Infected with Wanderlust

Many of us dream of travelling the whole world. Few of us travel as far, wide and remarkably as Sarah Ouhiba

From hitchhiking her way to Antarctica to sleeping in a park in Tokyo, her 4 year, 49 country, $10/day round-the-world trip pushes the limits of what it means to be an impossible solo female traveller.

During our transcontinental phone call, from my room in Australia to her room in Paris, she shared her impossible story and her beautiful life philosophy with me…

As she said to me, the following advice, recommendations and stories are "experience…Everything I tell you, I lived it. I experienced it. So it's not just some theory, concept or idea that I imagine can be. I've tried it and it works. I did it for four years. Love people and they will love you back. Everything I tell you, I did it. It's not just bullshit to give advice to some one that maybe you can do it. It's like no, I did it, if you want to try it, please do"

How to hitchhike to Antarctica:

There are several ways to hitchhike to Antarctica

1. A scientific boat: " I tried to hitch hike on a scientific boat but it's hard, because it's a mission and you need to register first with a government organization going there."

2. With the military: "I tried to hitchhike a flight from a military base in Rio Galego, and they said 'No we can't take any civilians with us.'"

3. Contact any boat travelling in the area via websites such as findacrew.com: "I wrote to any boat that would be in the area and maybe going to Antarctica."

4. You can also try to go directly at the marina in Ushuaia at the right time (between beginning of December to mid-January)

Route decided, the story then panned out as follows: "No one replied to me except this guy, saying 'No, sorry, my team is full'. I wrote back and said ' This is a life dream, I want to go to Antarctica. I can cook, I can repair anything with a screwdriver, I'm a massage therapist, I'm very flexible, I can sleep anywhere, I can sleep on the floor. I don't care. I'm strong, I have stamina'. I was basically trying to sell myself, like 'Believe in me too!!'

He said 'You sound great, but the boat is full' and I replied "Yeah, but if anyone falls in the water etc, I'm available" and he said okay.

I didn't hear from him for a few weeks. And one month later, I was in Brazil and the guy replied. "Yeah, if you are here for the 18th of December, you can be a part of the crew." So I hitchhiked 5,000km from Brazil to Ushuaia in four days. I only stopped for half a day via Punta Arena just to buy my gear because I didn't have any gear for the cold. And I was part of the crew."

Her two scariest moments:

1. A storm at sea in Antarctica: "We were in a 50ft boat. It was hell on earth with waves of 8 to 9 meters high. And it went for approximately four, five days, constantly not letting us rest even a little. It was physically hard, being thrown around from right to left with the sheer force of the waves crashing on us. We were fighting to keep the boat upright, we were so small compared to the greatness of the sea. Nature is fucking scary and it puts you back at your place. Being on a boat in a storm in Antarctica is definitely one of the most dangerous situation I’ve been in."​

2. At sea again: "most of the crew had left us in South Georgia… It was just me and the captain… One day we had the main sail stuck on the top with the sea was building up. We had to free it to make it down before the boat would get out of control. With the pressure of the wind on the sail it wasn't coming off the screw naturally, so we needed someone to go free it. The captain was steering the boat and I had to climb up 15m high holding the mast with one hand ….and with the other hand I was trying to free the main sail that was stuck on a screw. I was using a screw driver to try and free the sail, with the captain was changing course to make the sail flap. The main sail was abruptly changing side, giving me one second opportunities to try to free it Each time it changed side, I was hit by its force, with the wind that was blowing at me and the waves that were crashing against the boat, it was quite intense…. And I stayed an hour and a half on top of the mast to get it undone as it was quite difficult. So when I went down from my mast, I looked at the captain, hands on my hips, very proud of myself, and I said 'I feel the soul of a superhero right now. I think that I need to take a nap.'

The most beautiful moments?

"Every moment was amazing. Every time you meet someone kind and they help you. Just human kindness is truly amazing. Every sunrise is amazing. Every sunset is amazing.

Now you are alive. Now is your moment. It will give you your greatest souvenir, your lifetime memories. They are treasures that you will keep, that you will tell to your children, to other people. Every moment is a miracle. Being alive is a miracle. I could have died thousands of times and I'm still here. So thank god. Or whoever. I'm grateful to the universe that I'm still here.

That is my miracle. being here, now."

Dangerous countries

"There are plenty of people living in those places. There are plenty of people living in Brazil, and they are fine. There are plenty of people living in Mexico, and they are fine. There are plenty of people living in Africa, and they are fine. As long as there are people who can live there, why can't I? I'm a human being like anyone else. If they can go into that country then I can go into that country too.

What is difficult is fighting the fear that you have in your mind.

This is the first step: going there. When you go there, you will realise that actually, it's okay. It's not that hard.

Your worst enemy is yourself. Your best friend is also yourself. And when I'm doing something hard, I always tell myself ' one step at a time’. I will make the next step, and then I will find the strength to take the step after that. I just go in a direction and I will make one step at a time'.

Every problem has a solution.

How to couch surf

"I mostly couch surfed, staying with local people, meeting new people and ending up in new places.

