Last week, B-side co-host Mark Larson forwarded me a blog post written by a guy named Nicolas Rapp, who recently ditched his art director job at the Associated Press to drive his 1996 Toyota Land Cruiser around the world. He hopes to be on the road by Nov. 15, 2009.  

Around-the-world trips are fairly common. During a Google search, I found a Forbes Traveler article that lists cruise lines, tour companies and hotel corporations that sell round-the-world travel packages. For example, if you have $100,000 to spend, you can fly from one Four Seasons to another in 34 countries. Or, you can take a 107-day round-the-world cruise on Cunard’s Queen Victoria ship.

But the travel industry uses the term “round-the-world” loosely. You don’t literally circumnavigate the globe. You fly in airplanes to various spots; you eat your meals at cruise buffets while the ship’s at port. Rapp’s round-the-world trip is literal. It’s a road trip — he’s not going anywhere without his Land Cruiser. And the route winds round the globe.

Rapp’s route mapping reminds me of a game my sister and I used to play when we were kids: try to get across the den without touching the floor. We’d pretend the floor was water, and the water was filled with alligators. The game involved climbing windowsills and furniture. Rapp has to drive around a world that’s 71 percent ocean (I’m assuming that’ll mean putting his Land Cruiser on a ferry at some point). And unless he equips his Toyota with wings and a jet engine, he’ll have to drive some scary roads to get to some awesome places. According to his posts, his route (which he calls a “moving target”) includes countries like Nigeria and Pakistan, where his plan for avoiding muggings and militants is: “Go as fast as possible, and try to cross the country in a few days.”

If he can avoid violence and injury, however, Rapp will, no doubt, see countless strange and wonderful things that most of us never will. And perhaps that explains why 80 strangers have donated Rapp gas money for his trip. Wanderlust will eat you up. Isn’t it just nice to know that somebody out there is getting his fix?

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