. You really have to be aware of the geopolitics around you if you want to cross the border. So you keep up to date what is happening in Pakistan, for instance, since six months, all the conflicts there. Yeah, so lots of podcasts. Let's talk about your support system a little bit, because being on a solo trip does

Guest: have its own challenges and rewards. So what is the support system that a person like you relies upon and what kind of keeps you protected and at peace, at least mentally? I think I don't have any kind of support. It's my own decision to make me feel safe. Like I decide myself if I want to camp

Aninder: or not. Yeah, I don't have any support from outside. Maybe I'm not understanding your question, but... Basically, if there is some sort

Guest: of anxiety or if there is some sort of danger, like what are your steps and how do you overcome those difficult phases? How do you just keep on going ahead with that? That is what you're asking. In the 27 countries I've crossed, I think the most dancers think is Nam. men yeah as a white woman i

Aninder: can imagine like that is quite a lot i've seen elephants i've seen panthers i've seen snake deadly snakes spiders scorpions but the worst thing was probably man if you look at you like a prey so that's where you start to be anxious i make this season to avoid nighttime cycling, to avoid weird place for camping. Like my friend, cycling friend, man, sometimes they sleep on the bench in the street. But me, if I do that, I don't know if I wake up the day after. I cannot handle that. So if I camp, I camp in the wild where nobody see me. and nobody will see me before i do the

camp i'm sure that i will be alone but if someone sees me then i have to move and go next to a family place so it's all those process of decision you have your guts feeling and i don't usually never go over it because i don't want to have a bad story do you have any sorts of weapons or any sort of defense mechanism like a pepper spray or I had a machete before when I crossed Central America and Australia into Indonesia. But in China, they didn't want me to keep the machete, so I had to leave it behind. Machete is like a big weapon, but it's just visible. So it's an effect

of... I don't know, placebo, kind of placebo. I don't use it to shit someone, but when you see the match on the side of the bicycle, it's a bit strange. I have a pepper spray, but I never use it. The main point is not putting yourself in such kind of situation. It will happen sometimes because you didn't expect it, a change, and the change happen, but I really try to avoid it. I don't know if I should be asking this, but what's

Guest: the most difficult phase of your travel so far that you've experienced? Just to put it on record, because we're deep diving into your adventure and I think it's only responsible of us to bring out the reality rather than just a good side or the other side. So if you're comfortable sharing, what are the biggest challenges that you've encountered so far? Definitely it will be when I have to come back in France to help my

Aninder: mother to die. That was the biggest challenge. And then to have the force, the power to come back exactly at the point I left my bicycle and do this trip, this takes so much energy out of you. But regarding the journey itself, when I was on a bicycle or hiking, I don't know because after that, everything looks easy. Yeah, I think the worst is when you lose someone very close and you have to keep going. I'm sorry for your

Guest: loss. It's like this. Everyone have to go through that. Mom normally passed away before you. So yeah, maybe it's a bit earlier, but that's it. Let's talk about the highlight. What's the most amazing memory and experience you've had on this trip so far? Sailing is a big surprise. I

Aninder: really love to sail. I spent almost six months. So for me it was lots of very good moments. The sailing and maybe flying in Nepal, in Himalaya and hiking. How do you call that? Mountaineering in a long time. One of my main goals. And when I reached it, I was like, wow, you did it by bicycle. You arrived there by bicycle. So it's a small thing. It's not an 8,000 climb, just 6,000. But by my own power, everything. So for me, it was inside like an explosion of joy. That's my main goal. Yeah, I think just the self-gratification is the purest form of fulfillment. Yeah, it was

like this. I was about to come to this topic that how do you manage your body and how do you basically physically prepare for this? Because

Guest: being on the road consistently and pushing yourself and biking for multiple days, endless kilometers, And then, of course, throwing in a bit of a hike and fly. The small niggles here and there in the muscles are pretty common, even in everyday life. But when you're out on the road and your diet is very different and the rest periods are very sporadic, how does a physical toll on body look like and how have you managed that so far? You really have to be more gentle with your body and doing a short trip. Even you go for two months in Himalaya, you really want to take

Aninder: benefit of every single day. But we have time. So if I need a week of rest, I take a week of rest. If I need to cycle only 40 kilometers, I cycle only 40 kilometers. I'm not following any ego stuff on doing 200 kilometers every day for four years. I'm not... ego-minded. I really want to keep my body functioning to keep my dream going. So sometimes I do 150 and the other I feel totally tired so I stop two days and I just swim in the lake. It's just my own decision. So for me keeping my body in a good shape is the priority. I think this resonates. Is there a free spirit culture in

Guest: France or something like that? Because I heard somebody say that usually the way of life in France is just be free and let everybody do what they want. Not everyone. Let's say not everyone. But in the mountains, in my place where I live, We really give everyone the freedom to do

Aninder: whatever they want. And no one has to tell you what you have to do. And we are very careful to keep our freedom. And it's something when I'm traveling as a woman and I see the few freedoms the women have over the world. I'm not speaking especially about India. But I feel how much, how big is my freedom. How lucky I am to feel it. I'm legitimate to have it and legitimate to contribute to it, while most of women don't see that. So yeah, we have this spirit in France. I think you're living it to the fullest and making the community proud by actually putting it to use. I

really want to keep it. It's something that makes me a bit worried going to Vegas. Because we will see my bicycle through deserts and all the women there, they are at home and they are not exposed. They have to go there. I have to respect it. I will never talk about politics because otherwise I could get in trouble. I wonder how I will react psychologically there. I don't know. Do you feel like you should bring

Guest: back your machete that the Chinese took away? No, I think it's another good idea. That's better than that. You have to keep this time and not

Aninder: getting in trouble. So I believe they are actually more open-minded than you think. They are aware of people doing that as well. But let's see. I've never been there. It will be my first time in the East and Africa. So I don't know. Where are your travels taking you next, and

Guest: which countries are you hitting? Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt. In Egypt, I have a boat, sailing boat. It brings me to

Aninder: Greece. Then Greece, I want to cycle to Albania. Albania, there is a little ferry connection to South Italy. In Italy, well, I'm at home. Alps is just above the head, and I'm going home in a month after. Months across Italy. In September, we arrive in...

