Plenty of people have taken trips around the world, and usually the motivation to do so is based in a desire for adventure. But it's what a person considers adventure and the route taken that makes each trip so different.
For Alastair Humphreys (who spent five years traveling around the world by bicycle), the motivation was based in self discovery.
Why round the world?
To raise funds and awareness for Hope and Homes for Children, to try and make a go of being a travel writer, but mainly it was for the adventure, to attempt something I thought was probably beyond me, to escape from the stifling routine and swaddling of the easy life in Britain and to try and figure out what was most important to me in my life and how I wanted to live that life.
Alastair didn't take any shortcuts, either. As you can see from his map, he didn't miss much. And he would have seen more if it weren't for the foreign policies of a few pesky governments.
Reid Stowe's motivation for traveling around the world seems to be almost the exact opposite of Alastair's. And he's definitely taking a different route. Stowe is currently in preperations to begin a 1000 day journey at sea. Instead of the adventure that lies in meeting new people and experiencing different cultures, Stowe seems to want to get away from all of that.
"I turned the globe upside down, and I saw all this wide open ocean where there were no lands or people. If I sailed down there, I wouldn't have to deal with the atomic catastrophe that was facing the world."
And Stowe seems to know already that he doesn't want to come back. According to the article "Stowe's ultimate dream is to return to New York after nearly three years, refuel, restock both in provision and crew, and head right back out to the sea."
I can't help but wonder if Mr. Stowe doesn't like people. Though the article does say he's considering bring his girlfriend. I guess if he doesn't, they're pretty much finished?
Mark Twain once said "Travel is fatal to bigotry, prejudice, and narrow-mindedness. Broad, wholesome, and charitable views cannot be acquired by vegetating in one tiny corner of the globe." And while I can't speak for Reid Stowe (and I shouldn't assume anything), I wonder if he got the memo.
2 comments:
Great post, Mike. It's too bad that all Americans aren't required to spend time abroad. It would help us to be wiser if we were. I know that my time over in Europe was really valuable to me in seeing different cultural points of view.
Lets see Reid Stowe is a con artist and a fake. He has been trying to do this voyage for 17 years goggle him and you will see.
If he leaves it is only because he is being evicted from The Hudson River Park where he has been living rent free for 7 of those years dumping his shit into the Hudson. The DEC finally wised up and fined him. Your talking this man was a drug runner and spent time in prison. Funny how the articles missed that easily found fact.
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