Omar holding a sign noting the days and distance he has travelled in front of the Shinjuku station in Tokyo on Nov 7. — Reuters
Japan is seeing a record boom in tourism, but one recent visitor travelled more than the circumference of the Earth to get there, using boats, trains, camels and even hitch-hiking.
Modern-day Egyptian adventurer Omar Nok became a social media celebrity – attracting more than 750,000 Instagram followers – as he documented his circuitous 46,239km route from Egypt across a dozen countries without once boarding a plane.
“From when I was a little kid, before realising what travel is, I already knew I wanted to come to Japan,” Cairo native Omar, 30, said in an interview in Tokyo. “But for me, I don’t want to miss anything in between ... so that’s the motivation to just go without flying, to see as much as I can.”
The sharp weakening of the Japanese yen has made the country a bargain travel destination, attracting nearly 27 million visitors in the nine months to September. It’s been an economic boon as well, with tourists spending ¥5.86 trillion (RM169.56bil) so far, a record.
For Omar, the country represented the furthest he could travel in Asia without getting on a plane. He arrived by ferry in the southwestern city of Fukuoka in October and then meandered his way to Tokyo on Nov 7 – 274 days after leaving home.
By comparison, a direct flight from Cairo to Tokyo takes about 12 hours.
The veteran traveller previously logged lengthy trips through Europe and the Americas, but nothing like this.
The first day was the hardest, Omar said, when his father dropped him off at Red Sea port of Safaga to board a cargo boat for Saudi Arabia.
He was nervous about stepping into the unknown, venturing into central Asian countries where he didn’t speak the language and where few tourists tread. But armed with words of encouragement from his father, he stepped onto the ship, and his nerves melted away.
On his trek, he hitchhiked to the holy city of Mecca, sandboarded the dunes of Iran, broke down in the Tajikistan mountains in a purple Dodge Challenger driven by another adventurer, and crossed parts of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan riding horses and camels.
Previously a financial analyst for Amazon in Germany and Luxembourg, Omar funded his journey through savings and extremely frugal spending. His daily expenses came to about US$25 (RM112), although his entire two-week run through Afghanistan cost just US$88 (RM394), he said.
Throughout it all, Omar said he never felt in danger because generous strangers looked out for him wherever he found himself. That message resounded among his online fans as a welcome spark of hope at a time of war and political strife in much of the world.
“I’m always just moving around like locals would, and being in situations where locals would step in to help,” Omar said.
“I think people wanted to see that positive side to all the countries that they only hear negative things about.” – Reuters
