200 km by Bike: Our Most Sustainable WordCamp Journey
Our tradition continues: This year, we once again attended the largest European WordPress conference, which took place from June 13 to 15, 2024, in Turin, Italy. But this time, our journey was more sustainable than ever – we cycled nearly 200 km from Locarno, Switzerland, all the way to Turin.
Arrival
Our remote team traveled by train to our starting point in Ticino, the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland – coming from Nuremberg, Cologne, Chur, and Lucerne. Meanwhile, two of us stayed in the home office, holding down the fort.
In Locarno, we meet our former teammate Corina, who lives in Ticino. Since we’ll be setting off on our bikes the next morning, we fuel up with a hearty portion of pasta – as it should be.
From Locarno to Gattinara – The First Stage of Our Cycling Adventure
It’s Tuesday morning: Well-fueled from our carb-loading the night before, a hearty breakfast, and a strong espresso, we set off on the first stage of our journey – fully packed bikes and matching team jerseys included. Corina and her son accompany us as far as Ascona.
For our trip to WordCamp Europe, we had special team jerseys made, designed by Jeff. These matching jerseys were the perfect way to showcase our team spirit and passion for cycling.
We entrusted our laptops to our ‘pack mule’ Velthy, who took them to Turin by train while we pedaled our way there. The first stage covered 97.2 km to Gattinara. The weather was on our side, and we enjoyed the sunshine as we cycled along Lake Maggiore.
Second Stage: Gattinara → Turin
After breakfast, we are ready for the second stage and can hardly wait to reach Turin. Despite our tired legs, we set off with our sights firmly set on the finish line. The second day awaits us with 103 km ahead.
We make a stopover in the small province of Santhià around 11 a.m., refresh ourselves with coffee, and hold a short team meeting. It was certainly one of the most unusual calls we’ve ever had as a remote team.
We’ll see Velthy again in Turin in a few hours. We get back on our bikes, and the rest of the day passes without any flat tires.
After 200 km in the Saddle: Rolling into Turin
Around 5 p.m., we finally arrive at the conference venue in Turin—just in time. Dark clouds had been gathering over the city on our final stretch, and the moment we step inside our hotel, the rain starts pouring. Perfect timing—just like the day before!
In the evening, we celebrate our successful journey with Velthy, enjoy delicious Italian cuisine, and call it an early night. After all, the Contributor Day kicks off the next morning, and we wouldn’t miss it for anything!
But what about the rest of the team while we were pedaling south? Paschi and Simon had promised to show some solidarity by at least hopping on their home trainers for a bit. That evening, we receive the proof in our hotel—photos that make us smile.
Our Commitment on Contributor Day
It’s already Thursday: our bikes are now allowed to rest for a few days while we participate in Contributor Day. This is always a great opportunity for us to make our open-source contributions to WordPress.
Our team participates in the following focus teams:
- Jeff Chi: Accessibility
- Dominik Schilling: Core
- Karin Christen: Sustainability
- Stefan Velthuys: Design
The WordCamp Europe in Turin
On Friday, the main conference kicked off – and the venue in Turin had a truly unique atmosphere. It was held at Lingotto, a former Fiat factory that beautifully blends historical significance with modern architecture. The spacious conference rooms provided plenty of room for the many attendees and sessions, creating an unforgettable setting.
One of the highlights was visiting the famous test track on the roof of Lingotto. Once used by Fiat for vehicle testing, it now stands as a fascinating piece of automotive history.
Sessions that made us sit up and take notice
Once again, this year, we had the opportunity to listen to inspiring and informative talks. We were particularly impressed by these contributions, which we can benefit from in our daily work:
- Sustainable Open Source → Joost de Valk and Juliette Reinders Folmer show how open source projects can be made sustainable. Topics include the importance of financing, the involvement of finance departments and how the community can contribute to the sustainability of open source.
- Interactivity API → For a long time, the new React-JS components of WordPress and the old PHP code base did not work together, so that many templates had to be written twice, once in JavaScript and once in PHP. Michał Czapliński has clearly demonstrated how React functions can be controlled directly via the PHP code since version 6.5.
- The European Accessibility Act explained → Rian Rietveld explained the European Accessibility Act and its impact on websites and digital products.
- The Power of WordPress Testing and Automation: Test Types and When to Use Them → Vraja Das showed in this talk which different test types there are for WordPress and when they are best used. Other topics included an introduction to automation and how to improve the quality of WordPress projects.
- Mastering WordPress Block Themes: 3 Key Principles → In this talk, Jamie Marsland shows you how to be creative with the block editor so that hardly any code is needed.
Facts and figures about WordCamp Europe 2024
2940
Tickets sold
2584
Visitors
96
traveled from countries
756
Visitors on Contributor Day
20M
Social media reach
52
Speaking
8
Workshops
7
WC Connect discussions
1
Wellness track with yoga lessons and walks
1
Youth and teen workshop
See you in Basel in 2025!
The final highlight of every WordCamp is the announcement of the next venue. And 2025 will be a special one – at least for us.
The European WordPress Conference will take place in Switzerland for the first time in 2025! Basel, located in the tri-border region of Switzerland, France, and Germany, will host the conference. Congratulations to everyone from the Swiss community for their great work!
And we are already making plans to combine the journey with a bike tour.
Return journey
And that’s how quickly this year’s WordCamp Europe came to an end. We had all planned to travel back on Sunday, but the Italian rail company Trenitalia had another surprise for us – a rail strike!
As a result, everyone had an individual yet entertaining return journey:
Velthy left by train on Saturday afternoon, as he was going on a well-deserved vacation on Monday.
Jeff was luckier with his return journey: His train connection was one of the few that was not affected by the strike. This meant he was able to take a comfortable but still very long train journey to Nuremberg.
Karin and Dominik actually found a ride at the conference that even had room for their two bikes in the trunk!
They were dropped off in the Viamala Valley and went on a short gravel tour, where they surprisingly met our former team member Ulrich, who happened to be hiking there.
Our cycling adventure was a welcome mix of retreat, team building, and skill training. Every day, we experienced how important such activities are for us as a remote team. With such a great team and the wonderful weather we had, one wishes that WordCamp Europe could take place several times a year.
