Is it possible to travel around the world in a safe way?
November 8th, 2009 | 
Author: While I was considering weather it is possible to travel around the world in a safe way somebody handled me this article about a man planning to drive around the world. Heading out from New York he will be spending a year driving down South America, up through Africa, east out of Europe and onwards through Asia and then finally the homestretch, a cross country drive through the US. It definitely sounds exciting to me.
I just thought about the fact that I have read several stories about circumnavigating the world in different ways. Be it by car, motorcycle and boat. Amazing stories like that always inspire my imagination but they all seem to involve danger to a certain extent. I just remembered a fantasy I had when I was younger and had just completed my flying training and had a brand new flight certificate. I dreamt of getting my own single engine airplane and fly it around the world. I could see pictures in my imagination of me flying over Africa like Denys in “Out of Africa” with hoards of animals running below the plane (and this was even before the film was actually made). But would it have been a safe way to travel around the world? Probably not…
Well as you may imagine, nothing came of it. And nothing has, so far, come out of the stories I’ve read about driving, riding, sailing or walking around the world. When we’ve been traveling to places outside of Europe, we’ve always “only” been flying. Even though this way of traveling around the world doesn’t make the headlines it is definitely the most common one. And to be honest we have never felt in any kind of danger.
And this is something to keep in mind. The newspapers and other media are not interested in the ordinary. They don’t cover ordinary stories. They want something unique and special. Therefore, most of the stories about people traveling around the world are describing out of the ordinary journeys that are dangerous or special in some way.
This is also probably why the name of the blog about this man who’s driving around the word isn’t just “Trans World Expedition” but it also has the subtitle: “The year of living dangerously”.
Why? I don’t know how dangerous this journey may be. Maybe he is risking his life by taking off on this adventure? But then maybe it is not more dangerous than walking down certain streets in his home town New York?
The thing I am trying to get at anyway is that even though these fantastic stories can inspire us to take off on our own journey they can also have a discouraging effect. They can actually scare us from daring to do anything about our dreams. We just feel we are not adventures or courageous enough. Instead we stay in the comfort and security of our home.
But I want to tell you that it is possible to make longer journeys just as adventures or secure as you want them to be. Don’t let these stories of brave young men discourage you. You can be old and grey and still do your thing. You can bring your kids without putting them through any kind of danger greater than an ordinary day in school.
The world may seem big and dangerous from the safety of your home. And maybe some parts are. But what’s also important to remember is that the world is a big place where most people really are friendly and helpful and where you can feel safe.
Friendliness and safety aren’t things, unfortunately, that create big headlines and catches peoples attention. Therefore you don’t hear much about it in the TV news. The focus of the media is not on the safe and harmonious places in the world but rather on chaotic and unstable ones. Because of this our awareness of the world around us sometimes runs the risk of being a bit unbalanced.
If you’re considering traveling and for some reason don’t feel totally safe about it, having a look at our Crime and Terrorism page may be of some help.
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The thought, ‘different strokes for different folks’ come to mind. I’ve always also admired these brave souls that take on the world with nothing but a one man tent and a survival knife. I thought long and hard about doing something crazy like that myself, but in the end realized I wouldn’t really get a kick out of it the way they do. Even though I try to do the adventurous from time to time, e.g. river rafting, quad biking, etc I try and keep it within what I would still class as fun. All power to the rest of them!
I absolutely agree with you Josh. No point doing it if it isn’t fun. But then what is fun is of course very individual. And I am not the too extreme person either.
I think it is great you have provided some information on crime reports when traveling since not knowing a place can be potentially dangerous can really put you in a bind.
I do agree the media tends to focus only on the bad things and it makes us skeptical about traveling to certain areas.
Dan @ Florida Vacation Rentals´s last blog ..Destin Vacation Home
Yes it is sad that the media is more successful if they focus on the bad things :sad:
We will just have to counterbalance that by focusing on the good things. Like how great long term traveling is :lol:
Maybe there’s not really. Travelling isn’t that safe anyway, flying isn’t that safe and any other way of travelling around the world would require a lot of stamina and endurance.