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Richmondite hosts meetup group to share adventure travel stories

“Travelling - it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller,” are the prophetic words of the world traveller and Medieval Moroccan scholar, Ibn Battuta.

“Travelling - it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller,” are the prophetic words of the world traveller and Medieval Moroccan scholar, Ibn Battuta.

Last week, Jen Williams was one of those storytellers, telling a captivated audience about her solo adventure through more than 80 countries and islands in the past two years.

Williams was the special guest at a regular meetup group organized by fellow traveller Kendrick Uy, 35.

This specific event was for women who want to go on a solo trip and the men who support them.

Uy is a Richmondite and also a solo traveller who has been running the meetup group at Vancity Credit Union’s Blundell location every two weeks since 2015.

Uy can’t remember how many backpackers he has invited to share their experiences, but he does know that the group has grown from ten members to more than 400 within five years.

Uy recalled the first time he organized a traveller’s meetup event.

“The (participants) all told me, ‘I want to travel alone, but I am scared.’ But after years went by, more people from the group have started their adventures.

 “A group member who was once scared about visiting Africa just came back as a tough guy. The meetup group has … encouraged people who have dreamed of traveling to go for it,” said Uy, with a proud smile.

380 days, 75 countries, $18,700 USD

Uy, a fitness trainer, recalls the moment he caught the travel bug at age 31.

It was in 2015 and he was 31 when he attended an event titled “Make your dream trip a reality,” hosted by Chris Guillebeau, an American nonfiction author, blogger and speaker.

“When I was watching the presentation, a light bulb went on in my head. I thought, ‘I am going to travel around the world for one year.’”

Uy worked multiple jobs to pay off his student debt but still managed to save for his dream trip and on Sept. 14, 2016, Uy left Richmond with USD 18,700 to embark on a journey of a lifetime. By the end of his 380-day trek, he had traipsed across six continents and 75 countries.

According to Uy, the journey brought him lots of sweet memories: doing volunteer work teaching teens English in Poland, visiting Komodo Dragon Island in Indonesia and enjoying $2 street food in Thailand.

Trapped in the middle of the jungle with a smuggler in Guyana 

However, there were also some horrible experiences.

Uy recalled having a dreadful time travelling from Brazil to Georgetown, Guyana’s capital on South America’s North Atlantic coast. He was taking a 24-hour minivan ride through the dense jungle of Guyana when Uy and other passengers stopped at a restaurant in the middle of the jungle. At that point, the van driver seemed to retrieve sacks of alcohol from the river and load them onto the van.

“Later, we were stopped by a military or police roadblock. It turned out, our driver was an alcohol smuggler,” said Uy.

The police confiscated the van and the passengers were simply dumped on the side of the road in the middle of the jungle at 2 a.m. with no civilization in sight.

Luckily, the next day at 8:30 am, a pickup trunk drove by them, and the passengers ran after the truck begging the driver to take them to Georgetown. After paying the driver USD 25 each, they were allowed to get on the truck.

“The pickup truck couldn’t fit us all, and the driver had to put people in the cargo bed. I was lucky because they put me in the front, but I needed to share the seat with another African man. One of my legs was over the gear stick for eight hours, and my back hurt so badly. When we reached our destination, those at the back were covered by mud.”

The ride was the most uncomfortable and cramped experience Uy ever had. However, he was still grateful to arrive at his destination.

Despite having been discarded in the middle of the rainforest, Uy also found himself through the journey.

“(Embarking on a journey) will make you become independent and learn to trust and rely on yourself. If you travel for a long time, you’ll be put in many challenging situations, such as the time I was getting scammed by aggressive salespeople in the Middle East. Or when I was stranded in the middle of the jungle. When you are back, you are not just independent, but now you’re also tougher as a person.

“And you will build a better relationship with yourself so you can make better decisions that will make you happier long term into the future,” added Uy.

Uy plans to take another one-year trip with his girlfriend soon. Meanwhile, he will also keep running the travel meetup group and updating his travel blog.

For more information, check https://kendrickuy.com/blog/