Getting into Adventure Green

THE SELFIE
GENERATION
AT THE AGE OF 22 RHYS LAWREY RODE
AROUND THE WORLD. HIS AIM WAS
TO HAVE A GOOD TIME AND TRY AND
ENCOURAGE OTHER YOUNG PEOPLE TO
GET OUT AND SEE THE WORLD. WE FIND
OUT MORE...
The idea came about when I was
in New Zealand, Skyping my
old man (Globe Buster’s Kevin
Sanders). We’d talked for a while
about doing a father and son trip as
I was living in New Zealand and he
was living in Europe. The longest
we’d ever lived together was 6 months
and so it seemed like a good way of
spending some quality time together.
At the time he was organising one of
his London to Beijing guided trips,
and the original idea was to join him
on that. Somehow, from there the
idea snowballed and soon progressed
to riding around the world, but the
reality still seemed a long way off.
Back then I was working as a bartender
in Auckland NZ. I’d done my manager’s
course and had been offered an amazing
opportunity to go and run a bar in Las
Vegas. It was one of those T-junctions in
life. On the one hand I had the option
of a good salary, a nice lifestyle and
financial security. On the other hand I
had the idea for this trip burning away
inside of me. I chose the trip.
At the age of 22 I left London and
headed East with my dad, riding
through Europe, Central Asia, China,
and from there alone down to New
Zealand, across to the Americas,
up through southern Africa, and
Europe. I passed through a total of 71
countries, covering 57,000 miles in
the space of 15 months.
One of the most common questions I
get asked is about my career and the
possible damage that taking off on
a big trip can do. The thing with me
is that I’m not academically strong
and never have been. I’ve not been
ambitious to go to university or
anything like that, but I have always
been hard working and keen to
progress. You can look at it two ways.
When you’re young you have nothing
to lose. You don’t have a partner or
kids. Alternatively, you could get
a career, build on that and within
10-15 years you might become very
restricted and may never get the
chance to go.
I meet a lot of people who tell me
Highway 1, Big Sur bridge, USA
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