Over the years there have been a few travellers that have captured my imagination. People who go beyond the typical backpacking trip in favour of doing something truly unique or interesting. Some make me laugh, some make my jaw drop, and they all inspire me in some way. Here they are, in no particular order:
Andrew Morgan, Teacher on Two WheelsNot only is this guy doing the biking thing which always impresses me, he is combining it with the educating children thing which is also very cool. He’s got a great attitude and outlook on life and is just a generally inspiring guy.
Conor Grennan, Conor’s Mildly Thrilling TalesConor and wife have had their first baby and he’s gone a bit goo gah over the kid, as is to be expected. So not a lot of new posts but have a troll through his old stuff for some very funny writing and inspiring tales involving not-so-typical backpacker fare such as starting orphanages.
The Vogels, Family on BikesI admire anyone on along distance bike trip so adding a couple of 10 year olds into the mix and choosing a route from Alaska to Argentina definitly got my attention. When it’s all said and done, twins Davy and Daryl will become the youngest people ever to cycle the Pan-America highway.
Brett, AmtrekkerOne big ‘to do’ list and two rules: No going home until everything is crossed off the list and no spending any money on lodging allowed. This guy has recently finished his mission with lots of crazy adventures in between. His trip is proof that the kindness of strangers can still be counted on and it’s a great story.
Brook Silva-Braga, A Map for SaturdayHis trip by itself isn’t really that exciting. Just your typical backpacker fare of travelling from place to place, hanging out in hostels, seeing some stuff, making some friends etc. What I love about this guy is that he carted a video camera around the world with him, filmed his adventure and made a career out of it.
Sonia and Alexandre Poussin, Africa TrekThis French couple spent three years walking from South Africa to Isreal dodging lions and malaria in the process. If that’s not impressive enough for you, they also managed to film the whole thing and have turned it into a TV series that looks very cool.
Phil, Unicycle Across CanadaWhat’s better than biking across a country? Doing it on one wheel, doing it across somewhere HUGE like Canada and doing it for a great cause. Phil is about to finish his epic journey and he’s inspired me to add ‘learn how to ride a unicycle’ to my life list.
Sean Aiken, One Week JobSean had one of those ‘why didn’t I think of that?’ type ideas. I’m not sure about all of the ‘my generation’ stuff but the concept of a new job per week for a year was unique and fun and I enjoyed following his adventure almost from the start and am looking forward to the book and documentary.
Tom Blancart, KarakaI love this story. French guy rescues decrepid ship from Hong Kong harbour, does it up, finds crew as he goes and generally has an awesome time sailing around the world. Except for when he was recently attacked by a baraccuda. Serious adventure on his own terms and I love it.
Kinga FreespiritKinga and her boyfriend left Poland with only a few hundred bucks and no plans back in 1998 and proceeded to hitchhike around the world for five years, heading wherever the wind took them. Sadly, she died in 2006 in Africa of malaria but her story continues to inspire me and I re-read posts on her blog from time to time.
Christine Gilbert, Almost FearlessChristine’s travels aren’t what inspires me about her. It’s her attitude of ‘I want to be a travel writer’ and her actually going out and doing it that really got my attention. Not a lot of people these days seem to follow their dreams and it’s been refreshing to see her go after what she wants and do it successfully.
Dan and Audrey, Uncornered MarketThis couple seem to keep going and going and going. Each time I visit their site I always expect their trip to be over but for them, there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight. They’re covering a lot of ground, doing some interesting things and producing some great blog posts and photography in the process.
Karl Bushby, Goliath ExpeditionWalking around the world… I love this crazy stuff. Karl Bushby has been walking for 10 years (!), one footstep at a time, from the southern tip of Argentina to, well I’m not sure where he is now but wherever he is, it’s infinitely impressive.
Chris Guillebeau, Art of NonconformityPart writer, part motivational guy, part traveller. I’m not that into his county counting mission but his actual adventures themselves are pretty cool. The stuff he’s done in Africa is pretty interesting and he generally just inspires me with his writing, even on topics beyond travel.
Nathan ShipleyNathan is just a funny guy. I can’t help but smile after reading some of this blog posts. He’s got a knack for getting into odd situations and an even better knack for writing about them in a really entertaining way.
Gary Arndt, Everything EverwhereThis guy really does seem to be striving to go everywhere and his blog is living proof of it. He just keeps going and going and he’s amassed quite a following with over 6,000 RSS subscribers and 72,000 Twitter stalkers. That’s a lot, and for good reason.
Erden Eruc, Around and OverErden is a self-powered traveller and as if cycling and rowing his way around the world isn’t enough, he is also planning on reaching the summit of the highest mountains on six continents. Holy crap.
Jo and Antonia, Tuk to the RoadTwo British chicks, a tuk tuk, a crazy dream and a good cause add up to a great story. Driving a tuk tuk anywhere would be an adventure but these two go the whole hog and drive one home to the UK from Thailand, raising funds for a great charity along the way.
Stephen Gaugh, The Naked RamblerI love eccentric people and this guy has to be one of the most quirky. Dude just doesn’t like wearing clothes but loves walking over really long distances. I’m a pretty ‘by the rules’ type but I love seeing people buck the trend and face off with authority about something they believe in.
The World By RoadDriving your own car around a country is a great way to get off the beaten path and to explore things at your own pace so how awesome would it be to do that the whole way around the world? Well these guys are doing it, picking up passengers along the way and documenting the whole journey on their website.
Dave CornthwaiteDave first grabbed my attention awhile ago when I read about his trip across Australia on a skateboard. Yep, a skateboard. Yep, Australia. Pretty impressive. He has since taken on long distance adventures on the water.
Benny Lewis, Irish PolyglotAfter five weeks of attempting to learn Spanish I am now officially in awe of anyone who has learned another language. Well Benny boy speaks seven and is currently working on his eighth and reading about his language adventure has inspired me to attempt to say goodbye to my monolingual ways.
Steven Savage, The Savage FilesThis is an old school site (complete with terrible fonts and offensive colours) from and old school kind of guy. It’s one of the first bloggy type websites I ever came across with someone posting updates and photos and reading it got my feet itchy.
Jim Stone, FliptopheadJim seems to be the ultimate Couchsurfer and has been crusing around the US on his motorbike with his inflatable red couch staying with strangers the whole way. He’s a real ambassador for the Couchsurfing movement and his blog is a great read.
I’m sure I’ve missed some pretty amazing people and would love to hear about them so if you’ve got an inspiring person to add to the list, feel free to leave a comment!
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