A collection of the most quoted questions I heard during this year, waiting and planning Africa
HOW DID YOU FIND OUT SUCH A PROJECT?
On Internet. It was the 2nd of January of this year and I was on Facebook reading pages of travelers around the world and suddenly I found the ad of this guy, Garry, who was looking for people to start his project in Africa in 2013 called Vikings Across Africa, from Reykjavik to Cape Town, overlanding Western Africa in a truck for six months,. I remember I got stacked on the sofa for a couple of minutes, fixing the screen in an astonished status of ecstasy before starting to jump everywhere in the kitchen laughing aloe and screaming “Oh my god I go to Africa!”.
I immediately wrote an email to Garry to let him know I was part of it, I couldn’t sleep all night for the happiness, and the day after I received his reply and from that moment I always felt like on the truck already.
ARE YOU GOING WITH A TOUR OPERATOR?
No, it’s not a tour operator, neither a travel agency. It’s a totally independent project created by someone who just loved it so much the first time that wants to do it again.
ARE YOU GOING ALONE?
No, together with other 15 people.
DO YOU KNOW THEM?
No. We are now in contact through Facebook, but I don’t know any of them.
WHERE ARE THEY FROM?
Mostly from Iceland, then England, Sweden, Denmark. I am the only Mediterranean in it, and for sure the less Vikings of all of them.
HOW ARE YOU GOING TO TRAVEL?
BY truck. We will cross Africa with a war truck that Garry, the organizer, bought last year and redesigned to travel with 15 other people.
WHERE WILL YOU SLEEP?
Mainly in tends, camping, fully in touch with the wild.
NO BED FOR SIX MONTHS?
Yup! I am in Africa. Who cares?
ARE YOU NOT SCARED?
Yes I am, and it’s normal. I am leaving everything behind and go for a great adventure in places that are dangerous, but the willing of adventure is bigger than every fear.
DID YOU GET ALL THE VACCINATIONS?
Yes, I did. 12 vaccinations and I already bought the malaria pills, which I am going to start to take when I get to Morocco.
SOME PLACES CAN BE VERY DANGEROUS, AR EYOU AWARE OF THIS?
Yes we are, and we are also not stupid. We will try to avoid the dangerous areas and have alternatives routes in cases.
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO BRING WITH YOU?
A backpack with some clothes. A couple of sweaters for the European part, and some summer clothes, few t-shirts and short pants for the rest of the trip. I don’t want to bring too much, as it’s useless. I really want to travel light. I will bring some soap to wash my clothes and once dry I will wear them again. I am going to bring my sleeping bag, some extra batteries for the electronics (especially for my camera) and my camera’s tripod.
The most important thing I bring with me is actually my camera and my laptop, to communicate with all of you as much as I can and show you everything of this amazing adventure.
WILL YOU BRING SOME MEDICINES?
Yes I will. I will bring some Paracetamol and antibiotics, some bandages, pain killers, sun screen protection and tissues.
DO YOU KNOW YOU WON’T HAVE INTERNET WHEN YOU ARE THERE?
I know, even if it’s not fully true, considering that most of the spam emails comes usually from Nigeria and African countries. There is Internet in Africa, even if the connection may not be as fast as the one we have and uploading photos can take ages compared to what we are used here. I will resize the photos as try to upload them as small as I can.
For the rest it’s not a big issue not to have internet. The aim of such a trip is also to unplug with all the things we think we can’t live without, internet inclusive, and go back to basics for a while, enjoying the feeling of freedom and wild you can get in some of the most remote places of Planet Earth.
ARE YOU EXCITED?
Yes, I am excited. Of course. I am going to travel for six months across some of the most remote places on the planet, experiencing life at its purest top, leaving everything behind, and I cannot be happier and more excited that this.
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WHEN THE TRIP FINISH? WILL YOU COME BACK TO ITALY, OR EUROPE IN GENERAL?
I don’t know yet. I will come back to Europe one day, as here I have my family and friends,, but when the trip will be finished I don’t really think to come back immediately. I will be in Cape Town, in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, on the other side of the world, people pay thousands of Euros to go on holiday there and I will be just arrived. I pretty much think I will stop by for a while, to recharge, get a job to get some money and then leave again. But I don’t have any idea where to…
WHAT DID YOUR FAMILY SAY WHEN YOU TOLD THEM ABOUT AFRICA?
That I am crazy, but either I and them already knew it. At the beginning they didn’t agree me to leave my job, my house, my normal life for just an adventure. And they were also worried about how such an experience can change you and how it can make it difficult o come back to the normal life afterword, but then when we started talking and they started hearing my motivations, they just let me go and do it, as usual. It’s just typical Manu the say…and it’s true.
ARE YOU NOT SCARED ABOUT HOW IT CAN BE DIFFICULT TO COME BACK TO THE “NORMAL”LIFE AND START ALL OVER AGAIN?
Well, first of all I never said I want to come back to my “normal” life! 😉
And second, I am aware of this, but I am conscious also of how much such an experience can change me and it’s useless to start thinking about it now, before even starting the trip.
For sure this adventure will influence my future choices and decisions, for sure it will enrich me and make me more conscious about a lot of different situations in life, that are not only the ones you see on television, but that’s what I want, I am not scared of this, I am prepared to get the shock and if necessary to change my perspectives forever.
YOU MUST BE VERY BRAVE, I COULD NEVER DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT…
I am not brave, but I love challenging myself. I would die of boredom if I had to do the same thing for the rest of my life.
I am aware of my possibilities and of my limits, but for these ones I always try to push them further, because I get really excited when I do that.
I am convinced everybody can do something like that. The limits are in your brain, in your fear of leaving your comfort zone and until you don’t get rid of it, you won’t move.
DO YOU KNOW I COULD DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS ONLY IF IT WAS FOR 6 MONTHS IN 5 START HOTELS, WTH ALL THE COMFORTS, A BED, A SHOWER AND A SWIMMING POOL?
Well, then poor you!