While traveling through Bosnia in southeastern Europe, he noticed a small gray and white kitten running after him, meowing to stop. He jumped off his bike and fed his red pesto sauce from his food supply. He decided to take her to a vet in the nearest town to see if anyone had lost their pet. No one had done so, so he placed it in the basket attached to the front of his bike and cycled towards the border of Montenegro. The kitten tried to escape, but not to escape: she just wanted a better seat.
“She climbed onto my arm and fell asleep on my shoulder behind my neck,” said Nicholson, who is 32 and previously worked as a welder at a fish factory. “That’s when I thought, ‘she’s going to go around the world with me,’ because I fell in love with her instantly.
Since meeting in December 2018, the two have visited more than 20 countries. Nala, who Nicholson named after the lioness in “The Lion King,” even has a passport. While Nicholson pedals, Nala naps in the basket, on a bed of clothes and pillows, or hangs her paws to the side, causing strangers in the street to stare in wonder.
“Owning it opens up so many conversations with people,” he says. “This is a topic of discussion.”
Nicholson and Nala spent their first winter together on Santorini, a Greek island. He found work as a kayak guide and discovered that Nala is a multisport kitty.
“The first time she came by kayak, she ran, jumped on the boat and sat down while I paddled,” he said.
After Greece, they cycled through Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan and planned to travel to Iran. However, the tense political situation there, along with a law banning cats in hotel rooms, forced them to turn around.
When the coronavirus pandemic hit, Nicholson parked his bike and they stayed in Hungary for 12 weeks. In their free time, Nicholson finished his book on their escapades titled “Nala’s World: One Man, His Rescue Cat, and a Bike Ride Around the Globe”. This fall, they arrived in Austria, where Nicholson plans to stay until coronavirus-related travel restrictions are lifted. In the spring, he hopes they will be able to travel to Russia and possibly Thailand. One of the main reasons Nicholson chose Thailand is because he really wants to drink from a coconut. Now he will have to order two.
“She might like a coconut,” he says. “Otherwise, I’ll get him some cat milk.”
