Around The World On $80
Jules Vernes adventure story, Around the World in 80 Days,
stimulated the imagination of 26-year-old Robert Christopher.
"Why," he asked himself, "can't I go around the world on $80."
Bob's first step was to list all the problems that he would
face. His second step was to note all possible solutions.
His third step was to take action!
He started by signing a contract with the Charles Pfizer
Company, a large pharmaceutical company, to collect soil samples
from the various countries that he planned to visit. Next he
secured an international driver's license, obtained maps in
return for a proposed report on Middle East road conditions,
acquired seamen's papers, and secured a letter from the New York
Police Department to show that he had no criminal record. Then
he took care of his boarding by arranging for a youth hostel
membership. His final step was to talk a freight airline into
flying him over the Atlantic in return for photographs which
could be used for company publicity.
Bob left New York City with $80 in his pocket.
He used his wits to travel around the world in 86 days.
He saved money by breakfasting free in Gander, Newfoundland, by
photographing the cooks in a hotel kitchen. He also traveled
free by bus from Syria to Damascus by taking pictures of a
Syrian policeman who then ordered a bus driver to transport Bob.
And he used the same idea to travel free from Baghdad to
Teheran. This time he took pictures of the staff of the Iraq
Express Transportation Company.
Another idea he used to get free or inexpensive travel was to
use cigarettes as a medium of exchange. He bought four cartons
of American cigarettes in Shannon, Ireland, for $4.80. He used
one carton to pay someone to drive him from Paris to Vienna. And
he used four cigarette packs to pay a train conductor fro a trip
from Vienna to Switzerland through the Alps.
Besides cigarettes, Bob also used maps as a medium of exchange.
In Bangkok, the owner of an expensive restaurant fed him in
exchange for a a set of maps and a detailed description of a
specific area that Bob had traveled through.
Bob finally came home to the U.S. as a crew member of the S.S.
Flying Spray, which transported him from Japan to San Francisco.
Bob proved to himself that any given aim could be accomplished
if he had faith in it.
Robert Christopher set himself an apparently impossible task. He
wanted to challenge himself. He wanted to prove that he could do
anything he set his mind to doing. He used organized thinking,
exercised initiative, self-discipline, and creative vision, and
acted with faith and confidence.
In your own life, you can do apparently impossible things as
well if you can organize your thinking, and exercise initiative,
self-discipline, and creative vision, and act with faith and
confidence.
Above all, refuse to believe in the impossible. You can do
anything you want once you set your mind on it and follow
through with a positive plan.
Believe in your dreams and make them real by trying out all
possible options. When you're sufficiently motivated to do
something--no matter how impossible it may seem--your mind will
create ways to convert your dreams into reality.