This idea of a round the world trip was born back in Autumn 2017, right after watching the movie “The Motorcycle Diaries”, introduced to me by my dear friend Mors. The movie tells the story of Ernesto “Che” Guevara and Alberto Granado, who travelled far and wide around South America in 1952, at the age of 23 and 30, respectively. I already had in mind to travel the world, in some way, but that film really shook me up and some minutes after The End, when the turmoil of my mind started to settle, my friend should remember that I exclaimed: “Ma noi… avremo 23 anni tra solo due anni! Quando partiamo? [“So we… we’ll have 23 years in two years! When are we departing?]
Back then I still had to graduate in my bachelor and one thing I clearly understood from the movie is that you’d better finish your studies before travelling, otherwise there are big chances that you’re never going to finish them. Therefore I produced a plan: to graduate in July 2020 and depart in the 40 days between my master degree and my birthday, still aged 23. I even wrote it on a bivouac diary during my bachelor internship in the Italian Apennine mountains, while working in a wolf conservation project. That written promise to complete my studies in time was a great spur to realize my plan.
Two years later, after a long, sleepless struggle and with great pain, I saw my promise broken and I had to postpone the departure because I still had to complete my thesis. I had been able to complete my research internship in Costa Rica despite the pandemic, with the biggest stroke of luck of my life. That wasn’t enough, the data analysis was way more demanding than I expected. Eventually I graduated on the 8th of October 2020, surrounded by my family and friends, the first one of my faculty to discuss the thesis in university since March 2020. Back then I said: “I’d like to leave before Christmas.”
Third wave of Covid. You shall not leave.
By then I thought: “Ok it’s very late, but I’m pretty sure I can leave by Easter, or maybe on the 200th anniversary of the death of Napo (5 May 1821), or even on the first day of Summer, at least”
That was not the case. I had started the construction of a 5.25 m folding kayak in November, but it still had to be completed, and I was determined to finish it before leaving. That was one of those many projects that kept me busy as I waited for the borders to open.
The kayak was launched on the 4th of July 2021. Then I started to dedicate myself to this travel. During the years, my initial “travel around, in the world” [girare per il mondo], was misunderstood multiple times by those to whom I told my plans, becoming a “round-the-world travel” [il giro del mondo], a totally different thing. So what’s your choice: Captain Nemo or Phileas Fogg? The difference seems slight, but truly the whole thing becomes a lot more ambitious. One could just buy a plane ticket to India, then reach South-East Asia, travel across Australia and come back to Europe: that would be “travelling around”, at any moment you can turn back and, as you reach home, the voyage is complete. If you embark on a round the world trip, it means that once you reach Australia you’re far from being halfway to home, having crossed just 140 meridians out of 360. You’re bound to leave from the front door and come back from the back door, or vice versa.
Now it is October 2021 and the departure is close, very close. A dream is becoming history.