This Man Traveled The World On His Bicycle; Here’s What He Learned
It’s impossible to speak with Thomas Despin and not get inspired.
A couple years ago he decided to hop on a bicycle with little more than $400 and travel the world.
He called it StartUp Cycling. The goal was to travel to places like Budapest, Istanbul, Shanghai, and San Francisco while meeting some of the most brilliant StartUp CEO’s in the tech world for interviews.
He also wanted to just, well, travel. Thomas was 24 years old then.
While it sounds like Mr. Despin was setting himself up for failure (I mean, $400?!), he succeeded in this incredible quest with a unique combination of ingenuity, creativity, and sheer perseverance.
This is his story.
The Inspiration Behind The Trip
“I actually heard of some people traveling the world by bicycle,” Thomas said.
“I thought it was crazy and something I really wanted to try. So I bought a touring bicycle, bags to carry on the back of it, and I started traveling on my own four months after I came up with the idea.
I had a tent, a stove, some food, and $400. The goal was to travel the world, meet StartUp CEO’s, and learn from them along the way going from city to city.
After crossing 15 countries in Europe I did the same in USA.”
Running Out Of Money / Saving His Trip
While Thomas was traveling to so many new countries, he had to make sure of one little thing..
Having enough money to KEEP traveling. He came up with a super ingenious way to solve that problem with a friend from Paris..
“I remember I was in Finland and had no funds to keep on traveling. However on the road I had this crazy idea based around the question of ‘What if we had 15 digital nomads, designers, entrepreneurs all living in the same house in Budapest for a month?’
I thought we could rent a place and charge participants a fee for the convenience of being around other amazing people. With the fee, I could have some money on the side to keep traveling and fund my full-month stay in Budapest.
It was insane how the whole thing was bootstrapped. My friend was on the phone talking with people seeing whether they would be a good fit to stay with us. It was kind of a last-minute thing. We planned it 6 weeks before it happened.
It was insanely amazing. I didn’t know anybody there but it was a crazy cool experience.”
Living The American Dream
After Budapest, Tom decided to come to Miami instead of San Francisco. We’ll talk about why he changed plans later..
“When I first got to the U.S. I came to Miami. I really felt like I was in a movie. Everything was so big and I also spent three weeks in New York City.
I’m not a city person usually, but NYC is one of my top three favorite cities in the world so far.
When I first arrived I took the small ferry directly into the city and I was like ‘Woah, everything is so big.’
But at the same time I had my bicycle with me and so many people stopped to read the sign on my bike and wanted to take pictures with me!
It was such a cool vibe. Everybody was wearing suits and stuff and I had the short pants and the singlet and I felt like a total misfit.”
Tom’s Toughest Day On The Road
Because Thomas spent so many days on the road, I started wondering what his hardest day was like:
“I spent the night in a camp site and the owners of the campsite offered me the night. They refused to accept my money because they heard my story and wanted to help any way they could.
So I was in a really good mood the day after.”
For context, Thomas carried a tracker with him that told him how many kilometers/miles he rode that day. He made it a personal vendetta to register 100 kilometers in a day SOMETIME on this trip. He hadn’t done it yet.
The problem? He wasn’t in Europe anymore. This tracker was now in Miles, not Kilometers. And as we all know, 100 Miles is DEFINITELY NOT 100 Kilometers. But since he really wanted to see that ‘100,’ he dug deep..
“It was kind of a personal challenge. There was no meaning behind it, it was just a personal thing. I woke up early, packed my stuff, and I remember it was like the worst weather I had since the beginning of this trip.
It started to rain like crazy, then it got really hot, then my tire broke and I had to change it. Then I couldn’t find a proper bike store to get a good tire so I had to get a cheap one.
It was the toughest day on the road, but it was also the day I got to achieve my personal goal.”
Humans Can Handle SO MUCH More
Here’s a couple life lessons Thomas shared with me on our call.
“I think the mind and the body can get used to whatever we’re doing really quick if we’re putting in 100 percent.
As soon as I started this trip, I was not ready. But when I got going there was this shift that happened in my mind that made me ready to improve.
I wasn’t someone living an entrepreneurial life back then. I was someone who had a bicycle and had all his stuff on the back going from A to B.
When I started cycling, my reality changed and I became the person that was able to handle all these challenges.
One of the lessons I learned on the road is in your daily life there is always someone to call for help, but when you’re on the road, you cannot avoid problems and call for help. You have to take care of it yourself.
When you put yourself in the position where you HAVE to figure things out, then you figure things out.
I think our minds have crazy capacities. Everyone does. BUT because we’re always in a comfortable place around friends and family, we kind of forget that.”
Why Thomas Went On The Trip
“I really wanted to travel my way and do it big. I always stayed in France and never really got to see the world. I think that was my motivation.
I was definitely not ready financially or mentally. I know so many people when they have these big travel ideas they save for years before they go, but the way I wanted to do it was ‘let’s just get started, and I will figure it out.’
I wanted to escape to something different. Not ‘from’ but ‘to.’
I didn’t really know what I was looking for, but all I knew was I just wanted to see WHAT was there, if anything.”
To close this article out, I wanted to leave probably the most striking quote Thomas dropped off in our interview (there were many).
“One thing I learned on the way is it doesn’t really matter if you stick with the initial plan. If the initial plan gets you started, and along the way you figure out what it is that you actually want, then it’s fine.”
Get started today.
To learn about how Thomas started his own $750,000 dropshipping company AFTER this trip, listen to the rest of our interview on my podcast (episode 4).
