After running an errand, Bonnyville Reeve Barry Kalinski saw a traveller on the side of the road who he thought might need a ride. The traveller turned out to be Sascha Grabow, the world record holder for most land borders crossed and the first person to visit every capital city in the world.
Grabow was headed toward the Northwest Territories, on his journey to visit every province in the world he can, when Kalinski invited him on Bonnyville’s Rural Beautification tour that he happened to be headed to.
Grabow accepted the invitation and ended up staying with the Kalinski’s and took advantage of the opportunity to explore the community.
“Someone had driven me to Bonnyville because they said it was a good direction if I was headed to Yellowknife. In the evening, I was tired, I just got myself to the road that connects to the Northern road, and just ended up sleeping somewhere in nature,” explains Grabow.
“In the morning, I woke up before 6 a.m., and walked a block before I met a ‘Pedestrians Prohibited’ sign. I was worried about how I was going to remain legal. Barry saw me walking down the road and was curious, so he picked me up. He’s an amazing guy. He was going on this beautification tour he said only happens every two years, so I thought it would be interesting to see more of the community,” continues Grabow.
Raised in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany, Grabow has been travelling the world for 40 years, and explains it all started when he was 17 years old and training to be a professional tennis player.
He planned to move to south Italy to make use of their year-round outdoor courts.
“Through tennis you become a traveller. There’s a different tournament every week, so you have to go to other places - maybe you’re travelling with the sport to Africa or Asia.”
“Most tennis players, when they’d lose the match, they would go directly home, complaining about standards of hygiene and such. But for me, it was very interesting - huge cities, otherworldly cultures. I had problems focusing on tennis, and when I was around 28, I exchanged the racquet for the backpack.”
Grabow began travelling to different places, staying in hostels, having more leisure time to explore, and meeting like-minded souls.
“You start going to continents for the third or fourth time and you try to go to other places you haven’t been to – then let’s say you’ve made it to 150 countries, and you start wondering if you could make them all,” he shares.
“You need good logistics and discipline. It took me 30 years, and then the next thing was to go to every capital city because, perhaps surprisingly, even 30 years later it still hadn’t been done. Last year I went to Mogadishu, Somalia, Gitega, Burundi, and finally Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and thus became the first person to go to every capital city – my first capital city being Zagreb Croatia some 36 years earlier.”
Now, he has set a new goal to visit as many provinces as possible.
“There's about 4,000 - I'm at 2,930. I'm 500 provinces in front of anybody else on the planet... the Northwest Territories is the last province I have to do in Canada.”
With such a vast perspective on humanity across the globe, Grabow felt encouraged to see the sense of community he finds so vital for humanity, displayed on the beautification tour in the Bonnyville area.
“My take on the whole thing - in this modern life, we are on the phone, and we value our liberty and individualism so much, but sometimes it makes you a bit isolated. It makes you a little bit passive”
He further elaborates, “On that tour, it’s almost like it was back in ‘75 in Germany in the village. Everybody was laughing together. So, you have to participate, not just consume. There is no alternative to participation. Being shy is not a good enough excuse, you have to step over your own shadow, as we say in Germany.”
Different experiences in different countries
Grabow also spoke to the differences he sees across the world.
“When I’m hitchhiking on the highway, it’s happened that I’ve ended up checking into a Best Western or something. And I’m sitting there in the room, and I watch CNN or something until 11:55 the next day – but somehow I feel a little bit strange.”
Conversely, “Being back in Indonesia or somewhere, there’s maybe a wooden room with 10 people sleeping side-by-side with their backpack for a pillow and that’s it. You say ‘Hey, do you have space?’ and everybody’s like ‘Yeah, come on, no problem’ and just like that you are directly part of the community - maybe play some ping pong later, talk with people, eat together.”
One continent that Grabow has enjoyed visiting during his life is Africa.
“There was a time when I thought that I was an absolute Africa fan. You know, Africa was everything, I usually always feel good when I am there. The people are so intense and warm. There’s so much life and there's always a lot of people in the house and all that.”
Technology and travel
Grabow has watched the side effects of the internet and social media affect the travelling scene.
“Before we just had a map, and unless you were like Galileo with a compass, you didn’t really know where you were until you asked someone. Now, everyone has a map on their phones.”
Grabow speaks about travelling in the ‘80s and ‘90s before the internet made it so accessible.
“Travelling was one way you could kind of get out of the rat race. But now, with the pressures of Instagram and social media, it’s a rat race again. You can get caught up in it.”
He explains, “If there is a field somewhere that’s been unexplored, up it goes on social media, and everybody goes there because of the photo possibilities.”
Grabow says, “It can be easy to become cynical about these things... but the world is a uniquely wonderful place. I took my Instagram and Facebook offline for now... for me the most important thing is to stay authentic, to explore, and to search for truth.”
Unique experiences
Grabow has been travelling on a budget, and feels it is a way to remain humble, keep physically active, and connect more with people. Although his travels have not been without risk or danger, accepting rides from strangers has given him many opportunities to connect with locals, like his experience with Kalinski which led him not only to the beautification tour, but also the Glendon Derby, and getting to know a community and its people better.
Grabow told the story of a young man he met when a mother and son offered him a ride in the mountains of northern Italy. The young man had been working at a ski resort, he had studied a little bit in the city but had been waiting for an opportunity for adventure to come up.
“In the morning, he came in and said, ‘I made-up my mind. I want to come with. Let's pack my backpack up and then let's go. I don't want it to be a big discussion with everybody, let's just get going.’ So, he came with me for eight months, which I never really had in my whole 40 years of travelling, and we had a really good and interesting time. We went to four different continents together.”
Grabow says he still gets emails from the young man who wants to do more travelling.
Traversing the globe and being exposed to different cultures has shown Grabow the power of perspective.
When asked what others can learn from his observations, Grabow says, “People justify their own position, that's one of the main things I see in humans. Everyone always has only part knowledge, no one knows everything ... You see with your eyes what you expect with your brain.”
Grabow has learned the dangers of entitlement and, and how approaching life with an open heart and curiosity can lead to beautiful experiences. Some of the countries that are said to be dangerous or terrible places to visit are often very special places.
“I hope that everyone can try to understand the other side “
He adds, “At the end of the day it’s all about experiences, and nobody can take that away from you... When I was a youngster, my thinking was that if I was going to be a grandfather, I wanted to be an interesting one where the kids are flogging, and they want to hear stories.”
Grabow is on the lookout for people to join him on his next adventure, which will be on a sailboat to journey to some pacific islands.
