An Incredible Journey - Switzerland-Shanghai by Skateboard

This great travel story starts back in mid 2006 when Kiwi traveller Rob Thomson set out to cycle from Japan to England via the Pamir Plateau in Tajikstan (the so called Roof of the World at over 4000 meters above sea level).  Unfortunately due to a late departure Rob trained across China instead of the planned ride and so the story begins.

Fast forward 2 years and after ditching his bike in Switzerland, Rob has skateboarder a route across three continents travelling some 12,000 km round the world, by himself with just his skateboard.   His decision to end this awesome journey in Shanghai motivated by that train ride.  I “settled on travelling back to China to complete unfinished business by skateboarding the section that had take the train across at the very beginning of the journey” Rob said.

Virtually meandering across the world with no fixed itinerary Rob explains the need for flexibility sometimes detouring for over a days skating because of poor or busy roads.  His blog has an emotional 10 part video log, the tenth of which deals with loneliness - which according to Rob was perhaps worst in Eastern China: “Surrounded by millions of people, stared at by millions of people, I felt disjointed from society and the environment around me.”  Loneliness while travelling is something I think we all struggle with, but surely the mere physical exhaustion and immense quantity of the unknown that skateboarding would bring must make it so much harder.  You really have to admire Rob for his commitment and perseverance.  These sort of travel stories really blow me away.

You really get a sense of Rob’s commitment (and dear I say it somewhat insanity) when he recites the story of one of his low points in Arizona, U.S.

I had skated 6,500km in an unbroken line, and 10km from a small town called Quartzsite in the middle of the desert I was stopped on the wide shoulder of the interstate highway by the police. I was told under no uncertain terms that I was not allowed to go any further on my skateboard. After lengthy negotiation, I resigned to the fact that I would have to either walk the remaining 30km to the next alternative route, or take a ride. I chose to walk through the desert. The frustration and feelings of helplessness were too much to bear, and I screamed at the top of my lungs, cursing and swearing and crying, the silence of the desert mocking my despair. I walked 10km that afternoon, and due to time constraints (I had a speaking engagement in a week’s time) I was forced to hitch a ride for the remaining 20km. For a long while those 20km cast a massive shadow over my sense of accomplishment for the trip across the US.

Just about makes you want to scream and cry yourself.

What has Rob taken away from this trip.  He says that early on he discovered that taking the road less travelled is always much more rewarding - despite the fact you will suffer, hurt, and curse more your will always come out with a greater story.  “You’ll have a spot in your memory that will take your breath away every time you revisit it.”

For me personally it is this sort of travel that I think is the ultimate in backpacking and something I really draw inspiration from.  Unfortunately, I don’t think this blog is necessarily about this as this morning I started work on a post about choosing a commercial backpacking operator to travel from in countries like Australia and New Zealand - a far cry from the awesomeness of skateboarding around the world.  But I do think they are completely related - we can’t all escape for two years and live at subsistence level while taking the slow route.  However, I think nearly every backpacking experience should be about taking yourself outside your comfort level, challenging your own perceptions of everyday life, and having unique authentic experiences.  Whether that involves challenging yourself cage diving with sharks in South Africa, taking a Eurail across Europe, or a completely unplanned trip to Mongolia (as I did a few years ago) then I think we all battle the some demons of loneliness, an oft sense of helplessness over financial situations and many times a complete sense of being a fish out of water whether due to cultural, racial, national situations or just that funny deep breath you take when you walk into a hostel bar that evening for the first time by yourself hoping to strike up a few conversations and make some friends.

Rob on the other hand just makes me want to run away and tackle the Pamir Plateau - thanks for the inspiration - hopefully we can meet in New Zealand.

There is a full interview with Rob at the Lost Laowi Blog.