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◊ 2007 Runners-Up
Meet Our 2007 DTRW Fellowship Winner:
Andrew Morgan
Andrew is a 25-year-old English teacher who studied English Education at Montclair State University in New Jersey, America. On a two-month sailing and hitchhiking trip to Hawaii and Australia four years ago, one that rattled his dreams for the future, he met a traveler who had spent two years teaching English in Japan.
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| Andrew Morgan |
Andrew thought the gig sounded great, and after long dinner talks with fellow hostel guests, after chatting with dozens of kind drivers who drove him down Australia’s eastern coast, after the skipper of his boat spent hours at the helm telling extraordinary travel tales, and after meeting 18-year-old travelers and other young people on year-long adventures around the world, Andrew knew that not only would teaching English for Japan’s JET Program be a great way to learn more about Japan and meet fascinating people, but the job would also allow him to save money and plan for “The Trip.”
Prior to coming to Japan, his big trip plans had little definitive shape and existed only in his dreams as a year-or-so spent traveling in other countries. After two years teaching English to Japanese high school students in the mountains of Nagano, Andrew has now sorted out the details of his adventure. The money is saved, the dates are set, and with the help of the DTRW fellowship, he’s ready to roll…literally.
◊ Read Andrew’s Blog: Teacher on Two Wheels
◊ August 2007: Andrew Morgan meets Colleen Kinder
Andrew’s Big Adventure
In the fall of 2007, Andrew will embark on a two-year bicycle trip. He will ride alone and unsupported, possessing nothing more than his bike, a bag of supplies, and a steel cargo trailer. His goal for the trip is to meet and speak with as many people as possible, to teach with teachers from other countries, and to help students he meets along the way learn more about and communicate with students from America.
Andrew is going to ride south from New Jersey, USA to Buenos Aires, Brazil. From Buenos Aires, he’ll connect via plane to Cape Town, South Africa and ride north to Cairo, Egypt. As he rides, he is going to visit schools along his route, make presentations to students about his trip and the cultures he encounters along the way, and videotape the children and teachers he meets.
To obtain footage and connect with people, Andrew will volunteer as an English teacher at schools along his route and will meet up with documentary filmmaker Landon Van Soest, Walking the Line and Good Fortune, at numerous points throughout the trip for additional filming. While he volunteers at schools throughout the ride, his new students will use video, email, and letters to communicate with students in America.
When Andrew returns to America to teach, he will use his footage, pictures, stories, and maps in public school presentations and in his own teaching lessons as tools to help students cultivate tolerance, understanding, and respect for other cultures.
If you are an educator and would like to follow Andrew’s trip and possibly set up an educational project, please email him at: andrewedwardmorgan@gmail.com. He’d love to hear from you!
Links of Interest:
Andrew’s Influences:
- Alastair Humphreys: 4 years around the world by bike. Rode on $1–2 a day for the whole ride.
- Janne Corax: Adventure bike traveler, specializes in riding unsupported through the world’s most remote areas.
- David Kroodsma: Rode from Alaska to Argentina to teach students about the effects of climate change.
- Eric Schambion and Amaya Williams: A couple riding down Africa’s western coast. (Eric has contracted Malaria three times already on the trip and is still riding—very inspirational!)
- Robert Thomson: Ex-English teacher in Japan who is riding from Pusan, Korea to London. The site is called 14 Degrees because he is not deviating from 14 latitudinal degrees throughout the entire ride…no matter what!
- Dominic Gill: A young Brit riding solo (kind of) from Alaska to Argentina on a two-person tandem bike. He invites people he meets along the way to ride with him on the bike for as long as they like. About half of his trip has been spent riding with complete strangers (whom he befriends while riding).
- Daniel Martin: Young guy who rode from London to Cape Town and is now gearing up for a Korea to Cape Town ride.
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