Have I really taken a month to blog about a short trip? Definitely, because school has been intense. But I should have expected this because most MBA programmes take around two years to complete but my course lasts for ten months. So anyhow, I really, really wanted to write about this ebike tour my friends and I took.

But before that, I want to talk about the ebike tour that we didn’t take. When I first heard that there would be one free day in Bled, my first thought was to book a tour so that I could take in the sights without having to do research on which sights to take in. I quickly found an “all inclusive e-bike tour” on GetYourGuide that seemed perfect – we’d get to see Vintar Gorge, Bled Castle, and have a Bled cake. Our only concern was whether we’d all be able to fit into the same tour group, since four of us booked separately. So when my friend inquired about that, she found out that yes, we’d be in the same tour, and also, many of the attractions listed in the tour (some of which had ticket fees that were to be included) were closed. We spent about a week or so after that trying to get an updated itinerary but was met with radio silence from the group. GetYourGuide was pretty responsive but even they couldn’t get anything. And since we had zero idea of what the actual tour was going to be like, we cancelled.

Lesson learnt: booking through a platform can be a good thing if they have a decent refund policy, and you should always check to see if certain places are open if you’re going in the off-peak season.

Luckily, I found another tour, this time on Airbnb! This tour, organised by Pr1mo Tours (link to their website) was slightly shorter and cheaper and most importantly, was responsive. We managed to confirm that everything on the itinerary was doable and Primo even suggested moving up the meeting time so we could get more daylight.

So the day of the tour came and we had a blast! I regretted not wearing gloves because the wind feels really cold when you’re cycling, but other than that, I really loved the e-bikes. They made going uphill such a cinch and even when the motor wasn’t powered on, I found the e-bikes to be really easy to ride.

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Some things that I learnt on the tour:

• The traditional farming shed is called a kozolec 
• Slovenia’s forests are expanding, which is amazing if you ask me! One reason why the forests are expanding is because they are so carefully managed – even for land you own, you must go with a ranger to determine which trees can be cut down 
• Speaking of forests, 2/3 of Slovenia is coverd in them!
• Slovenia is number one in tractors per capita – apparently tractors are like branded cars and people are more willing to spend money on tractors than cars (especially if their neighbour has a good tractor)
• Native bees are non-aggressive

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We basically cycled around a few nearby villages, took a boat to Bled island, and then cycled back! The boat ticket is included in the tour, but if you get any snacks while on the island, you have to pay for those yourself. Primo was also a great guide; he was super accommodating to our requests to stop for photos, and he even sent us an album of photos he took after the tour!

Overall, we really enjoyed this! The tour isn’t very intense, but it is very scenic and it felt good to be doing a little exercise after a week sitting in buses and rooms!