Getting over your 'doorstep mile'
British explorer, author and motivational speaker, Alastair Humphreys recently gave a keynote lecture at the university I work in. He was invited to speak as part of an enrichment program. Below is an edited version of an article I wrote on his visit. The chap is ridiculously inspiring if you have itching feet and want away. Check out his website and prepare to be consumed with jealousy.
For the love of exploring
British explorer and author, Alastair Humphreys, gave an entertaining and insightful keynote lecture detailing the life of a modern adventurer as part of this year’s enrichment program. The affable British explorer spoke to community members on Tuesday, April 18, as he detailed his travels, anecdotes, inspirations, fears, aspirations, motivations, goals, as well as sharing advice and encouragement.
Humphreys regaled the audience of his trips; including a four-year bicycle trip from his home in Oxford England, and back again, via Europe, Africa, the Americas and Siberia-in wintertime (a journey of 46,000 miles through 60 countries and 5 continents); he spoke of his trek across the Empty Quarter with his fellow traveler Leon McCarron where they pulled a near 700lb kg cart across 1,000 miles of barren vastness; he also spoke of his more recent trips–a transatlantic rowing expedition-with a ‘Slovenian bloke’ and of walking across Spain, inspired by Laurie Lee’s “As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning,” with only a violin for his pay and company.
Each prior travel story was framed with boundless enthusiasm from Humphreys, who drew much laughter and mirth from the attentive audience as he detailed his, at times, haphazard adventures that were full of engaging imagery, tales and mentions of the many characters and situations he has encountered over the years.
‘People are a lot smarter than me’
In his opening remarks Humphreys spoke of his joy at visiting the university, he said, “Firstly, I'm very excited to have finally made it here. One thing I’ve noticed since I go here is there is a lot of smart people here—people that are a lot smarter than me.”
Humphreys’, whose Empty Quarter trek was inspired by the travel adventures of the great British explorer Sir Wilfred Thesiger, and in particular, Thesiger's trek across the Arabian Peninsula and Empty Quarter which was chronicled in vivid and lucid detail in his 1959 book “Arabian Sands.” He continued to detail the reasoning for his trip into the Empty Quarter in 2012 and how he was inspired by Thesiger’s deeds and words.
“Thesiger’s book (Arabian sands) is like a love letter to the people here—to the people of Arabia. It inspired me to travel through the Empty Quarter. I didn't want to go on a trip where I didn't know anything but joined up with people who know everything. I would then be a tourist and I didn't want that,” Humphreys said.
Before adding, “Deserts are very simple places. They are very simple but not easy. I think some of the best adventures are like the desert—simple but not easy. The trip, like any other trip I've taken, is the culmination of many tiny, tiny steps.”
The many barriers to adventure
Humphreys also encouraged those in attendance to not fear, or to shy away from, the thoughts of extended travel and adventure, or from being outside of their ‘safety zones.’
Humphreys regaled the audience of his trips; including a four-year bicycle trip from his home in Oxford England, and back again, via Europe, Africa, the Americas and Siberia-in wintertime (a journey of 46,000 miles through 60 countries and 5 continents); he spoke of his trek across the Empty Quarter with his fellow traveler Leon McCarron where they pulled a near 700lb kg cart across 1,000 miles of barren vastness; he also spoke of his more recent trips–a transatlantic rowing expedition-with a ‘Slovenian bloke’ and of walking across Spain, inspired by Laurie Lee’s “As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning,” with only a violin for his pay and company.
Each prior travel story was framed with boundless enthusiasm from Humphreys, who drew much laughter and mirth from the attentive audience as he detailed his, at times, haphazard adventures that were full of engaging imagery, tales and mentions of the many characters and situations he has encountered over the years.
‘People are a lot smarter than me’
In his opening remarks Humphreys spoke of his joy at visiting the university, he said, “Firstly, I'm very excited to have finally made it here. One thing I’ve noticed since I go here is there is a lot of smart people here—people that are a lot smarter than me.”
Humphreys’, whose Empty Quarter trek was inspired by the travel adventures of the great British explorer Sir Wilfred Thesiger, and in particular, Thesiger's trek across the Arabian Peninsula and Empty Quarter which was chronicled in vivid and lucid detail in his 1959 book “Arabian Sands.” He continued to detail the reasoning for his trip into the Empty Quarter in 2012 and how he was inspired by Thesiger’s deeds and words.
