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Arlington Hts. siblings take bike journey to help Nepal earthquake victims

A pair of Arlington Heights siblings are riding their bikes across Europe to raise money for and honor the victims of the Nepal earthquake.

Andrea, a 2006 St. Viator graduate, and Brendan Doshi, a 2008 Wheeling High School graduate, have been making their way across the mountains and countryside from Istanbul to London for the past two months.

"Both siblings love to travel," said their mother, Laura.

It's been a two-month journey for Andrea and Brendan, along with two British fellow travelers who all met while traveling in Nepal earlier this year.

"The four of us spent a couple months exploring Nepal and fell in love with its natural, cultural and historic beauty," reads their GoFundMe page.

An earthquake on April 25 killed more than 8,000 people and devastated the country. The Doshi siblings and their traveling friends - Joshua Hawkins and Benjamin Allen - had already left the country, but they felt a need to help.

"Having touched us in such a profound way, we have decided to start a campaign to raise funds for the people of Nepal, as we start off on our next journey," they wrote.

Starting in Istanbul, the four have cycled through Europe for the last two months and will end up in England, more than 3,000 miles from where they began.

Their blog has updated family and friends as the foursome has gotten lost, tried local food, relied on the help of strangers to fix their bikes and explored a number of countries - Greece, Italy, Croatia, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, France and more.

Their last update was earlier this week when they were about to take a ferry to England where they would have another 180 miles to ride before completing their trip.

"Now it is time to get back on the bikes and finish what we started," they wrote. "We're excited to spend a least a few more days sleeping outside in the nature and enjoy the last bit of the ride before heading back home. The next time we update, we'll be sipping tea in the English countryside, reflecting on our big adventure."

All contributions to their funding website will go to Rebuilding Nepal, an organization that is helping rebuild the Patalekhet community in a village 25 miles from Kathmandu.

Their goal for the summer was to raise $10,000 for Rebuilding Nepal. As of Friday afternoon they had raised nearly $7,300.

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