Everything Will Be Fine. Here’s Proof.


Today’s guest post is from former English teacher Jamie Bowlby-Whiting, whose success adventuring on an absurdly low budget has made even my best attempts feel decadent. He’s developed two core principles for his adventures: 1. impossible is nothing, and 2. everything will be fine (until it isn’t).

This story reminds me so very strongly of that first carefree summer I spent crossing Europe in 2007 (particularly the ever-popular Eastern European arrest), and so it’s not without a little pang of nostalgia that I publish this post. Take it away, Jamie…

Life is Either a Daring Adventure or Nothing at All by GreatbigScaryWorld dot com

A few months ago, I found myself working as an English teacher at a very expensive private school in Istanbul. And I couldn’t help but take a step back and look at my life. In the words of the kids: “it sucked”.

The children’s low levels of English were on a par with their low desires to learn. They ran the school, overruling the teachers and even refusing to sit the compulsory end of year tests. I felt like a glorified babysitter, except that none of the children understood what I was saying. And even if they did, they’d forgotten their pencil cases so couldn’t do any work.

“This isn’t what I want,” I thought. “This isn’t what life is about.”

So, rather than complaining about it, I chose to make a change to my life. I packed up my belongings and hitchhiked to Italy where I slept on beaches and outside service stations, with Leah, my traveling companion of the past year. We ate pizza, swam in the sea, drank cold beers, climbed mountains, and shared body heat throughout the night because we only had one sleeping bag, one blanket, and no tent between the two of us.

Thumbing

I did fortunately have a suit, so I tried hitchhiking in it. Nine days later, we arrived back in the UK and looked at our empty purses to tally up how much the Italian adventure had cost us:

€42.54.

That’s €2.36 per person, per day.

Then I read an article about a girl who bought a cheap bicycle and cycled around Europe and thought it sounded like fun. A few days later, my Slovakian friend Daniel came to visit and the three of us bought old bicycles from a man in the neighbouring village. They cost £30 each. On the back of these bicycles we attached cool boxes that served as semi-waterproof budget panniers. Then we drew a line across our map of Europe; a line that connected England with Slovakia and Daniel’s house. And we were off.

43 the full package

Within 2km we suffered our first puncture. Before the day was out, we’d had a complete tyre blowout and two crashes (seeing how long one can cycle with one’s eyes shut is only fun for so long). We stopped in a field for the night and watched a beautiful sunset, happy to be on the road, but nervous of what was to come.

In the days that followed, I ripped the end of my toe off and broke another. My bicycle fell apart several times, and each time I patiently learnt how to put it back together. I now know understand how to adjust almost any part of the bicycle. But before this journey I had never even dealt with a puncture.

We slept in abandoned buildings or outside (as well as in the homes of strangers when invited). In one month and 1,000 miles, not once did we have to pay for accommodation. We did however, get arrested in Amsterdam. For sleeping. Offered prison or a fine, we opted for prison, only to be given court dates at the end of the year (which we very sadly will not be able to attend).

29 keg party

We ate food that we salvaged from bins, picked wild fruits and vegetables, and cooked over a beer can stove. We rode horses, washed in rivers and fountains, swung over a lake on a giant rope swing, found 15 litres of beer in a bin in Germany, and made more memories in one month than the whole of my time as an English teacher in Istanbul.

And each night, as I went to sleep, I knew that I had lived through a day that mattered to me — a day that I would remember.

From the UK to Slovakia on Bike

And when we got to Slovakia, we realised that this journey was just beginning. I’d always dreamed of living on the river like Huck Finn, so after recycling some old barrels and billboards we built a raft and coined ourselves ‘The Pirates of the Danube’.

Pirates of the Danube-28

We’d cruised 271km from Gajary in Slovakia to Budapest before we ran into some friendly police officers who arrested us once again and issued us with another fine.

The End of the Pirates of the Danube (We Get Arrested)

(Apparently our raft was “not a boat,” which is a crime in Hungary — I feel that we were fined for our non-conformity more than anything else.)

But does it matter in the big game of life? Of course not! We will carry on in a different way. Whatever comes next, each day is a new adventure. I don’t have much money or experience, but these journeys are powered by self-belief. This is more powerful than anything in the world, because if you want something badly enough, impossible is nothing. If you want to cycle across Europe, you need only desire and a bicycle. No more, no less.

Hitchhiking into Ukraine-5

I choose life and I choose an adventurous one. I don’t know what comes next, but I’m excited already.

What would you do if you could do anything? And when will you start?

Jamie runs GreatBigScaryWorld.com, a site dedicated to sharing stories and inspiration for adventure. He also has a Facebook page for the project.

