Around the World
Voice 1
Thank you for joining us for today’s Spotlight program. I’m Courtney Schutt.
Voice 2
And I’m Ryan Geertsma. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for
people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
Have you ever wanted to travel around the whole world? Can you imagine what that trip would be
like? What places would you visit? What people would you meet?
Voice 2
In 1991, Jason Lewis and Steve Smith decided to take a trip around the world. But they did not want it
to be a normal trip. No, they decided to do something special.
Voice 1
When most people take a long trip, they travel in a car, a boat or an airplane. These vehicles make it
easier to travel quickly. But Jason Lewis and Steve Smith decided not to use normal vehicles for their
trip around the world. Instead, they wanted to travel using only human power.
Voice 2
Many people have travelled around the whole earth. In fact, the first trip around the world happened
almost five hundred [500] years ago! In the early fifteen hundreds [1500’s], Ferdinand Magellan and
his large crew sailed ships all the way around the earth. The trip took them six years, and most of the
crew died before it ended.
Voice 1
But no one had ever travelled around the world using only human power. Magellan used ships that
were pushed by the wind. Other trips around the world have been powered by engines in planes, boats,
cars, and other vehicles. So Jason Lewis and Steve Smith decided that they would be the first people to
travel around the earth without power from sails or engines.
Voice 2
The men knew that this would be a difficult trip. They knew that it would take a long time to prepare.
So along with some friends, they began gathering everything they needed.
Voice 1
As their first project, the men built a boat. The boat needed to be human powered. It could not have
any sails. It could not have an engine. So they came up with a new idea.
Voice 2
Their feet powered this boat, using pedals like a bicycle. But instead of moving a two wheeled
machine, the pedalling moved the boat through the water! The boat was made from very light material
so that it moved easily. It was also very small--just large enough for two men and their equipment.
Voice 1
In a few years, Jason and Steve finally had everything they needed for their trip. They left the United
Kingdom in 1994. In their boat, they travelled into the Atlantic Ocean. They soon learned that the trip
would be very difficult. Jason said,
Voice 3
“When we got into the ocean, everything was quiet. Only then did we learn how difficult it would be.
We wondered if we had made a mistake. For the first few days and weeks, we felt frightened. What if
we were run over by a ship in the middle of the night? What if our boat broke apart?”
Voice 2
The boat had two seats--one for pedalling the boat, the other for resting. The men changed positions
every 2 or 3 hours so that both got a chance to eat and sleep. But there was more to do on the boat than
just sleep and pedal.
Voice 3
“There were many other things that kept us busy during the day. We cooked, watched our position on a
map, and fixed things that broke on the boat. I brought a guitar with me and at times I would sit on the
top of the boat and play music. But at night, there was not as much to do. When you pedalled, you
would just imagine different things for hours and hours.”
Voice 1
After more than eighty days in the ocean, Jason and Steve felt very lonely. It was almost Christmas
day, and the two men felt sad that they did not have any way to celebrate. But they soon had a reason
to feel excited.
Voice 3
“In the distance, we saw a huge ship that was not moving. We called to it on our radio, and learned that
it was a repair ship. They invited us to come on their boat and they gave us an amazing Christmas
dinner. We even got a chance to clean the ocean water off our skin.”
Voice 2
A few weeks later, the men had another reason to celebrate. After more than three months in the ocean,
they finally reached land.
Voice 3
“That first time reaching land was one of the best parts of the whole trip. We arrived on a cold day
with a large group of people waiting to meet us. When we stepped off the boat, we almost fell down.
We had been on the ocean for so long that we did not remember how to walk on land!”
Voice 1
The men soon travelled to the United States, where they began the first on-land part of their trip. After
a few weeks, Steve Smith decided that the trip was too difficult, and he returned home. But Jason
continued on by himself. Using only a bicycle and his feet, Jason travelled thousands of kilometres
across the United States. But a terrible accident almost ended his trip.
Voice 2
Almost halfway across the United States, a car hit Jason. The fall broke both of his legs. It took a long
time before he could walk again. Finally, after nine months, he could continue his trip around the
world.
Voice 1
Jason travelled south from the United States into Mexico. He then got back into his boat and pedalled
across the Pacific Ocean, stopping in Hawaii. Then he pedalled all the way to Australia! The trip was
going well, but Jason was almost out of money.
Voice 3
“Most of the money for the trip was being lent to me by my friends. But I needed to earn some more
money to continue the trip. So I got a job cutting trees. After working for about two and a half years, I
had enough money for the rest of the trip.”
Voice 2
Jason travelled from Australia into Indonesia and Singapore. He crossed Malaysia, Thailand, and even
entered southern China. From there, he travelled thousands of kilometres into Africa. And then, it was
only a few months until he completed his trip around the world. On October 6, 2007, Jason took his
boat across the English Channel, back to the exact place that he began. The trip took 13 years, but
Jason does not regret any of it.
Voice 3
“This trip took a third of my life. But I have met amazing people, I have seen amazing things. I have
learned so much about the world. I feel that I am one of the luckiest people in the world!”