DISCOVERING THE WORLD ON WALK AND LIVING DREAMS:

raveling means discovering ourselves as well as discovering the world… Even though most of us are aware of this and want to travel the world, we always postpone this dream for various reasons. Maybe we need some inspiration to hit the road. Here, Güneş Akdoğan, who continues to tour many cities of the world on foot, is one of the names that can offer you exactly that inspiration you need!

Veterinary medicine, fisheries engineering, tourism and hotel management… All are departments where Güneş Akdoğan studied but did not receive a diploma. In fact, it is possible to say that the trainings he received in these departments prepared him for the journey. Güneş Akdoğan's business life is in different sectors such as her education life. For example, he worked as a project manager at a software company, worked in a motorcycle factory, and followed the production in China.

Of course, while doing all these, he also participated in various activities by taking mountaineering, camping, scuba diving and sailing trainings. When he had the opportunity, he discovered places he did not know by hitchhiking, bicycle or bus.

In 2012, he embarked on the discoveringjourney he had dreamed of since childhood, but postponed like most of us! After living next to the writer Bosko, who lived in an old village house in a forest in Serbia for the first 3 months, he reached Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia on foot.

It would not be an exaggeration to call this journey he made in the Balkans a kind of "beginning". Because after this journey, he worked as a volunteer on a sailing boat and sailed from France to the Mediterranean. After Gibraltar and the Canary Islands, he crossed the Atlantic Ocean with the same sailboat and reached the Caribbean. He lived for a time with the Warao Indians in the Orinoco Delta region of Venezuela. After these experiences, he went to Brazil, returned to Turkey, and then went to Serbia and started to live voluntarily with the writer Bosko, whom he stayed at home when he first went on a journey.

Güneş Akdoğan has been living in an old village house in a forest in Rudnik-Serbia for the last 5 years. She generously shares all her experiences on her “ Travel Step by Step ” blog. Also, let's not forget that Akdoğan takes very nice analog photos. He says that he can open an exhibition in the future with these photographs he has collected for now. Of course, there is also a book project about “walking” that he plans to finish this year!

Now, it's time to get to know Güneş Akdoğan better!

Many of us dream of traveling, exploring different cities and cultures. You say that you have been working on this dream for 10 years before you set off. So, what was the starting point of this dream, the main thing that helped you take action to start such a journey?

There is no single answer to this; I can say that it is the result of a combination of many different conditions.

My mother was a history and geography teacher. For this reason, there was an abundance of geography atlases, encyclopedias, and books on discoveries at home. I remember looking at photos and maps of world atlases before I learned to read and was very excited.

In addition, the long-term excursions my mother organized at the school where she worked had a great impact. I can still feel the excitement of fairy chimneys in Ürgüp for the first time in the 80s and 90s, I was surprised by Pamukkale, I was slightly scared at Ayvalık Devil's Table, I still feel the sense of wonder that museums arouse in me wherever we go, and the joy of reaching places I see on the map without ever going.

Such a childhood; When we add Barış Manço's programs, Jules Verne's books, the supportive family, and the endless curiosity and excitement of discovery, the result is me with my bag on my back, often not knowing where I'm going, but still going somewhere.

You are writing a book about walking; You have a lot of experience. Could you please tell us briefly about walking around and discovering different geographies in this way?

I didn't share much about the book. It's been said a few times. Thank you for following in such detail. 🙂

It's like halfway through the book. I hope to finish the other half this winter. Walking is the most natural and slowest mode of transportation possible. The modern world is making us forget our feet, says David Le Breton in his book Praise of Walking . I'm after the pleasure of getting somewhere by using my feet from here.

walk for me; It means staying away from reaching a place as much as possible, starting from point A and reaching point B as late as possible, while experiencing the point I am at in every step I take. The slow motion of walking; It provides a meditative stillness, a full awareness of myself and my surroundings.

1-2 hour leisurely walks in the city or long, difficult, troubled walks crossing a country or just getting off one stop early and walking home are very valuable to me. I consider the time I spent on all these walks to be my greatest wealth.

What does "dream" mean to you? What are the main elements needed to realize the dreamed thing/things?

I think that dreaming is the greatest wealth and power of man. No effort is required to learn to dream; comes as a ready-made package in our minds at birth. Plus it's free!

I think we start dreaming about a subject the moment our curiosity is activated. Dreaming is always the first step I take when I need to satisfy my curiosity. It's free anyway! In my mind, I can build an igloo at the poles alone, or join a team on Mars. I can also say that I walk to swim in such an ocean of dreams.

99% of dreams take up space in our minds as wonderful fictions. If I can achieve any of the remaining 1%, I can say that this is the peak of my life, my greatest personal achievement. This is the hardest part to achieve. How can it be easy to take the balls of thought from our minds and put them in the real world? To plan for this, to prepare; Flexibility, change, stubbornness and self-confidence are the most important stages in plans.

All my friends were making fun of me when I took sailing lessons when I was 20 years old, a university student 🙂 They were right; I was talking about taking lessons on a makeshift sailboat in Izmir Bay and sailing to the ocean in the summer. This preparation brought me to my childhood dream.