Guest: So every one of our listeners who is going to Kruppekar can find you there and basically see you in person there. With my weird bicycle and my

Aninder: little glider. I hope I can still fly on that glider on that day. I will be there 16 September to 22 September in Saint-Hilaire, Quebec. And it will be good to see my friends there, family. Yeah, that will be quite nice, quite an experience to have the grand finale ending at an

Guest: adventure like Kufikar. But there is still some kilometer in between Bir and the Alps. Indeed, you're traversing from the Himalayas to the Alps. That's quite a... As I was saying yesterday, these are like bragging rights for life. You can tell about this to generations. I don't know, have you considered writing a book or starting a podcast? Maybe a book, yeah. Some sort of... I really have to compact all what I

Aninder: write for the last years. And I need to choose a good angle that would be interesting for someone else. I'm not yet there. At first, I will have to come back in France and calm down on the street. Just feel at home for once. Sleep on your own bed and have the comfort of having a home. It's nice to have a home. In a long time, no home. Yeah. But maybe a book. Probably a book. Podcast? No, I'm not good enough on doing that. I think

Guest: you're pretty good right now on Paragliding Atlas.

But where can our listeners follow you and how can they reach out to you if they want to and chase adventures? Mostly on Instagram. I think it's a

Aninder: more tenuous way to share my travel on stories. You will see what I'm doing if I got troubles or if I've got fun. It's like everyday stuff. Photography, I've got some on my website, some videos. If you want to see the long track since five years, the website is much easier. It's called awingtour.com and on Instagram, it's awingtour. Yeah, I think they'll put the link in the show notes. So anybody who's interested can just hit

Guest: the description box and figure out a way. But one thing I forgot to ask you, Sandrine, do you carry some sort of a tracking device like Garmin inReach or something or anything which basically shows people who care for you where you are at the moment? And if at all you need, you can hit the SOS button to just be secure. Yeah, I have a satellite gamma in reach. Yeah. But I don't, it's off right now, but I have my, I can send message

Aninder: through it. I cannot call. I use it at sea. Yeah, okay. To send GPS point to my family. Because before Starlink starts, I could not send message. Now we have Starlink on, so I can even text people. But I have this satellite one. Otherwise, it's WhatsApp with my family. Yeah. And do

Guest: you ever get into trouble taking GPS across borders because different countries have different jurisdictions and rules around them? So how does traveling with a garment look like? You have to hide it all the time. Not all the time and most of the time. I fold it in aluminum, fold and put it

Aninder: in my glider. And my glider is packed in my bicycle bag. So if the police want to see, they really have to take time to do it. And usually they are in a hurry. They don't want to open everything. I just get trouble in China through X-Ray at the border with Laos. And I explain and I show a photo of what I'm doing and then they understood why I need this and they let me in. But one day, maybe, I don't know, in Pakistan, Iran and all those places, maybe I will have to leave it behind. But it's a backup. It's not 100% necessary. How did the Chinese authorities get okay with it? Because I

explained that I'm a solo woman traveling, and if I have any big trouble where there is no network, I need a backup. And they understood. Did they

Guest: find you when it was hidden very well, or was it just on you? No, it was below the glider at that time. Okay. And they opened the two bags on the

Aninder: back, the two big ones, and they saw it. Yeah. But I was straightforward with them. Yeah. And they accepted it. Maybe I'm lucky as well on that. Apparently, some people, other cyclists, they took it. They cannot take it anymore, so it's in China. You need your gear there. But me, I was lucky. That's it. If there is no X-ray, usually they don't see it. Or if they are not so picky. Of course. Fair enough. Sandrine, before we wrap

Guest: up, just a quick revisiting. Which all countries have you been and in what order once you started from France, if you can just tell us. From

Aninder: France, south of France. So I started from the Alps, going south of France, then Palma de Mallorca, so Balear Island, Spain, Gibraltar, Canary Islands, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, the States. Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia, Tahiti, in between two and a half. Tahiti, Cook Islands, Samoa, Fiji, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, China, Tibet, Nepal, India. And going forward. And then there will be Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Greece, Albania, Italy, and the Alps. Friendships. God damn. What a life.

Guest: Oh my God. Crazy. Sometimes I don't realize that stuff. Yeah. Sandrine, I think with the adventures that you have been talking to us about, there's no one single podcast episode that can cover all of that. So I would say let's take a break for now and we can come back and revisit this at a later time in the year, probably after you have done the KUBI car thing and you have completed that because it's quite a lot to absorb and process and yeah. All I can say is you're an inspiration, so go ahead, keep rocking, keep living the life that you do. Thank you very much for

Aninder: your welcome to the NBF. It was amazing. The pilots were very friendly and their flight was amazing. I can't spend a life here exploring without doing twice the same stuff. It's just huge. Kashmir, Ladakh, all those mountains alone. Indeed. Thank you for your welcome. All the pilots here are so kind. It's not something always the case. Some pilots are very closed and they don't want to share their place. They don't want to share their landing or share their takeoff because you take over their business. But here, it's absolutely generous and kindness. It's very cool. Thank you very much. I'm so glad you love the Indian hospitality and everything that Himalayas has to offer. And I keep my

Guest: fingers crossed and wish the world is as you want it to be in time to come. So talk to you soon. Thank you.