Se você tivesse um ano totalmente livre de responsabilidades e trabalho e pudesse escolher qualquer lugar para viajar para onde iria?

Confira as escolhas do autor Logan Crowe em uma história alucinante e cheia de surpresas…

If you had a year off from work, a year off from all responsibilities, no kids to worry about, could pick your travel partner, enough money to travel anywhere on a beer budget, where would you go? Would you head for the nearest International airport, get on a plane for parts unknown? Or walk down to the garage, load up your favorite 4 wheel drive utility vehicle and hit the road?

I picked my best school friend Scott. After 6 months of preparation we were ready. We had spent the prior 6 months getting visas for all the countries we expected to visit, getting immunization shots for every conceivable tropical disease, getting some vials of morphine, just in case.. The next to last thing we did was fill up with supplies of dried food and SPAM. Boy oh boy, I actually came to love spam, spam with dried potatoes, spam with everything you can imagine. After our containers were full of food, 4 months worth, we were ready to say goodbye to family, thank them for being so generous with their money. If truth be known, they were probably glad to see us leave, we had been boring them to death with our plans for months. Now rest for them and adventure for us. Our vehicle had two extra gas tanks in addition to the standard 15 gallon standard tank. On the roof we had 20 ‘jerry’ cans full of gas that held 5 gallons each.

Day one we set off for the closest port that had a daily ferry across the continent from the little island where we both grew up.. The customs and passport control people were surprised to see such an overloaded vehicle arrive. BUT they spoke English, so did we, so there was much teasing and jeering. After a hardy slap on the back and good luck, we were released to drive onto the ferry, setting sail for the first leg of our adventure. Once on the ferry we had to leave our vehicle and climb upstairs to the passenger area, we were both uncomfortable leaving our aspirations, our supplies, our everything under a flimsy lock, without us being there to add a level of security. Nonetheless we had to leave.

In the passenger area we sat on a bench inside close to a food court, bar and duty free area. Our budget was tight so we only watched other passengers filling up on greasy foods whilst we watched and smelled the great aromas of “shipboard” food! Soon we left the dock, and the old ferry started rocking and swaying as the bow hit the the rough waves of a winter sea outside the protected harbor. Soon the swells of a rough sea turned the greasy spoon smells coming from the restaurant into nausea, many first time boat travelers rushed outside the warm confined passenger area to get some fresh air, only to be greeted by a wave of vomit from other first time sea faring passengers.

We tried to hold onto the contents of our stomachs, but the smell of turkish cigarettes mixed with alcoholic beverages from some hardy travelers were giving us dry heaves. We tried to find a way to walk to the front of the outside deck, so as to not have to deal with the vomiting passengers outside the restaurant. We finally found fresh air.

Do you remember the scene from Titanic when the hero and heroine were standing on the front of the Titanic, wind blowing gently in their hair, cool, calm, good looking, clothes neatly pressed? Well Scott and I were standing at the forward most spot we could find, we were drenched from the rain soaked wind carrying salt water to pummel our faces. Or clothes bedraggled, definitely a Titanic moment, NOT!!!

Eventually our boat entered calmer waters, we were now sailing into the port of our first stop on our adventure. Fortunately we both spoke enough French to get by. Tired after a night awake on board a ferry we cleared customs and hit the road going south, we had a 1000 kilometers to go to our next port of call.

Our adventure had begun….

Confira a continuação no livro: The Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls