Vishnudas Chapke was one of the many journalists who interviewed Captain Dilip Donde after he completed his epic circumnavigation expedition on INSV Mhadei in 2010.
Little did he know that he would embark on a similar journey, a few years later.
But there was a difference—Vishnu circumnavigated the globe over three long years and covered 35 countries by land.
“After the interview, I felt that I should also do something adventurous like him and that ignited the spark in me. And I did it. I touched the same points that he did, and even visited Beijing for the second time after circling the globe” says the 36-year-old who has come to be known as ‘Vishnu Da Gama.’
Interestingly, when he had initially conceived this trip, the plan never included a trail that could take him around the world.
In conversation with The Better India, Vishnu shares the details of his epic journey.
“While I quit my job to pursue this dream, I didn’t have a concrete plan in place. I had planned to travel to the northeastern states like Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, and Nagaland, and from there, I would head to Myanmar and Thailand by land and return to Mumbai via Bangkok by plane. When this went quite smoothly, my friends helped me out with money, and I went from one country to another. There was no map, but to circumnavigate the world, one needs to have a direction, and I chose to travel from West to East,” he says.
Vishnu used the money he had saved to purchase a house in Mumbai, and was also helped by his friends, who organised a crowdfunding campaign. Some even gave him a quarter of their yearly savings.
While he was strapped for cash when he set out from the Thane railway station on 16 March 2016, the next three years would lead him towards life-changing experiences—both good and bad.
Vishnu slept in railway stations and immigration offices when accommodation wasn’t available, worked as a volunteer, hitchhiked to cut short travel expenses, and even partook in relief operations during a wildfire in Chile.
“The first year was difficult. When I reached Australia, I was on a very tight budget. I lived there for four months, out of which I spent one week in a hostel. The rest of the time, I lived with my friends and acquaintances. I spent very little money on travel, as I mostly hitchhiked. Being a vegetarian, finding food was a challenge, so cooked wherever I could or at least, purchased fresh vegetables and fruits and consumed these as salads,” he recalls.