Our life is such that this thought comes to mind from time to time to many: to give up everything and go wherever they look. Angela Maxwell did just that: she gave up everything she had – close friends, a successful job – and left. One. On foot. Where to? Where the legs were carried and the eyes looked.
In search of a deeper connection with the outside world, she covered 32,000 km in six years. Did she find what she was looking for? And was this journey worth it, which sometimes looks like self-torture?
Is it a woman's business to walk alone around the world? To what shrines was this pilgrimage?
Such a simple question
“What for?” – This is a simple question people ask Angela Maxwell most often.
Until recently, the American woman found it difficult to answer why she took and radically changed everything, discarding an established life.
But, according to Maxwell, the search for an answer to this question has its own value – even if this requires rolling a cart with belongings in the heat and cold, rubbing calluses, overcoming mountain passes, spending the night with strangers or in an open field under the open sky, being attacked nomad, overcome your fear and continue on your way, no matter what.
In 2013, she embarked on a journey that few had taken before: walking around the world, alone.
Such a long and long voyage was not preceded by long and careful planning: the decision was almost spontaneous. Maxwell started her journey only nine months after she heard from one of her students a story about a man who allegedly circumnavigated the planet on foot.
Interestingly, Maxwell did not go on the journey as a result of some personal tragedy or creative crisis. When she decided on this, she was in her early 30s, she had a successful business, and everything was in order in her personal life.
“I thought that everything was fine with me, – she says. – But, looking back, I understand that I was looking for something more … Deeper connections with nature and people. Life is more modest, but in harmony with the world around me.” …
And the best way to do it – it suddenly dawned on her – is just to go forward, step by step.
I carry everything with me
Traveling on foot minimizes the so-called carbon footprint – the negative impacts on the climate from any human activity, she mused. Walking will allow you to dive deeper into the surrounding nature, to get acquainted with people, past whom she would otherwise have simply passed. And she will be able to explore alien culture in a unique way that only long-distance walkers can access.
During her short training, Maxwell discovered a whole world of women travelers, and this gave her courage.
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She fell in love with the style of Robin Davidson, who wrote a novel about her solo nine-month journey through the Australian deserts.
She was inspired by the example of the Scotswoman Fiona Campbell, who became the first woman to travel around the world on foot (in 11 years, Fiona covered 31,519 km on the roads of five continents).
She read the notes of Rosie Swayle-Pope, a British traveler, for five years, at the age of 59, jogging around the world (while collecting 250 thousand pounds, which she donated to help orphans in Russia).
“I read their books in the hope that they would inspire me, tell me what joys and sorrows await me on the way, teach me how to cope with difficulties,” Maxwell says. “And I found it all there. Each story is unique in its own way. but they all inspired the confidence that I should try it. “
As soon as Maxwell finally decided to hit the road, she sold all her belongings and bought only what would be needed along the way. She loaded into the cart 50 kilograms of the traveler's equipment – a tent, dehydrated food, an army-grade water filter, clothes for any season.
Maxwell left her native Bend in Oregon on May 2, 2014 and embarked on a journey so epic that she could not even imagine what lay ahead.
And, probably, it was for the best.
Days not alike
When I first got in touch with Maxwell via Skype in June 2018, she had already traveled for almost four years, having covered more than 20 thousand kilometers by that day through 12 countries on three continents.
I asked her curiously what type of person you need to be to walk around the planet. Her face brightened for a moment and she chuckled, “Stubborn.”
Then she added: “I guess it's a combination of ambition, a little stubbornness and a pinch of enthusiasm, passion – not for walking as a sport, but for the process of self-discovery and adventure.”
Maxwell told me that she quickly got into the rhythm of the journey: getting up at sunrise, two cups of instant coffee and a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, then put all the things in the trolley and go ahead, walking until the evening; find a place to spend the night, eat instant noodles, climb into a sleeping bag – and that's it, sleep.
And yet, she stressed, none of the days was like the other.
At first, she tried to strictly adhere to the route, but she quickly realized that it was the deviations from the planned that made the trip interesting and filled it with adventure.
