2014/11/17

Ochivaye Dreams 15­­ – Dream of Traveling the World of an American Travel Journalist 夢想專訪15 –美國旅遊記者的環遊世界夢

“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
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200737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。


旅行 原來是一場修行

也許,愉快和傷感必須要相對並存的。沒有悲傷,那裏會珍惜歡愉的可貴;沒有體驗過山谷的幽暗,那裏會懂得山頂的光明;未曾嘗試跌過落谷底,怎會知道一望無際的美好

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Ochivaye Dreams 中東空姐 繼續流浪+尋夢去

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每次有人出國或遠行,我們總習慣祝福別人「旅途愉快」,但旅途愉快真的是必然的嗎?天氣晴朗、行程順利、交通無阻、行李安全、身體健康,是否這些事情都達標便代表旅途一定愉快呢?

轉眼間,流浪出門已經八個月,原來,就算以上的情況都達標,也不一定代表旅程必定愉快的。一個人旅行,沒有意見不合的旅伴,卻會和自己內心爭吵,忘記了自己為甚麼會在這裏,質疑自己到底在幹甚麼。明明事事順境,一切安好,沒有不幸的事情發生,情緒,卻會不期然地跌入谷底,沒有別人的挑釁,卻自己跟自己鬧情緒,但其實自己也攪不懂到底發生甚麼事。

現代人習慣了依靠外物去令自己歡愉和快樂,上一次感到喜悅是甚麼時候?對學生來說可能是成績優異,入讀理想的學校;對在職人士來說可能是升職加人工;對旅者來說可能是遊覽了某個景點,或是征服了某個高峰。但現在不是主張學習做情緒的主人,不要把好心情寄託在外物之上嗎?就算烏雲蓋頂、狂風暴雨,心情也可以像天氣晴朗一樣風和日麗的。若果以這種邏輯思考,心情是不應依靠外在事物,因為心情是可以由內控制的。就如佛家所說,大喜大落是沒有意思的,因為一切事物都是不永久的,會來也會去,因為外物而影響心情是沒有意義的。有一陣子,我以為自己也有所頓悟了,放下了對外間的依賴和執著,自己做情緒的主人。平平淡淡的一天,內心卻充滿喜悅平安的感覺,沒有外物的觸動,完完全全由內而外發放的正能量。但原來,凡事是相向的,當正面情緒不需要原因時,負面情緒也一樣。同樣不需要任何外物的觸動,情緒卻不知不覺間跌至谷底,內心不由自主地悲憫起來,世間上好像只剩下負能量一樣。


也許,愉快和傷感必須要相對並存的。沒有悲傷,那裏會珍惜歡愉的可貴;沒有體驗過山谷的幽暗,那裏會懂得山頂的光明;未曾嘗試跌過落谷底,怎會知道一望無際的美好。原來,旅途就不應只有愉快的感覺。生命無常,人生起跌有時,也許,這些都是修行的一種,學會與自己內心溝通,學會聆聽內心的呼喚,學會明白內心的需要,學會體諒內心的無奈,學會了解內心的起伏。或許有一天,任何時候心境都能平靜如鏡,感到一切事情都平安順境美好,不受外界任何喜怒哀樂的干擾,不帶高低起伏,那,就如佛家所說,真的是大師級的境界了。

Moshi, Tanzania - Oct 2014