This Greek college student biked 48 days to make it back home to his family when flights were canceled

Christina Maxouris, CNN • Published 13th July 2020

 Even after hundreds of miles into his two-wheel journey, Kleon Papadimitriou says he still wasn't sure he'd make it home.

The 20-year-old Greek college student had been stuck in Scotland, where he studied, with no way to return to Athens while flights were shut down due to the pandemic.

So he decided to bike the roughly 2,175-mile route instead.

"It's just now dawning on me how big of an achievement this was," he says of his 48-day journey. "And I did learn a lot of things about myself, about my limits, about my strengths and my weaknesses. And I'd say I really hope that the trip inspired at least one more person to go out of their comfort zone and try something new, something big."