“Once you take a gap year, you are addicted
to it and knows it is not that hard to go back to work, or to reintegrate, or
to find a place to live. How easy it is to leave things behind, and one can do it
again anytime anywhere.”
“只要你曾經經歷過間隔年，你就像上了癮一樣，因為你知道回去找工作，或是重新融入社會，或是找一個地方居住，通通都不是那麼困難的事情。放下出走其實是一件很容易的事，何時何地都可以重新開始。”
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During the 2 weeks I volunteered in DART
House, a Girls’ Home in Mwanza, Tanzania, I met Francis, an American travel journalist
who is currently in his grand tour of visiting all 54 African countries in 5
years’ time. He and I were both connected to the NGO through couchsurfing, and
he was visiting my host in order to film the story of a NGO in Tanzania. I,
therefore, had the chance to be his personal filming assistant for the day, and
also got to know his inspiring travel stories.
The
Unseen Africa
When people talk about Africa, there are
always two extreme thoughts, heaven or hell. The heaven Africa is full of
nature, tribes, pyramids, safaris. The hell Africa, on the other hand, is full
of Aids, disasters, and now Ebola. However, the
majority Africans do not live the extreme lives, Francis wants to capture sides
of Africa which people did not hear about in media, which books and TV shows
didn’t mention.
One example Francis shared was the Maasai, the
most well-known tribe in Tanzania and Kenya, share only 2 % of the whole
population. It shows how media emphasizes something small and makes it dominant
and well known. He started his trip in March 2013 and aims to finish
in Dec 2017, one country a month, to cover all 54 countries in Africa. He wants to help
people understand all the little countries, especially in the west Africa, by
filming different stories. After completing his Africa54 journey, Francis plans
to publish a book “The Unseen Africa”, and also wish his filming clips will be
purchased by National Geographic for documentary use.
The Talent
from a Big City
Growing up in San Francisco, Francis had
his first degree in Religion in Amherst College. After working in Latin America
for 3 years, he studied MBA in Harvard University. Then he started his own
company in Silicon Valley, and worked for 4 years in manufacturing inspection
products.
Changing
Point in Life
Francis did the Appalachian Trail in 2001
when he was 31, the trail was 3000km long and he spent 4 months hiking solo, on
average 30-40km a day. It was the changing point of his life as he thought a
lot during the solo hike.
Being surrounded by talents all the time,
everyone was good at asking the billion dollars question, “How to make billion
dollars?”. However, Francis decided to ask himself a different question, “What
would you do with your time if you had billion dollars?” He knew many lawyers
who would not be lawyers if they had billion dollars, and he knew many people
totally forgot about their dreams after they got cars and houses. Many of his
classmates were making lots of money and got paid very well after getting their
MBA.
Finally, Francis found his answer, why he
needed to wait till he had billion dollars to pursue his dream, why not
changing his life he wanted to live and started living like a Billionaire. Francis
wanted to be a travel writer, travel around the world, live with the locals, get
to know people and share insights and experience. He wanted to inspire people
in the world, and persuaded other people to pursue their own dreams.
Living
the Dreams
After realizing what his dreams were,
Francis needed to earn what he called the “Fxxk You Money”. With this money,
anytime anywhere he could say “Fxxk you I am leaving”, no matters at work or in
any relationships that he doesn’t enjoy. After his first solo hike, he spent
another 4 years working in Silicon Valley as a consultant for Hitachi and
Microsoft to earn enough “Fxxk You Money”. He then never works again since 2006
and only earns through investment. Francis believes if you do what you love, money
will come. If you pursue your passion, you will find a way to make money by
doing that passion.
In total Francis has walked across America
4 times. He did his second one, the Pacific Crest Trail, 4200km and completed
in 4 months in 2006 when he was 36. His third one was the Continental Divide
Trail, 7000km as he did a round trip and spent 7 months in 2007 when he was 37.
The three trails he did are called the Triple Crowns in USA. To share his
insights and experiences, Francis published his first book “Hike Your Own
Hike”.
In 2008, Francis started his world trip. He
spent 3 years in the eastern part of Europe till 2011, and published his second
book “The Hidden Europe”.
The
Never Ending Gap year
Francis joked that he is now having his 8th
Gap Year. He has no plan to settle down in one country in the next 10 years, he
may do so if he feels really tired, and has a little home in a village. His other
travel plans include the Middle East, from Pakistan to Israel, and from India
to the east part of Asia and Russia, last but not least, get a sailing boat to
travel the Pacific Ocean including Australia, New Zealand and all the islands. However,
he believes once you take a gap year, you are addicted to it and knows it is
not that hard to go back to work, or to reintegrate, or to find a place to live.
How easy it is to leave things behind, and one can do it again anytime anywhere.
Francis thinks he is now living his dream,
and rated 9/10 on his happiness scale. He has no plan to have kids as they
limit his freedom, however, it will be better if he can find his travel
companion, and has the extra money to stay in nice hotels once in a while. He
believes what he is doing now is just a different way of life, and would rather
to focus on himself and try to inspire people as a way of giving back to the
society, like giving TED talks and writing books.
“Don’t be afraid of death, be afraid of an
unlived life. You don’t have to live forever, you just have to live” by Natalie
Babbitt, an American writer, Francis shared his favorite quote with me. Malaria
killed 1 million people every year in Africa, while Ebola only killed 5
thousands so far. Car accidents are preventable but people still don’t wear
seatbelts in cars or wear helmets on motorbikes. Francis would rather enjoy his
time traveling than worrying unpredictable things.
At last, Francis gave me his name card of Africa54.com
as the present for exchange. He also wrote on the back of the card “Whatever is
your #1 dream, you will achieve it”, a word for my next interviewee.