I would hitchhike with people and talk with them in the car. Or I'd just talk to people who have a friendly smile in the street. They'd find me quite friendly and they'd ask 'Where are you staying in this place?' and I'd say 'I have no idea, but if you have a space in your garden, I could maybe sleep there?'

I didn’t necessarily ask to go inside the house. I asked if I can go in the garden or in the garage, so I was a little separate from them, so they felt safer. And when they began to find me fine, they'd then say 'no, please come in our home, don't stay in the garage' or something like that, and I'd just end up in the house, in the couch or a bed or whatever. I'm fine with everything. I'm very flexible.

It's always hard to begin to talk with strangers. Now I try to think that a stranger is just a friend I haven't met yet. A stranger is someone like me

Instead of imagining others as something different from you, begin to imagine others as something similar to you. And you will erase the small differences and you will begin to be just a human. Instead of being French, Australian, a girl, a boy. You will become more and more like the other. You will become a human, only. And a human talking to another human is good.

What makes separation between people is the thought that they are not me. They are different. They are their community and they are the stranger. A stranger is scary. If you begin to think that we are all the same, that we are all human, we all need to sleep, we all need to eat, we all need to love, then they become less scary. Really, really less scary."

Hardest part of day to day travel?

"It's amazing. There is nothing hard. The hardest part is coming back home."

What about dealing with homesickness?

"You always have the option to buy a ticket, go home for two weeks, then keep travelling. No one is forcing you. Your life is a choice, you choose to be on the road.

You travel the time you want to travel. You stop the time you want to stop. With time you will get used to the discomfort, you will get used to the change in your daily life, in everything that doesn’t go as planned… Some will say that you have become wiser, or just more patient. But the truth is, everywhere people need to sleep, need to eat, so you will find the basic stuff. What is important (to survive) can be fulfilled. While travelling, you will lower your necessities. You will need less and less things. You will make your comfort zone abroad. Because you will get used to it, because you will learn and accept the change.

For example, the first day sleeping on a train will be difficult for you… after a few days, your body will just adapt itself. Your body will learn to do it. Your mind will learn to do it. And everything you are doing that may be necessary for a modern life, you will learn to do without. It's a training. You will learn to dress yourself in three pants and three t-shirts, and it will become enough."

What about money? Expenses?

Sarah lived on approximately 10 dollars a day for the entirety of her trip. Although countries have different living prices, she adjusted her budget depending on how expensive it was to buy a meal to keep her average of $10/a day.

With expenses other than food, she "hitchhiked so many times (she) didn't have to pay for (her) train ticket. (She) stay with locals so (she) don't have to pay for accommodation."

She also recommends exchanging services for accommodation:

"I would go to guests houses and say "I speak French, English and Spanish. If you want I can be your receptionist or I can work being the cleaner and you just give me a place to stay for free tonight… I would do an exchange. I'd help someone, and they'd just give me a place to sleep or food.

She found that people would also respond helpfully and enthusiastically when "you explain to people that you are doing a round the world trip":

"Show to people that you are a nice person, let them begin to know you a little bit, and they will want to know you. When you do, for example, a round the world trip many people are very curious and they will welcome you because they will want to talk to you. Once I was hitchhiking, and the father picked me up and he said "Where are you staying tonight?" and I said "I don't know."

He replied "You can come and stay at my place."

I arrived at his place and he called his wife and he said "Hey, you know what? I have this girl who was coming down from Canada hitchhiking! Can you believe it?' I was like an attraction for them.

If you have to, and the weather is warm, and no one has offered a room, you can use public spaces:

"I remember in Tokyo I didn't have a house for the night. I just camped in a public park. And I just stayed the night sleeping there on the table."

The importance of asking for help

"For everything I will find a way. And I will ask for help. Travelling broke and by yourself will teach you something very important.

There are three words that are difficult to say in life. But they are very important.

The first is 'I love you' ~ and you need to say to the people that you love that you love them, you need to say it before it's too late. Say to people 'I love you'.

Tell people 'I’m sorry' when you have to say I'm sorry and to forgive the people who have wronged you. This is a very important thing in life, it is a key to being free and will make your heart lighter.

And third thing you need to learn in life is to say 'help me'. You need to destroy your ego to do it. You need to cut your pride. You need to learn to say 'help me', because when you are by yourself, it's sometimes hard. But if you know how to find help, you can do everything. Together we are strong. You need sometimes to cut your pride, cut your ego and say 'Can you help me please?' People will be happy to help."

Advice to other female solo travellers

"You can do it. If you begin to listen to what your body's saying, you will begin to realise that your body's saying a LOT of things. If you begin to listen to this inner voice, you will avoid most dangers. Because your inner voice will tell you that this one is a good person, this one is a bad person. It's just about listening to yourself, about believing in yourself.

I don't go out at night by myself. Never. If I'm by myself, I'm at home. I'm somewhere safe.

I don't hitchhike at night. I hitchhike in the early morning. You know why? Because you have never seen a bad guy waking up early. Bad guys wake up late, not early, so you will meet mostly workers who wake up at 6, 7am to go to work. 6 am you won't meet bad people, so travel early. You will meet mostly people who go to work, people who are going for a long trip. And you will avoid most of the bad guys. And at night? Stay in.