“Thesiger’s book (Arabian sands) is like a love letter to the people here—to the people of Arabia. It inspired me to travel through the Empty Quarter. I didn't want to go on a trip where I didn't know anything but joined up with people who know everything. I would then be a tourist and I didn't want that,” Humphreys said.
Before adding, “Deserts are very simple places. They are very simple but not easy. I think some of the best adventures are like the desert—simple but not easy. The trip, like any other trip I've taken, is the culmination of many tiny, tiny steps.”
Humphreys also encouraged those in attendance to not fear, or to shy away from, the thoughts of extended travel and adventure, or from being outside of their ‘safety zones.’
“Cycling around the world is not what normal people do but after my trip, I realised I can do something different. I had confidence and momentum and that is worth more than any money,” Humphreys said.
“I love trying new things and living quickly. Most of my trips have been influenced by my heroes. Heroes are people to aspire to be, but my heroes are just normal people, normal people that took a risk, people that thought boldly. There are so many barriers that stop us from living as adventurously as we can. A lot of these barriers are in our head. A lot of the time we talk ourselves out of the race before we reach the starting line,” he said.
Before quipping, “Leave aside the thoughts of death and ask yourself what is the worst thing that can possibly happen on an adventure? The sensible thing to do is to carry on with a simple life but unfortunately, we can't get eternal happiness from sitting on the couch eating ice-cream and watching football.”
Leave space for a “Microadventure”
Humphreys who had an answer for every possible stress/time-related ‘real-world’ enquiry, extolled the audience to start small, reminding them that all great adventures started with small steps.
Humphreys has coined a term for these smaller more manageable and achievable trips closer to home for ‘normal people, with normal lives’ as, “Microadventures.” With the goal of these trips being that they are not prescriptive, leaving scope for people to interpret them however they want to and come up with original ideas of their own.
“Being adventurous means doing things that are new to you. Even with a nine to five job, you can also go on “microadventures” after work. Don’t let the nine to five grind become another excuse,” he said.
Throughout the talk, he constantly referred to the phrase ‘the doorstep mile,’ as both his travel and lifestyle mantra. ‘The doorstep mile,’ is a Norwegian expression to explain that the first few steps of a (long) journey, will be the most difficult steps you’ll undertake on your journey.
“If you want something to get done, you have to begin it. Think of your own 'doorstep mile' think of the small step you can do to get yourself going. Once your get past your own ‘doorstep mile,’ what’s stopping you from continuing on?,” Humphreys said.
Seize the day
With such an impressive C.V. of travel to his name, Humphreys said that a lot of peoples, cultures and traditions he encountered on his trips were completely at odds with how cultures can be portrayed in mainstream media and in conventional thought.
“People told me not to go out into the world and visit certain countries, but I ignored them. Travelling to some of the most disadvantaged regions of the world has made me a lot more grateful. The kindness of random people around the world was one of my fondest memories—a kindness that is at odds with what we see on the TV,” he emphasized.
“People told me not to go out into the world and visit certain countries, but I ignored them. Travelling to some of the most disadvantaged regions of the world has made me a lot more grateful. The kindness of random people around the world was one of my fondest memories—a kindness that is at odds with what we see on the TV,” he emphasized.
Humphreys came across as the true embodiment of this year’s enrichment program theme of “Pioneers,” of those go over their collective and personal boundaries and explore new territories. In his closing remarks, he encouraged the crowd not to shy away from a sense of carpe diem reminding the keynote attendees that this life we have is short.
“If an expedition doesn't have many challenges, well then, it becomes a gentle holiday. Adventures are all the better for being unexpected—I want to do a trip that, when I'm old, I look back on and I'm proud. Everything in life we have a choice how to see it. We can see everything in life as either a constraint or we can see it as a freedom,” Humphreys concluded.
“If an expedition doesn't have many challenges, well then, it becomes a gentle holiday. Adventures are all the better for being unexpected—I want to do a trip that, when I'm old, I look back on and I'm proud. Everything in life we have a choice how to see it. We can see everything in life as either a constraint or we can see it as a freedom,” Humphreys concluded.
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