Traveler survives on $25 per day for year-long trip
More than a year ago, I left on a long journey. During that time, I encountered mountain gorillas in the wild and guerrilla fighters. I explored the way refugees from Africa found their way to Nebraska and journeyed with some of them back to South Sudan.
I floated across the spots where the Blue and White Nile rivers begin in Ethiopia and Uganda and witnessed the marriage of the two rivers into one Nile in Sudan. I climbed inside Egyptian pyramids thousands of years old and sat silently in the orthodox churches of Russia. From horseback riding in the cold mountains of Mongolia to scrambling across the Great Wall of China, it was a magical journey.
As I passed through 13 countries, my daily budget bumped up to $25 a day because of a weak U.S. dollar. But never did I feel lacking in anything. The people I encountered along the way made sure I was looked after, taken care of and respected. What can I write that gives honor to the countless moments of kindness I experienced from ordinary people? A bottomless sense of gratitude radiates within me and leaves me humbled.
A Frenchman asked me in China, “Can you explain the lack of curiosity Americans have about the rest of the world?”
I didn’t have an answer for him at that time, but I wish I could bring him to Nebraska and the towns in the state and elsewhere such as the Quad-Cities that carried my weekly column. I wish he could meet the many schoolchildren who read my blog.
I am so proud of my hometown of Fremont, Neb.
Numerous times, I have been approached at store counters or downtown cafés and asked whether I am that guy who writes the travel column in the paper. This is generally followed by being told how much they enjoyed reading about the adventure and what they learned of the world in the process.
You see, I think the Frenchman missed the boat.
Americans are curious about the world, the ordinary parts they can relate to. But they tire of reading about only the negative moments that all too often grab the headlines. The stories frequently leave us confused and afraid of the world.
How do I honor these lessons of kindness? I honor them by sharing my experiences.
The other day, I was visiting with a parent of a first-grade student after one of my school presentations. The entire school in Denver had been following my journey over the past year via the Internet.
“Can I tell you about my daughter, Emma?” the parent asked.
“Of course,” I replied.
“Emma came to us last Christmas and told us she didn’t want any presents for Christmas. We were a bit surprised, so we asked her why.”
Emma replied, “Because Dean Jacobs said happiness doesn’t come from things. It comes through the experiences of life.”
“We honored her request and had a beautiful Christmas experience together. I just wanted to thank you for the important lesson you gave our daughter.”
Stopped in my tracks, my eyes welled with tears, just as they did in Ethiopia when the pilot of a United Nations plane full of refugees flew back over the tarmac to “wave” goodbye with the wings, tilting them from side to side before disappearing into the blue sky.
With that, any doubts I ever had melted away and were replaced with a sense of peace.
I wish you the same sense of peace and thank you for sharing this magical journey with me.
Dean Jacobs, who worked as a photographer for the Fremont Tribune, a Lee Enterprises newspaper in eastern Nebraska, is an experienced global traveler who undertook perhaps his most ambitious trip ever over the past year. His itinerary took him Africa, Europe and Asia. He documented his travels weekly in the Quad-City Times, and you can check out all of Dean’s podcasts at podcastgo.com. To learn more about Jacobs, visit his Web site at travel4life.org or e-mail him with your travel questions at dean@thedeanoftravel.com.