Sean Jordan's mother is upset with him. The Canadian is travelling around the world on a scooter. Sean understands his mother's concern, but can't resist the thrill of riding his eight-year-old Vespa across unfamiliar lands. In the six months he has been on the road, covering considerable portions of Europe and Asia, Sean has faced many difficulties. But he has no regrets about quitting his job in Budapest and taking to the open road.
Trapped in a desk-bound job in the Hungarian capital, Sean craved for a road adventure that could infuse excitement into his life. Since he had already completed a trip of Europe on a Vespa in 2001, the journey had to be longer this time.
On a rather whimsical note, he turned in his papers and took off on the world tour from Belgrade (Serbia) in June. He will cover Eastern Asia, go around South and North America, and then get back to Europe, before ending the adventure in Belgrade. Most of the challenges so far have been in the form of difficult roads, chaotic traffic and mechanical troubles. In his blog vespa360.com, he records these obstacles. While in Iran, following a leak in the fuel tank, he had to scramble for fuel. In certain countries, he had to fac a lethal combination of bad roads and fast traffic.
In fact, bad roads were a recurrent concern as he covered 3,400 km in India. “The traffic in India being slow-moving, the threat of accidents is not great.” While on the Pune to Mumbai highway, Sean was surprised to note that the fastest vehicle did no more than 100 km/h.
Spending his nights at roadside truckers' motels to spend nights, Sean gained lasting insights about India. “Here, the concept of privacy is very thin.” The impressions of India that he is taking back are of a land where “extreme wealth and extreme poverty coexist, where so much happens so fast that processing it all at once is a challenge, and where it is always easy to find a helping hand.” Unlike in Russia, Sean did not face the language barrier in India. “There is always someone who can speak English,” says Sean. But in spite of this, navigating the cultural, social and geographical landscapes of the country hasn't been easy.However, his Vespa has become partially Indian. “Since I had to change the piston, a cylinder and the crankshaft while going around the country, it is 20 per cent Indian.”
