Learning through travel: How every bike ride becomes a story

There is something special about discovering a country by bike. You move slowly enough to notice the details, but far enough to feel that you are really traveling. You hear birds in the reeds. You smell the fields after rain. You feel the wind. Sometimes a little more than expected. And along the way, every village, canal, dike, and city street has a story to tell.

That idea is at the heart of this episode of the Boat Bike Tours podcast. Host Ennie speaks with Jeroen, one of our tour leaders, about learning through lifelong travel. Jeroen knows a thing or two about learning. Before joining Boat Bike Tours, he spent 42 years as a primary school teacher. Today, he brings that same patience, curiosity, and love of storytelling to guests from all over the world.

“I really like to talk with the guests about the things that they are seeing on the way,” he explains. Geography, nature, history, culture: for Jeroen, every route is full of moments that can help travelers understand a place more deeply.

From the classroom to the bike path

After more than four decades in education, Jeroen took early retirement. He had loved working with children, but the reports, meetings, and administration had become less appealing. So he asked himself: what comes next?

Travel had always been part of his life. Since his early twenties, he had used school holidays to explore the world. His bedroom wall still holds a map filled with flags marking the many countries he has visited. So becoming a tour leader felt like a natural next step.

At Boat Bike Tours, he found a way to combine travel, being outdoors, meeting people, and sharing knowledge. His background as a teacher turned out to be very useful. Standing in front of a group, giving a safety briefing, explaining the next day’s route, or answering questions all feel familiar to him.

As he says, he simply imagines he is standing in front of a class again. Only now, the classroom is a bike path, a ship’s lounge, a historic city center, or a quiet stop beside the water.

Why cycling teaches you more

Jeroen has traveled in many ways, but he sees cycling as one of the best ways to experience a country. Hiking allows you to discover a small area very closely. A car or bus can cover long distances quickly. Cycling sits beautifully in between.

On a bike, guests might ride 40 to 60 kilometers in a day. That is enough to move through different landscapes, towns, and regions, but not so fast that everything blurs together. You can stop. You can ask questions. You can feel the place around you.

“The big advantage of biking,” Jeroen says, “is that you not only see it, but you hear it, you smell it.” That full sensory experience is what makes bike travel so memorable.

Of course, cycling in the Netherlands comes with its own surprises. Many overseas guests arrive thinking that because the country is flat, it will be easy. Then they meet the Dutch wind. Jeroen laughs about guests who start with a regular bike and quickly decide that an e-bike might be a wise upgrade after all.

Flat does not always mean effortless. But with the right support, a good pace, and plenty of breaks, the ride becomes part of the adventure.

A living lesson in Dutch culture

What makes Jeroen’s tours stand out is the way he connects what guests see with the stories behind it. He studied geography, and he loves explaining how Dutch landscapes were formed. Peat, lakes, dikes, willow trees, polders: these are not just things to pass by. They are clues to how people have lived with water and land for centuries.

He might stop to explain why willow branches were once used for baskets, fuel, fences, or even the foundations of dikes. He might point out birds or plants that are typical of the region. Or he might introduce guests to something completely unexpected, like fierljeppen, the Frisian sport of pole jumping over water.

When his group passes a field used for the sport, he stops and asks guests what they think it is. Later, back on board, he shows them videos. It is a small moment, but exactly the kind of detail that turns a cycling day into a story guests remember.

The unexpected surprise

One of Jeroen’s favorite trips is the Tulip Tour, partly because the route passes close to his own home. When the group is nearby, he asks if they are willing to cycle an extra 300 meters for a surprise. And they usually are.

A little later, they arrive at his house, with a view over the lake and a garden full of more than 50 different kinds of daffodils, along with tulips. Guests sit on the terrace, drink coffee or tea, and take in a very personal piece of Dutch spring.

For many, it is unexpected. For Jeroen, it is simple hospitality. Why not share something beautiful?

That small detour says a lot about the Boat Bike Tours experience. The routes are carefully planned, but the human moments make them come alive.

Guests from all over the world

Jeroen often works with international groups. The Amsterdam–Bruges tour attracts many English-speaking guests from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The North Holland route, including Texel, is especially popular with German guests who enjoy the dunes, beaches, and island scenery.

When needed, Jeroen gives briefings in both English and German. His German is not perfect, he says, but he believes guests should receive important information in their own language whenever possible. That is especially true for safety briefings.

He also makes time to get to know people personally. Some guests travel because they have family roots in the Netherlands or Belgium. They may hope to visit a town where a grandparent or great-grandparent once lived. If it fits the route, Jeroen tries to help. In one case, he accompanied guests in Belgium to find the area connected to their family history. The house itself was gone, but the place still mattered.

Travel is not always about ticking off sights. Sometimes it is about standing somewhere and feeling connected.

Care, safety, and good advice

Being a tour leader also means being prepared when things go wrong. Jeroen recalls a serious moment on the North Tour when a guest collapsed during dinner. The crew acted quickly, a retired doctor on board helped, and the captain sailed toward the coast as fast as possible. The guest survived. It is a memory Jeroen will never forget.

That is why first aid training is refreshed every year. Guests may not notice that preparation when everything goes smoothly, but it matters.

Most challenges are much lighter. A guest once cycled into a shallow ditch and came out wet, muddy, and eventually laughing. Jeroen also sees how unfamiliar roundabouts, traffic lights, and narrow bike paths can be for guests who are not used to cycling in Europe.

His advice is practical: look ahead, keep a steady speed, pay attention, and remember that a home trainer is not the same as cycling through Amsterdam.

A journey that keeps teaching

For Jeroen, travel is lifelong learning. He teaches guests about the Netherlands and Belgium, but he also keeps learning himself. Preparing city walks has introduced him to places close to home that he barely knew before, such as Dordrecht and Alkmaar. Even after a lifetime in the Netherlands, there are still discoveries waiting.

That may be the real beauty of traveling by bike and boat. You do not need to rush from highlight to highlight. You can slow down, listen, ask, stop, and notice. With a good tour leader by your side, every ride becomes more than a route.

Inspired to start your own adventure?

To plan your own bike and boat adventure, call us at (203) 814-1249. You can also send an email to info@boatbiketours.com, if you prefer. Either way, we’ll be happy to help. And don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on our latest tours and special offers. We’d love to welcome you on board!