2004 Spirit of Adventure Award Winner

Peter Williamson

For some people, travel above all else is what makes the world go round.  And round and round and round.  It’s both a personal reason for living, and view into the lives of others, and their passions, hopes, beliefs, and values.  This year’s recipient of the Los Angeles Council of Hostelling International-USA’s Spirit of Adventure Award, Peter Williamson, deeply appreciates this dual benefit of Wanderlust.  The kinetic energy of travel is a personal drive that, when it coincides with millions of people standing still in their own countries, makes for beautiful chemistry.  (Other travelers, of course, are also a joy of the experience!).  For this Pasadena resident, travel does not mean a-once-in-a-while bout of the exotic; it has almost become the normal mode of being; “globe trotting” puts him in harmony with the constant “trot” or spin of the globe itself.

Petra, Jordan

Though a visitor to exactly 70 countries (and counting!), Peter had only a modest taste of traveling growing up, mostly in brief family vacations to nearby Los Angeles from his hometown of Tucson, Arizona.  During his sophomore year in high school, he took matters into his own hands, planning a trip with his sister out to Boston by plane, and in what established itself tenaciously as a pattern later in life, he extended the scope of the trip to include Washington and New York.  Traveling, while satiating a need to see the world, almost always, simultaneously uncoils new travel possibilities.  “I would like to think there’s no end.  Almost always I’ve extended my trip and stayed longer.  The exception is the rule now,” Peter remarked with a laugh.

Great Wall of China

Perhaps because as a child, his travel-shy parents didn’t build up a habit of traveling as a family, or in large groups, Peter has usually preferred trekking out by himself.  Though that doesn’t mean, when traveling, he’s alone.  To Peter, spontaneously finding companions on the road makes much more sense than “packing” one with you before heading out.  “You meet people along the way.  It makes it sound like you’re alone, but I don’t have a single night alone.  I’m always meeting new people, and with old travel mates, I sort of coordinate running into them.”  These “coordinated” run-ins are possible largely because during his “down-time”, Peter fastidiously keeps in touch with so many of the trekkers he’s met globe trotting, storing up contacts to make the experience of lone traveling anything but lonely. 

Rajasthan, India

Though going it alone on the road, Peter by no means goes unprepared.  Structuring his work-life around travel, he commits an astounding four months of every year to what other people give an occasional three-day weekend.  Eight months of work and four of travel has become a calendar template he’s used for the last 8 years.  In his own words, “Once I got going, there was nothing that could hold me back.”  He approaches those four months though with a good deal of discipline, researching the different languages, currencies and cultural quirks that take many a traveler off guard.  Teaching is another form of preparation, which both stokes his own interest in travel, and keeps his skills honed.  He helps others plan their first trips abroad, and for 5 years, even volunteered for Hostelling International as a World Travel 101 workshop speaker, sharing his trove of tips with those just discovering the road life.

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

But moments that one doesn’t plan for are some of the most memorable delights of going abroad.  Many travelers recollect the small acts of kindness, that unasked for, came out of the blue, helping them in a dire situation.  Hospitality, of course, is an integral, built-in part of the travel industry, but Peter, though a seasoned world-traveler with many years of experience under his belt, has a remarkable appreciation for those moments of generosity, which, perhaps because he doesn’t expect or depend on them, always strike him as fresh and selfless.  With animation, he described an instance of kindness in Ireland:  “I was on a bus, and just casually, I asked the bus driver where the museum was.  He stopped, and put the bus in park, and then got out.  I followed him out, and he walked a few feet, and pointed, directing me to the museum.  The bus was full of passengers, and he still put aside everything to help me.   It catches you by surprise that type of selflessness exists in the world.”  What is most remarkable about the anecdote, of course, is how much this seasoned traveler still has the capacity to marvel.

Patagonia, Argentina

Every year though, the four-month tour eventually has to come to a close.  Coming back home and re-adjusting can prove to be its own quiet sort of odyssey though: the need to make new inroads into your own native culture and discover where you fit in.  “When you come back—especially from a longer trip—you have to go through the process of relearning who you are here.  When first arriving home from a trip, I feel like I don’t really live here, and I have to figure out what my life is about in this culture.  For example, first thing back, once I had to get my car serviced.  I decided to take the Metro Rail in the meanwhile and almost immediately I felt like I was traveling again.  It felt great.  A part of traveling doesn’t leave your blood and you bring the same momentum to your own neck of the woods, to explore and discover.”

Okavanga Delta, Botswana

Though tethered firmly in California by his job as a graphic designer, Peter has no plans for staying put for too long.  Panama beckons in December; and India, by way of the fond experiences he had there on his last visit, is also enticing.  “I can’t do anything else.  It’s just how I live.  I get itchy.  And wandering out into the world just so changes your perspective, I always prefer it to anything else.”  Then pausing for a second, he puts into more concrete terms, “ A bad day traveling is still better than a good day at work.  Even when I’ve had my money and camera stolen, it was better than a good day at the office.”