The Road Less Traveled

Mar 19th, 2009 by Kristin

I’m off to the Cook Islands’ northern gem, Aitutaki, barring any additional weather “systems” (seems like we’re finally in the clear as of last night, though we’re still being pelted by occasional showers). While you writhe in contempt for me, alongside my beau who once again was left at home, enjoy the travel bloggers I’ve lined up for you in the meantime—I’ll be posting again if I have a chance—and show them some love, OK? First up we have Mike from Canada of Previously Bitten, an English-teacher-turned-nomad who will take a yearlong sabbatical come fall and embark on his round-the-world trip to satiate his curiosity. Thanks for sharing, Mike! If only we all had the guts to tackle the globe solo….

**********

The fuel gauge reads empty. Sirens, lights and buzzers fill the air with a cacophony of high pitch squeals and shrill, inescapable alerts. The oil pan is empty; the engine is fused. Stuck in the middle of nowhere, 60 miles from anything, there is an understanding that certain death has finally arrived.

You would think that such an experience would be enough to remove travel from all future plans. The idea of being eaten by grizzly bears up in the Canadian Rockies is nothing if not an unpleasant realization. In fact, with GPS reading 60 kilometers to the nearest town, while stuck up a service road that no one has used for the past seven years, it’s pretty much the worst feeling you can have!

Three years later, and I’m off to test my metal again. And why? Because for the last 30 months I have been thrilling, entertaining and educating my students with that very tale.

I am a high school teacher; I am a traveler. Certain death, terrible accidents, and less-than-well-planned journeys are nothing more than anecdotal fodder for the first 10 minutes of class time.

For years I have traveled from one place to the next. March break doesn’t mean a time to relax, instead it indicates a moment to explore modern Japan, or maybe New York City. Christmas holidays are not to be shared with family and friends—rather, they are opportunities to break in my soles in London and other unknown cities.

Every moment void of work is a chance to explore this world we inhabit with the desire to learn something new, to take in something unknown, to challenge ourselves.

As an English teacher, I try to encourage my students to not only write their much-needed essays, but also to focus on what they desire. Countless classes have been devoted to listing personal goals, and the roadblocks that prevent their actualization. Many students simply state: See the world.

But what does that mean? What does it mean to see the world, and the people in it? Is it even possible?

Unfortunately, I would say no. I feel I could dedicate the next 50 years of my life to my home city of Toronto, and still miss so much of what is hidden away below the surface. To have the audacity—to honestly believe —that one can ever see the world? Well, it takes a certain individual to make that claim.

Still, I feel it is my duty, and my delight, to try and bring that dream within reach of the 200 youths I guide each year. It is for that reason I will be leaving Canada on Sept. 1, 2009 and boarding an eastbound plane to Europe. From there, I will travel as far as the EuRail pass will take me, before launching on a transcontinental escapade that will see me stepping foot on all seven nationally-recognized landmasses.

I will travel through no less than 30 countries and try my best to learn each local culture I encounter. My biggest regret is the lack of contacts I have. Anyone willing to offer assistance, a place to stay, or a tour through the places that impact their lives would be greatly appreciated. When in Tokyo, I learned more in the one day I spent with locals, than all the rest combined. This is how I would choose to travel the world, and yet—being a planet so vast and unexplored—there is so little I know.

Still, I will cross desert, hike jungle, and trek across barren icescape, all in the desire to bring these experiences back for my students. Yes, I will grow as a person. There is no denying that—but with any luck, so too will my students.

As I said, the world is a big place: If I managed to almost disappear within my home country, what dangers, and troubles will places foreign, without a full range of understandable vocal communications, present? Perhaps many; perhaps none.

Time will tell, and with it will come stories. After all, that’s the whole point of this trip in the first place, isn’t it?

**********

To find more insightful tips about how you can quit your job and country-hop for a year or to simply follow Mike’s adventures as he explores every last continent, visit him at his blog, Previously Bitten.