Omar Nok launched into a nine-month journey from Egypt to Japan with one rule: no planes.
The restriction, he discovered, turned out to be something however limiting. He camped on the Nice Wall of China, rode horseback by way of the mountains of Kyrgyzstan and “chilled” with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Taking different modes of transport, he stated, “lets you see extra of the world.”
“It is extra eventful. Issues can occur on the best way,” Nok stated. “I wish to see as a lot of the world as I can and never skip something.”
Nok, a 30-year-old Egyptian German primarily based in his native Cairo, stated he left a gentle job in finance so he might use the time (and the cash he saved up) to journey.
Earlier than this journey, he’d by no means traveled east of Egypt. This previous week — 275 days later — he made it to Tokyo, his end line capping a 28,700-mile zig-zag route that started in February.
To get there, he traveled by foot, hitchhiking, bus, prepare, ferry, motorbike, sea barge, cargo ship, bicycle, camel and horse. He is diligently documented his day by day adventures on his Instagram account, which has ballooned to greater than 750,000 followers. His solely fixed was his backpack, no heavier than 28 kilos, crammed with a couple of week’s price of garments.
A “no spoilers” journey plan
When it got here to planning the journey, Nok had his locations mapped out, however his day by day itinerary was loosely plotted. He made a degree to not analysis each vacation spot. Preserving himself at nighttime a bit when touring, he stated, helps him restrict his expectations and keep open to new folks, locations and experiences.
“The locations I’ve been impressed by probably the most have been locations that I didn’t have a look at photos of beforehand or possibly I checked out photos however a very long time in the past,” he stated.
As an alternative, he places his belief within the locals — and himself.
“As an example I am hosted by somebody and I do know that beforehand — then I do not do any analysis. They will inform me what’s there to see and do,” he stated. “As a result of I strive as a lot as potential to, as an instance, keep away from spoilers.”
“If [I] discover a place I wish to see sometime, I all the time put it aside on the map,” he added. “My map is stuffed with bookmarks. Then I belief my previous self that put the bookmark within the first place to go and see that place.”
Hospitality and connection in surprising locations
With some nations, he stated, it was not possible for him to not are available with preconceived notions. His perceptions of some nations within the Center East and Central Asia, for instance, had been coloured by information protection that has lengthy forged the area as unsafe and conflict-ridden. However his precise experiences, he stated, upended these expectations.
He left with a special impression. What stood out to Nok throughout that stretch of his journey — to Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan — was the heat and generosity of the folks there.
“I feel they share these similarities — that hospitality is sort of a code of their tradition. Not simply one thing good — it is extra like of a code,” he stated. “In nations most individuals in all probability could be hesitant to go to, [they] even have the friendliest folks you may meet.”
Aided by a language translation app, his first night time in Iran effectively illustrated that. He arrived throughout Nowruz, Persian New Yr — a peak time for lodge stays and journey there.
“By the point I cleared customs immigration, it was 1 a.m.,” he recalled. “So, there isn’t a lodging place and I am with out web due to web restrictions there and so forth. And I am like, ‘OK, what now?’ “
He was sleepily backpacking the streets when an area stopped him: “He was curious and after simply a few questions, he provided me to enter his automobile in order that he would drive me someplace with lodging,” Nok stated.
“Clearly, it is a large no for 99% of individuals,” he added. “However I adopted my instincts and my instincts informed me he is a great individual and simply wanting to assist.”
“He informed me: Hey, why do not you come sleep at my place? I will name my brother, I will name my pal, and we’ll make a pleasant night time of it, night out of it.”
After they shared a dinner collectively, his host insisted that Nok keep in his mattress whereas he took the sofa.
“That is similar to day one in Iran. So it was like, wow, what a welcome,” he stated. “And it was consultant of additionally of the folks I met there.”
Early on within the journey, Nok made his personal account public after some nudging from buddies. He stated his posts have fueled a constructive dialogue within the feedback part.
“I might see it all the time, in every single place within the feedback — the viewers of the journey had been studying that there are good folks in every single place. It does not matter the nation, race, faith. We as people, we’ve extra in widespread than we’ve variations.”
He hopes to show his on-line reputation into sponsorships to fund his future travels.
Having crossed his end line, he’ll return residence quickly to Cairo — with plans to relaxation up for his subsequent journey.
How will he get again residence?
“I booked the flight already,” he stated. “It was a bizarre feeling at first — it is bizarre having traveled for that lengthy after which, like, ‘How do I ebook a flight once more?’ “