Once you start traveling, it’s hard to stop. The more you travel, the more you realize how many more places there are to discover.
Inner curiosity
As one of the best traveled people on earth, one of the most common questions is: “Don’t you get tired of all that traveling?” The answer is: no, on the contrary! A deep inner curiosity has always driven me to travel. When I was not on the road, I was either writing up stories from my last journey, or planning the next. While I was writing The Long Road to Cullaville, I finally started to recognize just how many adventures I had lived, how many people I had met, how many things I had seen, and what I had learned about humanity. The book is my way of sharing some of those adventures with the world. I am still traveling to places I haven’t been to before, and I have started to write a second book, simply because there is so much more I want to share.
Eating Cookies in Mogadishu, Somalia
Mogadishu was the only place I have traveled where I felt the need to hire four armed bodyguards to explore the city. There was a fixed routine for them to secure an area, before I could even open the door of our car. I had brought traditional cookies from my home country and shared them with my guards. With their fingers on the trigger of their Kalashnikovs, their eyes constantly scanning the surroundings, they chewed these delicacies. It was a rare moment of relaxation and peace in a war-torn city.
Sleeping on Betel Nuts on the Sepik River, Papua New Guinea
When I was in Papua New Guinea, I ended up traveling down the Sepik River lying on bags of betel nuts as my bedding. It was a beautiful, starry night, and the next morning I was rewarded with one of the most stunning views I’ve ever seen. As we reached the mouth of the river, I saw an almost perfect volcano rising from the sea, with white beaches crowned by an emerald forest just behind me, while the sun just appeared above the horizon ahead of me.
Hiking into a Bear, Kyrgyzstan
The east of Kyrgyzstan offers dazzling scenery for hiking. Snow-capped mountains, glaciers, pristine valleys, and wild horses make for an exhilarating experience. One day, I hadn’t seen a single soul, and I was making my way back to a tiny settlement where I would sleep. Suddenly, a brown bear walked right up to me around a boulder. It was one of the most hair-raising episodes in my travels. I was lucky; the bear turned around, and slowly moved away from me.
When Fate Steps In, Botswana
After surviving many encounters with destiny, and always getting out without too much trouble, I looked forward to visiting the last countries on my list. My strategy had been to leave some of the easiest countries for last. On the way to Botswana, my third-to-last country, I had a severe car accident. It only showed that despite a lot of “near escapes” in scary situations, more mundane dangers can occur anywhere. Fortunately, I was extremely lucky, and could continue on my journey after being operated on in hospital. After a few days in hospital, my travel partner and I continued our journey, rented another car, and enjoyed the incredible wildlife that Botswana has to offer.
What Lies Ahead?
For many years, I had been traveling to countries I had not been to before out of a commitment to visit every country. When I reached Ireland, my last country (making a total of 193), some people thought I would stay home. Hadn’t I seen everything already? The answer was a resounding “no”.
I may have reached my ultimate travel goal, but my curiosity is as strong as it has ever been. There are still many places I want to visit. I made up a new list, this time of places I still wanted to see and things I still wanted to do. On top of that, I regularly hear about places I have never heard of before and I almost always end up adding them to the list. They can be anything – a volcano that I want to climb, a traditional village I want to see, a tribe that is still living their traditional life, a World Heritage Site that I want to set my own eyes on. This list is expanding, and it is so long, I will never make it to the end in my lifetime – and that is totally fine with me. To give you an idea: some of the destinations on my wish list include Greenland, the Maluku Islands in Indonesia, the Himalaya in Nepal, Bougainville in Papua New Guinea, the minaret of Jam in Afghanistan, climbing Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, seeing Yellowstone in the US, and visiting Matera in Italy. Perhaps I will share these adventures in future photos, essays, or even another book!
Written by Boris Kester.
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