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This Guy's Journey From Singapore To Canada Without Flights Is An Epic Story That Deserves A Movie


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We have seen so many stories of people finding new ways to travel through the world and we have always lived vicariously through them. 

Any adventurous story is enough to give us a boost of motivation to plan out our journey but most of the time, it never pans out.

Well, here's a story of a 20-year-old who managed to travel from Singapore to Canada without taking a single flight, but instead visiting multiple cities on a journey of a lifetime.

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When Ganesha Balakrishnan was 20, in the year 2018, he had just finished his mandatory two-year military service and had 10 months left before he started university in Canada. So naturally, he decided to take off from Singapore months in advance and make his own way to Montreal. 

He had some experience in hitchhiking through different cities as he took a trip to Europe before his military service. 

Talking to VICE, he said, "I was forced to hitchhike because I was robbed in Amsterdam, the very first European city I visited [in the trip]. I only had a couple of euros left. I felt like it was a calling, as if it happened for a purpose. So, I hitchhiked and it was a very pleasant experience. I’ve been addicted to it ever since then." 

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Explaining his motivation behind hitchhiking and couch-surfing through the world, he said, "I really wanted to do something that not many people have done, or maybe even no one has done before." 

In November 2018, he packed a backpack with just his laptop, DSLR camera, and some clothes, before embarking on his epic adventure. 

From November 2018 to August 2019, he managed to travel through 23 countries, including China, North Korea, Iran, and Germany. 

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From Singapore, he went to Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Across the Mekong River, he rode a boat. He went from China to North Korea, and back, then travelled across Central Asia.

And then, he made his way to Germany. From there, he took a cargo ship across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States. 

After meeting his parents in New York, he drove to Montreal for his studies. 

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With a daily budget of SG$25 ($19), he relied mainly on a couch-surfing website that let people host others for free. 

He said, "Couch-surfing worked in most places but not all the time. There’s a bit of luck with it. ...There were times where I couldn’t find a host,” he said. “[If that happened], I’d go to a very cheap hostel. But if the hostel was a bit over my budget, then I’d pitch a tent at a park or beach. Sometimes, I slept at train stations if I was too lazy to set up the tent." 

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While most of the time he got lucky and had pleasant hosts, he recalled one incident in Tajikistan where his host locked him in his room and turned off his mobile hotspot. 

He said, "This incident happened at around 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. I don’t know how most people would react in this situation but I very calmly just went to bed. At around 2 a.m., I woke up and he [the host] was still sleeping. So, I packed my bag, opened the window, jumped out, and made an escape." 

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For him, the fact that his journey was unplanned was so much better. He said, "The beauty of travelling like that is that you will get lost. I know it sounds cliche, but when you get lost, you see a different side of the country you never expect to see. You get to meet people whom you would have otherwise not have met." 

Speaking about his personal growth throughout the adventurous journey, he said, "Prior to this trip, I never really did anything interesting, or courageous, or brave. But during this trip, I pushed myself as much as possible. So, I learnt that the limits that I thought I had before this trip weren’t really there. If anything, it was me, myself, and my thinking that limited myself." 

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He even wrote a book called The Long Direction: A flightless journey from Singapore to Canada about all the months he spent travelling and having the most envious adventure. 

Source - VICE


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