A trip around the world on foot and without money

On the eve of his 45-year anniversary, the canadian Jean Beliveau went bankrupt. To cope with the exhausting of his depression, Jean decided to travel around the world. Walk. No money. He left the house and went on a journey. Around the world took him 11 years.

The idea of the journey came to Jean when he walked down the street and painfully thinking about your financial problems. One of us came up with the idea that if you just go and not stop, it is possible to bypass the globe and arrive back where you started? The difference is that Jean is not just thought about it, she did. He decided to escape from their problems and depression walk.

Around the world, Jean took a comfortable three-wheeled cart, a tent, sleeping bag and first aid kit. Mobile phone he did not take.

Early on the morning of August 18, 2000, at his birthday, Jean with son rolled his truck on the street.

"We waited until 9 am, when friends came, and I could not understand, happy day or sad, says Jean. — My father, my pregnant daughter, my wife Lucy were all there. Lucy sent out invitations to journalists, but nobody in the end never appeared. In the beginning of the tenth Lucy told me: "I think it's time for you to go." We hugged, I just turned the corner — and the next time we saw each other only after many months."

Turning the corner, Jean headed South in the direction of the United States. By the time he reached the American border, he was already like that, he was afraid that he will be accepted for the homeless and will not be allowed into the country.

"I hadn't really spoke English, says Jean, and on the question of the border guard, what is the purpose of my visit to the United States, said: "I go to Mexico and America, to go on foot". The guard paused and asked sympathetically: "Can you even bring water?"

Entering the United States from the North, Jean at the shore of the Atlantic ocean came to South America, where he took right and moved out along the shore of the Pacific. Solo across the Atacama desert of Chile, Argentina turned to the left and crossed to the other side of the continent. Here, the Jean has any water barrier. To cross the Atlantic ocean on foot is clearly not possible.

Jean some time in reverie lingered on the shore. And then a miracle happened. The local airline, after learning about his journey, gave him a plane ticket to the opposite coast. So Jean moved to South Africa and from there moved on foot again.

In Libya, Jean was not allowed, and he had to go round in Morocco. Then Jean went to Europe for a while and looked to England. In Russia, he did not dare to go because of the cold weather and instead went to India, China and South Korea, where, according to him, met some of the nicest people in the world. Then went through the Philippines, crossed Malaysia, Australia and finally ended up in New Zealand, where he returned back to Canada.

His journey lasted 11 years. All this time they met with his wife once a year at Christmas.

Despite the fact that Jean was trying to save as best they could, the money he ran out at the very beginning of the route in Central America.

"I'm not very good at begging, but it just came naturally, he laughs. — I'm actually quite shy, but it turns out it only helps because in a sense fascinates people". However, the money and food people usually gave it to him without any requests.

"Hearing that I'm going to cross the world on foot, people just put 20 or 50 dollars in my pocket. I saved all the money I had enough for a long time. You know, in Indonesia and Africa you can eat well on $ 1!" — says Jean. It was more difficult overnight. Four thousand nights spent on the road, it is not always easy to manage to find shelter.

"Most of the time I found a place to sleep: it takes 3-4 kilometers, until we found a safe area where you can pitch a tent. And asked me to go to bed. But it's not always easy. In America, for example, it happened that I knocked on in seven houses in a row, until he found a bed. Sometimes because of the constant walking I felt so tired I couldn't smile and in detail to explain to people what I'm looking for accommodation. Then I slept on the streets or in the parks, near homeless".

Jean calculated that during the journey it sheltered 1,600 families, about the same number of nights he spent in the tent, the rest in fire stations, police stations, churches, shelters for the homeless, hospitals and schools.

In Egypt Jean free cured teeth in India received the gift of sunglasses, but in Algeria underwent surgery and two weeks free was in the hospital. In the Philippines, while crossing the dangerous area on the island of Mindanao, he was accompanied by an army of thirty soldiers with him chanted: "We want peace". In the Chilean Atacama desert Jean nearly killed the Puma. And in South Africa allowed him to spend the night in an empty jail cell, and the guard on the morning shift in error refused to release.

But the main thing that happened with Jean during his travels, he was not even adventure and the changes that happened to him. For 11 years Jean has not earned a penny, and yet it was, according to him, the brightest and happiest years of his life. Today he is convinced that material success is not mandatory condition for happy life.

"I'm not the guy who went in the way, says Jean. — I have the same personality, but now I feel like a rich man. We are all blinded by money — so a lot around the traps like "here buy this and be happy." I don't want to play these games for my journey I met many happy people who had no money."

Jean returned home to Canada in January at the age of 56 years. He walked the Earth, overcame a total of 76 thousand miles, endured 49 pairs of shoes and crossed 64 countries. His journey was not only the world, but absolutely first in his life. Prior to this Jean anywhere, and never traveled, of course, if you don't count trips to Florida.

Home Jean returned, as in the beginning of the journey, a bankrupt. But more of him didn't care. "The experience and knowledge that I have now is much more valuable than money," he said.

Source: koffboy.com/