Driving RTW: a Lifestyle of Firsts

It was a sizzling summer season night, sitting with Stergios on our balcony in Athens sipping chilly beer and chatting about our travels when a reminiscence got here again from years in the past: our first beer collectively. We had been in South Africa and had simply left Joburg using in the direction of Lesotho. It was the primary day of our journey collectively on a “test ride” as a result of we hardly knew one another and didn’t know the way issues would go along with two almost-strangers using two-up on a Vespa. After a clean first day on the highway, we pitched our tent by a lake. The place was idyllic; after dinner, Stergios went to the shop for a few beers and we drank them sitting subsequent to one another having fun with the second.

Our first beer collectively! 24 July/

How many occasions do we are saying, “the first time I…” in our lives? Some are fortunate sufficient to have a lifetime filled with firsts, each large and small. That day, it was only a beer at a campsite someplace in South Africa, however for us, it was the start of our story collectively, the primary time I rode the Vespa and the primary time Stergios traveled with a pillion.

When Stergios determined to go away the whole lot behind to scooter by way of Africa, he didn’t suppose he was doing one thing particular or breaking any document; he simply needed to see the world. Many first-time occasions, comparable to pitching his tent overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in Western Sahara, weren’t value mentioning as a result of wild tenting for the primary time was all about overcoming his fears and insecurities and nothing else.

We all develop up in numerous environments and our improvement usually is dependent upon that background. A Westerner could really feel that life has little or much less worth within the growing world, that there’s violence and hostility in the direction of Americans or Europeans, and that folks “in those countries” are completely different and don’t perceive us. Despite all that, some resolve to disregard what they’ve heard and enterprise off regardless of the alleged hazard. Unlearning our biases just isn’t essentially a straightforward course of. But it’s one thing most resist.

The first day of our journey. Leaving Joburg, having no concept that this was the start of our story collectively.

So, when Stergios acquired into his tent that first time, his fears made it troublesome to sleep. “Will someone rob me?” “Will I be attacked?” However, the next morning, a bunch of fishermen gathered round who simply needed to supply him tea and had been curious to study his story. Later, in one other incident of unfounded worry, it turned out that two Cameroonians who had been shouting at him, had been solely making an attempt to persuade him to comply with them—providing dinner and a protected place to pitch his tent subsequent to their hut within the forest. A humble provide by full strangers who didn’t need something in return. An act of kindness, and nothing extra. In many of those cultures, meals is not only meals, however a cultural trade—a method to talk and get nearer to others, to interrupt the ice. So, studying to say “yes” to such gives is a method to honor them and liberate one’s perspective.

In Lesotho, folks could appear unapproachable lined of their conventional woolen capes, however you want solely a smile and a form greeting for the ice to interrupt.

Sometimes, there’s no different possibility than to belief a stranger. But what occurs when there’s no different selection? When Stergios ran out of gasoline in Mauritania crossing the Sahara Desert, a passerby instructed him that when he acquired to the following city he’d ship somebody with fuel to satisfy him. It appeared inconceivable to imagine him, however what else might he do? About 10 hours later a person approached with the promised gasoline, explaining that he was the individual the person had despatched.

Having run out of fuel someplace within the Sahara Desert, the one possibility was to belief a stranger who promised that he’d ship somebody with a jerrycan. After 10 hours, he appeared!

And what in regards to the disagreeable first occasions? I want I might say that the whole lot is idyllic, that each one persons are all the time nice, and that nothing can go mistaken, however that’s not the way in which it’s. Accidents, robberies, and different misfortunes will all occur, too. In our case, we had an disagreeable first after we had been nearly robbed in downtown Johannesburg. The GPS had malfunctioned, so we stopped to kind out the issue. Suddenly, we had been surrounded by suspicious varieties in hoodies. We instantly acquired out of there, but it surely was an in depth name and we selected to see it as a helpful lesson. From that day, we determined to not lose belief in others however to all the time be a bit of extra conscious.

We all are likely to really feel extra comfy when in management, preferring the power to foretell and anticipate what’s subsequent. Conversely, we really feel uncovered and insecure when this appears inconceivable. The higher organized the society, the tougher it’s to get out of our consolation and safety zones. Vulnerability is broadly thought to be a weak spot—a scenario nobody enjoys—so why make the selection to desert our safety voluntarily?

Stergios’ first wild tenting, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean within the Western Sahara.

One reply to that is the sense of journey. Security and management might be illusions, anyway—a fragile state that may change in a second. And what occurs if or when all we took without any consideration is misplaced? That is dependent upon how ready we’re. An RTW, as an illustration, is an efficient method to play with the bounds, the place in some unspecified time in the future the one selection is to let oneself lose management to see what occurs.

When on the highway, you forge forward as a result of the one different possibility is to return. Travel is addictive, but it surely’s not all the time simple. At occasions it may be troublesome. I nonetheless bear in mind the issue we skilled the primary time we requested permission to camp at a fuel station in the course of the Argentinian pampa. Now, after dozens of comparable nights, we choose it over different choices we could have.

Senegal’s Niokolo Koba National Park was Stergios’ first time using within the African savanna.

As one factor results in one other, we now discover ourselves feeling comfy in conditions that after would have been unthinkable. So, after we had been in a small city someplace in rural Brazil, and an entire stranger invited us to remain at her house, we instantly nodded “yes.” After three years we’re nonetheless in touch with that pretty lady and her household who welcomed us into their house and handled us like outdated pals.

Although a long-term journey might be full of massive life classes, generally first occasions might be enjoyable, with no deep meanings or large life classes connected. Like the time after we agreed to go dancing at an area conventional honest in Brazil, or after we helped an Argentinian shepherd put his goats of their pen. Previously, we might have politely refused to make a idiot of ourselves making an attempt to comply with the steps of conventional Brazilian dances publicly, and we’d have undoubtedly refused to take the chance of herding 300 goats into their pen. After our years on the highway, we will now say that we’re hooked on “first times”. Whether it’s one thing small, simple, and trivial, like a brand new style—a meals we didn’t suppose we might take pleasure in—or one thing extra necessary, comparable to a call that may change our lives or the way in which we have a look at issues.

Another first for us: we helped an Argentinian shepherd put his 300 goats of their pen!

So, what’s the factor that makes an RTW journey so distinctive for many who select to do it? I might say that it’s the dots we hook up with type the sample of our lives: all these first occasions that we’ll all the time bear in mind.

Stergios and Alexandra first met in 2014 within the Democratic Republic of Congo whereas Stergios was on his RTW, and Alexandra was doing Ph.D. fieldwork. Since then, they’ve been touring collectively. They write, movie, {photograph}, and experience their classic Vespa scooter around the globe, combining their passions—and have not too long ago launched their first e-book “Rice & Dirt: Across Africa on a Vespa”. WorldVespa.net