在坦桑尼亞女童院逗留兩星期當義工的中段，我遇上了Francis，一個來自美國的旅行記者，現在正花五年時間旅訪全非洲的五十四個國家。他和我一樣因為借宿網站而來到這家女童院，當天正打算跟院舍創辦人做錄影採訪，了解一下坦桑尼亞非營利機構的運作模式，於是我有機會當了他一天的私人錄影助理，也有機會了解他多采多姿的旅遊故事。
不為人知的非洲
當人們談論非洲，常常都只有兩種極端
- 天堂與地獄。天堂一樣的非洲滿佈大自然、土著部落、金字塔、野生動物；地獄一樣的非洲則充斥著愛滋病、災難，現在還有伊波拉病毒。不過，事實上非洲並不是只存在於這兩種極端環境中的， Francis希望能採訪人們沒有聽過看過的一面，電視節目和書籍都沒有報導或提及過的東西。
Francis舉出馬賽部落的例子，他們是全坦桑尼亞和肯亞最著名的土著，但人口卻原來只佔兩巴仙而已，可知傳媒報導怎樣能夠把細微的東西無限放大。Francis去年三月開始旅程，打算2017年底結束，一個月遊歷一個國家，直至走訪全非洲54個國家為止。他沿途一直錄影和採訪相遇的人和事，因為想讓人們明白和了解西非其實還有很多小國存在。暫時的計劃是旅途後出版一本書，還希望自己錄製的片段會被國家地理頻道所採用。
來自大城市的才俊
在三藩市長大， Francis的本科主修宗教，在拉丁美洲工作三年後，他到哈佛唸工商管理碩士，然後在矽谷開了一間公司，做了四年品質檢定的生意。
改寫一生的獨行
在2001年，Francis 31歲的時候進行了一生中第一次的長途徒步遠足，全長三千公里的Appalachian Trail，他花了四個月時間獨行，平均每天走三四十公里，那是他人生的轉捩點，一個人的旅途讓他好好沉澱和思考自己的生命。
從前生命中都被才俊所包圍，大家最擅長發問的問題是「怎樣賺取一億萬元？」但是Francis決定問自己一條不一樣的問題，「若果你已經擁有一億萬元，你會怎樣過生活？」他認識很多律師朋友，若果他們有一億萬元是不會當律師的，他也知道很多人有車有樓後亦已忘記了自己的夢想，從前唸工商管理的同學每個人亦也在忙於賺大錢。
最後， Francis找到了答案，為甚麼要等至自己擁有一千萬才去追夢呢？為甚麼不立即改變生命，現在就活得像個億萬富翁呢？Francis希望能當個旅遊作家，環遊世界，和當地人一起生活，認識別人，交流視野和經驗。他想要啟發身邊和世界各地的人，鼓勵別人去追夢。
活出夢想
確認了自己的夢想後，Francis需要賺取他所稱為的「X你錢」，有足夠的「X你錢」後，何時何地遇上不喜歡的工作環境或是人際關係，他都可以說「X你，我走了」。當他完成第一次徒步遠足後，他又花了四年在矽谷工作，在日立和微軟做咨詢工作去賺取他的「X你錢」。自2006年起Francis已經再沒有上班工作了，他只是靠投資來賺取收入，因為他相信，只要你做你喜歡的事情，金錢會自然跑來，只要你勇敢追夢，你定會找到方法賺錢。
總共走遍美國四次，Francis第二次的徒步遠足是在2006年完成的Pacific Crest Trail，他36歲的時候花了四個月來完成的四千二百公里。第三次是Continental Divide Trail，他來回走了一圈，共七千公里，在2007年37歲時共花了七個月時間完成。他徒步走過的三條路線在美國稱為「三個皇冠」，為了分享自己的得著和經驗，他出了第一本書「走自己的路」(Hike Your Own Hike)。
2008年，Francis正式開展他的環遊世界之旅，共花了三年時間走訪東歐，然後又出版了第二本書籍「隱蔽的歐洲」(The Hidden Europe)。
永不完結的間隔年
Francis笑說這是已經是他第八年的間隔年，未來十年他都沒有計劃在同一個國家停留長住，除非真的厭倦了旅行那可能會找一個小村落居住。他未來的旅途計劃包括中東，由巴基斯坦到以色列，然後是由印度到亞洲的東部和俄羅斯，最後，是買一艘帆船暢遊太平洋，遊歷澳洲、新西蘭和其餘島嶼。不過他相信，只要你曾經經歷過間隔年，你就像上了癮一樣，因為你知道回去找工作，或是重新融入社會，或是找一個地方居住，通通都不是那麼困難的事情。放下出走其實是一件很容易的事，何時何地都可以重新開始。
Francis覺得自己正在活出夢想，快樂指數有九分。他沒打算生兒育女，因為太防禦自由了，不過，他仍希望能找到一個願意和他同行的女伴，和有餘錢間中入住高級旅館。現在自己過的是不一樣的生活，他寧願把精力集中在自己身上，做TED演說和出版書籍去鼓勵別人和回饋社會。
「不要害怕死亡，寧願害怕一場沒有活過的生命；你不需要永遠生存，你只需要活著」，一位美國兒童文學作家Natalie Babbitt說的，這是Francis最愛的座右銘。在非洲每年有一百萬人因為瘧疾而死亡，但暫時卻只有五千人因為伊波接而過身。車禍可以避免，但仍然很多人不配戴安全帶或電單車頭盔。Francis寧願好好享受他的旅行，多於擔憂不能預計的東西。
最後， Francis給了我一張他Africa54.com的名片作交換禮物，他在卡後寫著「只要是放在第一位的夢想就必能實現」以鼓勵下一位追夢者。
