Jun 23 2009
24 Travellers To Inspire You
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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I've been travelling since January 2008 living off earnings from the web. Follow me as I bum around Asia and beyond, getting up to mischief and working online as I go. 
Wow, thanks for the link-love
I also follow most of these blogs, but you’ve given me a couple I hadn’t seen before! Thanks 
I hope my language learning tips help you leave behind your “monolingual” ways 
Thanks for including us in this list of other inspirational travelers and people! Our family and friends also wonder when this journey will end - our original plan was to travel the world in 12-18 months. But, 2.5 years in we still have many more places to explore before we’re done
Hope to meet in person soon in Nicaragua!
I would also recommend Ryan Runs Europe (http://ryanrunseurope.blogspot.com/). I just started reading his blog Friday and it’s been enjoyable.
I’d also recommend Alastair Humphreys (http://www.alastairhumphreys.com/). Rode around the world, rowed the English Channel and a host of other adventures.
Cool list! I loved “A Map for Saturday” by Brook Silva-Braga too. You should also check out www.moderngonzo.com by Robin Esrock, a travel writer who also has a show called “Word Travels”. He writes beautifully and has some amazing stories from his travels.
Great list. thanks for taking the time to write it up.
oo look…new bloggers to follow. thanks
Great list!
So…I ran across one (but didn’t subscribe [D’Oh]) about a guy that’s traveling the world looking for some place to call home….anyone recall what blog that is? Link?
Hey all, thanks for the comments and the suggestions. The link is http://www.thelongestwayhome.com and he was on my list but didn’t ge tback to me in time with permission to use a photo (he had a warning type thing at the bottom of his site about using photos.) I will add him if he gets back to me with one.
Great list, thanks for introducing me to even more great travel bloggers!
Great list of people, many of them are friends we have met online since we started our open ended family world tour in 2006! Thanks for helping me find a couple of new travelers!
We have been to 4 continents, 29 countries, over 86,000 miles so far ( most overland) using every mode of transportation from cargo ships to camels & over 3 million people have watched our soultravelers3 videos so far. We take thousands of disadvantaged school kids from Harlem, South Bronx etc with us virtually through the award winning nonprofit Reach The World.
I think we have been continually traveling longer than any other travel blogging family & have a passion about letting other families know that this is a very doable & rewarding life. We live large on just 25K a year total & find it easier and more rewarding to do than most people realize.
70% of families dream of doing extended travel. I want them to know they can!! In today’s world, it is not just for singles or couples, families can do this too and we have found it the best possible education for our child.
Hi Kirsty,
Just figured out it was your email I replied to a few mins ago as I didn’t see a website name in the mail. I got it two days ago but was out in the middle of nowhere in The Philippines.
I already subscribe to your feed so just saw your post now and put 2 & 2 together!
@ will, thanks for the mention and feel free to subscribe!
All the best
Dave
Wow very good list… will take me some time to read all these people’s adventures. Thanks.
Roz Savage is somebody that you might want to include:
http://www.twitter.com/rozsavage
Also Nate Ajello:
http://www.twitter.com/melloajello
Somebody mentioned Alastair but I will say it again: http://www.alastairhumphreys.com
Thanks for the list. A few new inspiring travellers for me to follow.
Great list, Kirsty - some seriously inspiring people!
Makes me realise how conventional my LI lifestyle is. And maybe I should point people to this post when they think I’m being crazy and doing risky stuff - it’s nothing compared to these people!
You guys rock!
Cath
http://www.trabanttrek.org this dudes went from Germany to Cambodia in 3 Trabants, probably the shittiest car ever build. Their stories are amazing
http://poraquiporalla.com - sadly this is only in Romanian, French and Spanish - this is not out of extraordinary, guess others did similar things, it’s a family traveling in a RV trailer with 3 kids (1, 4 and 7 yrs old)
As soon as I think I’ve identified the major players in a field, I find a list like this and my whole world is turned upside-down (in a good way, of course
You’ve given me some really excellent content to dig through, here. Thanks!
[…] - 24 travellers to inspire you […]
You really gathered great insuperable list of travelers, hard to say who is the best, not an easy task of traveling. all are Champs !!
Wow unicicyling across Canada? That’s really unique! Haha the naked Rambler, I am sure he’s gotten into some trouble a few times in his life. I love skateboarding! So of course I think its pretty awesome that Dave skateboarded across Australia! These are some really cool peeps.
-Kevin
Nice stuff! Thanks for sharing such wonderful information.
thanks for sharing:)
my travels aren’t really thematic and don’t have to do with the work i do (web dev) along the way to fund the lifestyle. i’ve been toying with the idea of gathering folk dances from different areas i go (though i always get sidetracked on art projects or other random things). but i had a great time dancing La Murga with “los Chiflados de Boedo” in buenos aires. part of the story here if you’re curious: http://www.jonahgoldstein.com/site/stumbling_into_murga
themes are fun. focus is great. and these stories definitely definitely push me in that direction… maybe:)
thanks again.
Nice article, it is really helpful to all.
Great Post. thanks For sharing the Useful info. It’s really helpful info.
Nice article, Great list. thanks for taking the time to write it up.
Wow I made this list. Awesome.
Great list too, cool to see what others are up to.
Thanks for this cool list - a few personal friends on their, a few “virtual friends” and a few new people for me to start following - thanks for this list!
Al Humphreys
Great list. Thanks for sharing info.
[…] On the other hand, posts about general travel related topics or things like preparing for a trip are things that a lot of people can relate to. I would guess that most people who are into reading travel blogs are people who have travelled or who want to travel and are preparing and general travel topics are something people who have been can relate to and people who are going can offer up an opinion about, at least. When I read a post about ‘this is where I am and this is what I’m doing’, unless the person is doing something truly amazing in that place, it doesn’t grab my imagination in quite the same way as a post about general travel topics like The Downside of Long Term Travel or 24 Travellers to Inspire You and I’m not as likely to leave a comment. What do you think? I comment on posts I can either offer up advice for or have an opinion on or sometimes even if I just want to tell the person that I liked their posts and what they’re doing. What makes you comment on a person’s blog? Are destination guide type posts usually something you will offer up a comment about if you haven’t been there? […]
You really gathered great insuperable list of travelers, hard to say who is the best, not an easy task of traveling