Traveling abroad, the marvelous adventure once reserved only for individuals with substantial fortunes, is now viewed as almost commonplace among American college students. From spending a semester abroad to joining the Peace Corps, college students are jumping at the many opportunities to travel in record numbers. How many people, however, would willingly travel across a foreign country by hitchhiking?
Actually, there is one. Ludovic Hubler, a young French man, has committed to traveling across not just one foreign country, but the entire globe, by hitchhiking. He began his unbelievable trek on Jan. 1, 2003, and he hasn’t looked back since. His only rule is that he cannot spend any money on transportation. So far his route has taken him to six continents. According to his Web site, www.ludovichubler.com, he is currently making his way through Tajikistan.
This seemingly impossible journey, completely reliant upon the goodwill of strangers, is an amazing feat by itself. Hubler, however, is a man who is willing to take risks, and he has embraced opportunities to travel to exotic and often dangerous locations. This daring Frenchman traveled by boat to Antarctica, and traveled to the repressive regimes of Myanmar and Tibet, where human rights are nonexistent and travel is dangerous. In Tibet, he even met with the Dalai Lama.
As I perused the fascinating articles on his Web site, I was most stunned at his reports of his travel to North Korea. Hubler details just how brutal and repressive this last post of Stalinism is. His trip to North Korea was the only time he abandoned his rules of hitchhiking; on the North Korean border, this would have been a guaranteed death sentence. While in Pyongyang, he managed to illegally snap a few photographs. These photos, and his stories, provide a rare look at the truths of daily life under the dictator Kim Jung II.
Throughout his journey, Hubler has worked on a variety of humanitarian projects. Before he left, he became a Big Brother for 30 children battling cancer in his hometown of Strasbourg, France. He has kept in contact with the children through the Internet, and they have followed his inspirational journey. He is a great example to these children of what a determined individual can achieve even when the odds against them seem impossible. Hubler has also worked on other projects at hospitals in Cambodia and Brazil. Wherever his travels have brought him, he has demonstrated his generous spirit and compassion for the people of the world by documenting their stories and in return telling them his own story. All around the world, local people have overwhelmingly supported him in his remarkable journey, whether by giving him free rides, donating money to his cause, or simply applauding his efforts.
By following his reports, country by country, Hubler has made it evident to me that despite the enormous disparities in wealth that exist in the world, all people have the same desires. From Azerbaijan to Australia, and from the United States to Uruguay, we all want to laugh, we all want to see progress, we all want to provide a strong life for our loved ones, and sometimes, we all just want to be inspired.
In these troubling and confusing times, when 1.5 billion people live on only $1 a day and the frightening issues of terrorism and global warming seem unsolvable, it is easy to become pessimistic. However, the people that Hubler has met possess an amazing human quality: even in the worst circumstances, people are overwhelmingly resilient. In the most depressing situations, we can find a reason not only to cry, but to laugh.
In the next few years, when the details of these problems become more evident and we are struggling to find a solution, we must remember the similarities that connect us. As Americans, it is easy and sometimes just convenient to ignore the suffering of people in foreign lands. In our continuing search for solutions, we cannot only focus on the problems afflicting our own country.
Laura Byland is a sophomore international relations major.
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