May 2, 2006
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It's simply extraordinary the amount of time and effort people will put into ultimately useless endeavors.
Case in point: The Goliath Expedition. It's a couple of men, one American and one Briton, who can't find any more useful to do with their lives than walk clear around the Earth. Twelve years! 36,000 miles! Four continents!
Um, why? What's the point? I've never been one to get all shivery over "the first person to fly around the world" or "the first person to swim the Atlantic" or whatever. Being the first person to orbit the Earth made sense, seeing as how it was a necessary precursor to our flying to the moon. And by flying to the moon we increased our collective knowledge of the LORD's creation, not to mention scoring some pretty cool stuff like rechargeable batteries and Teflon.
At the end of twelve years of walking around the planet, all these guys will have are a bunch of worn-out shoes, enough photos to bore dinner parties for the rest of their lives, and some great memories of all they've seen and the people they've met. Mind, I'm fond of seeing things and meeting people, too, but have no yen to devote twelve years of my life to it. That's what vacations are for. To essentially dedicate one's life to sightseeing for a dozen years seems a smidge self-indulgent. No one needs someone to walk around the Earth, after all. They'd be more use to the world as gas station attendants or fry cooks at a burger joint.
I'd never heard of their trek except it turns out they ran afoul of Russian rules and regs. Now see, I'd have thought before setting out on a journey of this magnitude and nature one would take the trouble to check the laws of the various nations one was planning to traverse. This precious pair apparently paid no attention to the need for visas for Russia, instead walking across the frozen Bering Strait like they owned it.
Now they're in the hands of the Russian authorities, who seem to be singularly unimpressed by their determination to walk through Russia, and are readying them for being deported, with a fine and a five year ban on travel into Russia thrown in.
They're kidding. They didn't bother getting proper visas for all the nations they were planning upon traversing? What did they think, visas aren't necessary if one is just passing through?
Dingalings.
Comments (3)
That's nuts. How can you plan an expedition like that without taking care of that "little detail"?
I can't really argue with your logic, but I don't have as much of a problem with this kind of thing as you seem to. Maybe you're right, but I'm not definitely against it. But not making sure it's LEGAL to go through the countries on your route? Words fail me.
Well, it's not like I'd have thrown myself at their feet and clutched their knees in an effort to make 'em stay home.
It just seems like a silly thing to do, fraught with danger and, when it all shakes out, not accomplishing much of anything.
On the plus side, however, it does keep them out of the pool halls.
Reminds me of a similar incident, when a team of engineers built an amphibious vehicle that they were going to "drive" from Alaska to Russia. The Russian government wasn't too keen on the idea, and they had to turn back, I believe.
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