Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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San Francisco Examiner - March 25, 2004
Matt Elliser, Staff Writer
BELMONT - Alastair Humphreys sat in a T-shirt and flip-flops at a dining room table in Belmont and smiled as he talked about the job he almost took.
The 27-year-old Yorkshire, England native had an offer to become a schoolteacher in Oxford after graduating from a university, but got cold feet at the last moment.
"I couldn't bear the thought of going out and getting a regular job, and I wanted to make a career out of traveling," Humphreys said. "But if you're going to be a travel writer, you need to have something to write about."
That was Spring 2001, and since that time Humphreys has crossed 43 borders, and biked more than 25,000 miles on three different cycles finding things to write about. He left home Aug. 25, 2001 with his life savings of $11,000 and a plan to pedal around the world raising money for Hope and Homes For Children, a charity working to help children who have been orphaned by civil war and AIDS.
Humphreys has biked to the precipice of the White Cliffs of Dover, along the Nile River and to the Pyramids in Egypt, sweated in the desert in Sudan and climbed through the Patagonia's in South America. It was during a solitary ride at dusk on the Sutu road in Africa that Humphreys realized the significance of his undertaking.
"I was cruising on the highest road in Africa, 15,000 feet, and it was nearly sunset," Humphreys recalled. "It was freezing, and I didn't know where I was going to sleep. But it was so beautiful and I thought, 'No one in the world knows where I am right now.' At that moment it just really sunk in how fantastic it was to be on the trip."
Humphreys is currently staying with friends in Belmont before moving Tuesday to San Francisco for a scheduled two-week stay. The 50,000-mile, five-continent journey is expected to end sometime in 2005, when Humphreys will return to England.
A yacht trip from Cape Town, South Africa to Argentina and a boat ride through the Panama Canal are the only stretches of the trek for which Humphreys has not depended upon his bike. He has camped or stayed overnight in houses with people of countless cultures and ethnicities, with each place providing a unique and lasting story to tell.
The trip has not been all glorious sunsets and thrilling adventures, however. Humphreys had to push his bike for days through thick desert sand that his bike could not handle and has dealt with the loneliness of being on the road.
"When I first said goodbye to my mom and dad and brother, I waited until I was out of their view and just burst into tears," Humphreys said. "That first year I was just bawling all the time. It's strange, but it was probably simultaneously the worst and best year of my life."
Humphreys has documented his trip in photos and will speak and show his slides at 7:30 p.m. on March 26 at Hope Lutheran Church, 600 W. 42nd Ave., San Mateo. To contribute to Hope and Homes for Children, or for any additional information, go to Humphreys' Web site at www.roundtheworldbybike.com.
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