Therefore, despite adhering to the main direction, she always believed her inner voice, deciding where to turn – right or left.
In the Australian desert, Angela Maxwell suffered from sunburn, heatstroke, and dengue fever in Vietnam.
In Mongolia, while spending the night, a nomad climbed into her tent and attacked her. In Turkey, she heard gunfire not far from her small camp.
All this taught her to sleep in one eye and in one ear, being always on the alert – deep sleep in her position turned out to be a great luxury, which could be too expensive to pay for.
From the very beginning, Maxwell expected all sorts of troubles and hardships – and this did not stop her.
“Nevertheless,” she says, “I didn’t hit the road because I’m so fearless. On the contrary, I was terribly afraid. And I was more afraid that I wouldn’t follow my own heart than I’ll lose everything that I have, and that’s all.” , that I love”.
“Give up? Never!”
The defining moment of the whole trip was an episode in Mongolia. While struggling to cope with the psychological trauma of the rape, Maxwell was ultimately determined to keep going.
And although she did not completely get rid of the horror of what happened, the stories of other women, their strength and resilience helped her: “I was determined not to let what happened make me give up, give up my dream and return home ahead of time. left nothing to which it made sense to return, and was aware of all the risks associated with my journey. “
Maxwell stepped forward to understand how strong she was in spirit and body.
The slowness of the journey helped her penetrate deeper (albeit for a short time) into a foreign culture.
She wandered the tiny seaside villages on the Tyrrhenian coast in Italy, soaking up their lively atmosphere and accepting invitations to talk, sit and drink wine.
In Vietnam, exhausted by the climb to the Hivan Pass in the Annam Mountains, she met an old woman who invited her to her tiny wooden hut at the top to spend the night.
A new friendship arose in the most unexpected places – for example, on the border of Mongolia and Russia, and these relations continued: by meeting in Switzerland years later or in Italy, at the baptism of the daughter of a new friend.
In such meetings and relationships, which could last seven minutes or seven days, Maxwell always remembered two things.
First, to learn something, be able to listen.
“Traveling on foot taught me that everything has a story, everyone has a story to tell. We just need to be willing to listen,” she says.
So she learned the culinary recipes of one Italian family passed down from generation to generation, the secrets of beekeeping in Georgia and the science of camel management on the historical Silk Road.
Secondly, Maxwell understood the importance of her own contribution. She chopped wood in New Zealand, distributed food to the homeless in Italy. In Sardinia, she helped a farmer renovate a house.
But more often than not, Maxwell's contributions were her own stories. She has performed at social gatherings, at schools and universities and even on the TEDx stage in Edinburgh, sharing her experiences with others and inspiring them.
She became the voice of those fighting for the empowerment of women, especially after deciding to continue the journey despite the attack in Mongolia.
“I never even considered giving up everything,” she says.
The surest path to yourself
Throughout her travels, Maxwell collected voluntary donations to charities such as World Pulse and Her Future Coalition, which support girls and young women. She managed to collect about $ 30 thousand.
Openness to everything new and curiosity, according to Maxwell, is the surest way to a deeper knowledge of the world and its inhabitants.
Maxwell chose this path, for a woman full of uncertainty and extreme vulnerability, for six and a half years. And she did it in search of personal happiness and a deeper connection with the outside world. In a sense, it was a pilgrimage.
On December 16, 2020, Maxwell's journey ended where it began – at the home of her best friend Alice, in Benda, Oregon.
Just as at one time she felt that the moment had come to hit the road, now she knew for sure: it was time to complete it. She also knew that this risky venture had become a way of life for her, to which she could always return.
Today, however, she is working on a book, planning future travels and coming up with new opportunities for women to express themselves, to find the courage to express their beliefs in everyday life.
Whatever our journey – around the world or to the next street – Maxwell showed the importance of the ability to slow down. Slow down in order to pay more attention to what is around you, and to give more than you receive on this earthly path.
Angela Maxwell's Facebook page.
Original article in English on BBC Travel.