This is part of a series of guest posts in which I feature inspiring tales of adventure from readers of this blog. If you’ve got a story you’d like to tell, and you’d like to use it to help plant the seeds of adventure in more of us, get in touch.

Comments (skip to respond)

16 responses to “Everything Will Be Fine. Here’s Proof.”

  1. Aaron Chamberlain avatar
    Aaron Chamberlain

    So I’m liking some of the ideas that you’ve shared on this blog. Definitely want to be as minimalist as possible, but I haven’t seen you address my biggest question. I’m thinking of investing a fair amount in my road bike I’m worried about it getting stolen, what to do? I don’t want to be forced to bring a tent large enough to put my bike inside.… just bring a lock and call it a night?

    1. Get a cheap bike…! 😉
      Actually, when I was free-camping, I was pretty well hidden so no-one ever even saw me, thus having anything stolen wasn’t really an issue.

    2. You may be surprised to hear this but I have almost never taken a lock on tour.

      Generally I don’t let the bike out of sight, and when I do, it’s based on a mixture of experience, gut instinct, and whether or not I’ve made friends with the locals as to whether it’ll still be there when I finish whatever I’m doing. Needless to say, if someone wants to go through my bags, a lock isn’t going to stop them. Fully-loaded bikes are hard to manoeuvre if you’re not used to them, they don’t look like or reside in the same places as typical bikes that theives might target, and so are less ‘stealable’ anyway. If I stay the night indoors, the bike comes in with me, and if I’ve chosen a wild camp spot well, neither I nor my bike will be found. If I’m feeling paranoid I balance empty cooking pots on the bike directly outside the tent.

      All of which, taken together, means that a bike lock is generally the first thing to leave my packing list.

      Your mileage may vary…

  2. Funny to read about Jamie here on Toms site, I follow both of you guys for a while now. Keep up the good work!

  3. Hi,

    Interesting reading, few questions if I may -

    1. What stills camera do you use ?

    2. Do you have a water proof housing for your video camera or use 2 different cameras ?

    3. How do you post to your blog, what computer gear etc.. ?

    Dave

    1. 1. Nikon D5100 (I bought it a few years ago when I actually had a job). Some images are screen casts from video footage.
      2. I also have a GoPro Hero 2 with waterproof housing.
      3. A five year old MacBook. I connect to the internet once a week or so, then schedule posts.

      1. Thanks for your contribution and for answering these questions, Jamie!

      2. Thanks for replying. Been away in North Wales for a week, hence the delay in replying. I use to work for a big camera company and as a photographer myself and slowly getting into touring and always curious was other people carry with them. This week for instance I just had my Panasonic G2 and 14–42 lens. If I know I won’t be away long I don’t bother with laptop etc…

        Dave

  4. richdrogpa avatar
    richdrogpa

    Loving it!!! An inspiring story;)

  5. ReclusiveHermit avatar
    ReclusiveHermit

    I’ve barely left my house more than once a month in the last… Since 2008. However long that is. I don’t have much money since I’m chronically unemployed… I don’t have a bike, I don’t have survival skills, social skills… Skills of any sort. I’m uneducated (HS dropout…) and I don’t know what the hell I’m doing with my life. But for the past month I’ve become increasingly obsessed with the idea of just getting out there and riding my fucking bike. Reading things like this is really encouraging… I have a car but no drivers licence — I’ve been delaying my plans for a cycling adventure thinking I need to get my licence first… But damn it, I’m so tempted to sell my car, licence be damned, and just getting out there. 

    Thanks for sharing your adventure, hopefully soon I can start one of my own. I think I might finally be getting cabin fever!

    1. Reclusivehermit — Go for it — you have nothing to loose but everything to gain. Good luck. And look forward to reading your blog 🙂

    2. Hey RH! = )

      As a nearly 50 year old now, I want to say, don’t let your past determine your future or your view of yourself. That passion you feel welling up inside of you when you contemplate riding a bike to far away is LIFE. It’s calling you forward. You can do it. = )

    3. RH, I second Colleen and Liz. Only you can define you: Forget the past. I wish you the best of adventures, but the first step is both the hardest and the biggest. Make that jump, sell your car, and get out in the world. You will not regret it (I certainly don’t).

    4. Set a date! Do it!

    5. Misha Meng avatar
      Misha Meng

      Howdy R‑Hermit,
      Your on the right path ! Bicycle rides or walking outside will free your mind. Pick a day or time or just be loose & allow your instant travel curiosity take you on unscheduled wanderings. Clearing up mind clutter always works once i get outside. Best of Luck !

Something to add?