Have you ever thought of giving up when faced with setbacks on your journey? How did you convince yourself to continue the journey during this process?

It has happened so many times 🙂 In the first week I started walking from Serbia, I was pulling the flag of rebellion every evening from the pain in my legs and back. The biggest advantage of moving slowly is that you don't have the luxury of leaving the trip and returning. Unless there is a very serious health problem, advancing is always the best option. When I encounter some problems, I prefer to make a decision in the morning after sleeping that night. When I wake up in the morning, "Wait, let me go over there and I'll look later." I continue by saying.

The serenity of traveling on foot also prepares me for what will happen to me on the way. It was difficult in the beginning; but once I got used to it, I realized that I was calmer, calmer and my reactions were getting softer.

What do you think is the biggest contribution traveling has to your life?

There are so many of them… A small book could be written just about it. I lived my childhood dreams. I had a forest, a garden, and an old country house, just like I dreamed of when I was young. I met very different, but very similar people; I learned new languages. I got to know myself, I realized my friends, I realized what I could do, I went beyond my own limits. I got to know many different geographies, climates, lifestyles… This list goes on and on.

Is there a city/country you dream of going and exploring?

There is a group of islands. I would love to see Anuta Island, far away in the Pacific. It would be enough if I go all the way to Ushuaia and see the lighthouse at the end of the world.

Walking is an adventure in itself, but crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a small sailboat and reaching Antigua Island is also an excellent experience. Is there a moment in your journey that you can never forget and that you think has affected your life?

The sailboat was 20 meters. In fact, it might even be considered big enough to cross the ocean. When we set out from France, we encountered minor problems. One of the straps holding the fuel tank broke broke, the autopilot was occasionally disengaged, the sail stuck on the mast once during retrieval. These were minor issues that we quickly found a solution to.

When we sailed from the Canary Islands to the Atlantic, we decided to move directly east instead of turning south or north, rather than using the trade routes.

We were going to take a shorter trip. We would stay away from tankers etc…

In the middle of the voyage, out of radio range, we lost our sails one by one.

First, the rope holding the balloon sail broke and the sail fell into the water; tangled in the propeller. We cut the sail, but the water was very active. We didn't get a chance to land on the propeller.

Then the winch mechanism of the mainsail broke down. He got stuck halfway through the big sail. It suddenly filled with air and began to open towards the water. We climbed onto the boom mast and forced the sail back.

Lastly, the seams of the front jib sail, which pressed the nose of the boat and kept us moving a little, burst. All this happened in 2 days. We were left with 4 people on a 20-meter sailboat without a sail, without a motor, far from the radio range.

To cope with this situation, it is necessary to have nerves of steel, serious experience and knowledge. It seemed like the only option we had was to sail into the Caribbean. I'm talking about a drift that will take 50-60 days.

Everyone on the boat managed to overcome this situation in an extremely cool way, by cooperating, putting forward various ideas, listening, thinking and accepting.

After drifting like this for 3 days, he caught a quiet time and the second captain of the boat entered the water and cut the piece that was stuck on the propeller. We cut the balloon sail together, tied it up and pulled it to the mast. We were able to switch the storm jib to the other jib post and open it. That's how we were able to cross the ocean with half and make-up sails.

While doing all this, remember that we are in a sailboat that is constantly tossing up and down, left and right in the ocean. This situation reminds me how people interlock when necessary; I can say that it taught me the insignificance of language, culture and nationality differences, the calmness I experienced when I was face to face with death, and to accept the conditions and act in harmony. I guess that was the moment when I really got to know myself. At the end of those three days, I felt like I got rid of being fish food and started life again.

What are the songs or movies that feed your dreams and motivate you to realize your dreams?

My favorite subject is music and movies. Let me make a top 10 list here.

Music first:

• The Doors – Roadhouse Blues
• Steppenwolf – Born To Be Wild
• Johnny Cash – I've Been Everywhere
• Canned Heat – On The Road Again
• Lynyrd Skynyrd – Sweet Home Alabama
• Longing for Cloudlessness – Heading South
• Bluebeard – I Started Walking
• Flirting – Keep Going
• Replicas – Traveler
• Tibet Heavy - None None

Road Movies Top 10:

• tracks
• El Camino
• Big Fish
• the wild
• Nordwand
• Touching the Void
• Meru
• The Salt of the Earth (Documentary, must watch)
• Easy Rider
• The Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Bonus road story)

Whatever the circumstances, what would you recommend to dreamers and those who work to make their dreams come true?

Never stop dreaming and dreaming. Falling is free. You will have a long, difficult and troubled road ahead of you in order to realize your dream and live it. It's not impossible, it's surmountable. Do not forget this. Make a plan, use pen and paper. Write down what you want to do, what you can do, what you need, and how you will meet them. These plans will constantly change, but eventually you will get somewhere.

While all this is going on, your closest friends, relatives, friends and teachers will try to get you off your feet. They love to do this. They will keep telling you that your plans are impossible, that they are absurd, that they are unnecessary. Let them tell, don't care.

After all this is over, if you are lucky, hardworking enough, a little stubborn, you can reach your dream. Even if you can't reach it, never mind; Dreaming is fun, enjoyable and takes you places you never expected.