Avoid being drunk, on drugs and everything, because you need to stay aware and conscious of everything around you, you need to be in control of yourself at any moment. So don't get drunk. Drunk is when you will be weakest. You will be in a situation where there could be people who can be bad, in bars and stuff like that, who can exploit you… So avoid problems and stay sober.

When you find yourself in trouble, search for the door, the hole in the wall, focus your gaze only on the solution. Don't look at the culprit, don't look at the problem, only at the solution. Move forward.

But even if we are girls, be strong. Women are very strong. We have maybe less muscles, but we are very strong. There is nothing that a man can do that we cannot except pee standing up. We are smart. We have power. Believe in yourself, we are very strong.

How have you changed?

"Travelling changed me in so many ways. I need to write a book actually…“the Roads of Freedom” because there are many roads to free yourself. The roads and the experiences connected to them changed me.

For example, I understood the concept of now, and time.

Before, I was stuck in the lie that society teaches. That there is the past, the present and the future. Society teaches that there is straight time. It's the biggest lie of the universe.

Because the past, what is the past? The past is all your memories gathered. The past is a moment that has existed and has finished. It's very important to say and accept that it has passed, that it has finished. It's all your memory. It's history. It's something that you can't go back to. You can't have an action in the past.

For example, my mum is dead, and even if I wanted to, I can't go and talk to her. It exists only in your head.

I will add something more on the concept of the past: this is a perception. The perception of an event that has happened and has finished. The notion of perception is important here.

For example, my sisters and I were talking about an event that existed in our childhood. My sister told me, "Mum and dad did this and that". My other sister looked at her and said 'No, they did this and that like that'. I looked at them and said 'Do we have the same parents? Because I have ANOTHER version of this story'. Because it's only perception.

All conscious mind only remembers selective points. And the things that I will remember may be different from my sisters or from someone else. Even if we have grown up in the same family. We have the same background, the same education. Everything. All perceptions are different. All that exists from the past is a perception of an event that existed and is finished. And all that is left of this past is YOUR perception of it.

Now let us look at the question of what is the future? the future is an event that might come. It's the sum of all the possibilities. It’s a plan. It’s a projection. It’s mostly imagination.. The future is something that you might do or might not. You are imagining it in your mind, but it doesn't exist yet.

For example, I can plan to travel, buy a ticket and to go travelling. And then maybe my plan will change… I can miss my flight or meet the love of my life at the airport and change destination.

You can plan as much as you want, but you can't have an action in the future. The only thing you can do, is plan it now, prepare for it and do your best to walk toward this future. But even with the best planning, sometime the plan have to change and you have to adapt yourself to this change.

Now is the only time of action. Now is now. Now is the time where you are alive. Now is the only time that you should value.

Never stay stuck in an event from the past. Forgive the past, move forward with your experience and don't be anxious about the future, it don’t exist yet. There is no point to it, your anxiousness is just made out of your fears, something that you have imagined but is not real yet. Instead of worrying, or being afraid, or regretting, NOW do your best.

At every step. I move forward, one step at a time. And at each step I do my best, and if I do my best, I will walk towards the best future possible. If you don't do your best, you might have regrets in life.

Actually if you live in the present time, you are out of the regrets and the anxiousness, and the depression. Right now you are into action. Action of breathing. Action of eating. Action of walking. Action of doing things. You are just living right now.

And this is all you have to act. You just have to live right now. And don't tell yourself go get drunk like there's no future. NO, be the best version of yourself at every moment.

Be the best person you can be. Be the person you want to meet. Be the friend that you want to have. This is how you become an incredible person. And you have all the power in your hands to do so.

Does she believe in the impossible?

"As long as I haven't tried it, I won't say it's impossible. I don’t know if it's not possible, as long as I haven’t try it. If I try it…maybe I can do it.

For example, when I began to hitchhike in Canada, I told people that I wanted to arrive at Ushuaia, the people looked at me and said "It's impossible!". And I looked at them and I asked them "Have you tried it?" And they said "No…" And I replied "Okay, let me try first and I will tell you if it's possible."

And then later, when I finally did it, I sent them an email and informed them "I arrived in Ushuaia, and believe it or not, I'm going to Antarctica."

"You can do it if you want to. It might be very difficult to do but as long as you haven't tried, then who knows? Who knows what you can achieve. What are your limits. You choose the limits. And if you really want to do something, you will find a way.

I don't know everything, but this is one thing that I know, we are the universe in ourselves.

I'm doing something that everyone dreams to do but they don't have the courage. So I try to give them faith. I know five people that after meeting me, went for an around the world trip. Before me they thought it was impossible, that they didn't have the money.

And I told them “Look! I have 10 dollars a day, I'm a girl, so why can’t you do it too? I have no super power. I am not rich. I'm not super smart. I just had the courage to do it. I went. And it's as simple as that. Take the first step.

It's not incredible actually, you just need to fight your own fear. And you will find a way. If you want to survive, you will find a way. “

- Sarah Ouhiba

If you have an impossible travel story like Sarah, share it with us!!

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