Welcome to the very first As Seen From The Sidecar blog. It’s now been over a year since we began planning the first ever circumnavigation of the globe on a scooter with a sidecar and we are well on our way to achieving a 2017 departure. The expedition will see Matt Bishop and Reece Gilkes scoot across five continents, over fifty countries and through every environment imaginable.
Over the next few weeks we’ll fill you in on the journey so far and keep you up to date with what’s to come.
First though, why on earth do we want to circumnavigate the globe on a scooter with a sidecar?
Our news over the past year or two has been pretty scary. Society is becoming more and more divided. It doesn’t matter where on the political spectrum you sit: you can be supporting Don or Hillary, have voted for Brexit or to remain, the fact of the matter is that hate crime is on the rise, scaremongering is rife in our politics and press, and that there is a genuine lack of understanding and compassion between one and other, both within countries and across our borders. We think that this lack of compassion extends to pretty much everything we do. It doesn’t only effect the way we vote but just as importantly it influences our everyday actions such as the things we buy, causes we support or people we socialise with. So, what we want to do with this expedition is connect people on a basic human level, through the medium of storytelling, in the hope of creating a more conscientious and compassionate society.
The migrant crisis in Europe at the moment is a clear example of this lack of compassion but it extends further than that. For example, there are currently 45.8 million people living in modern day slavery and they’re in every country on earth. That’s more than double what there was during the time of the transatlantic slave trade and much of them are trapped because of the decisions we make. So we’re forming a network of NGOs, charities and local experts on our route who will be telling us stories of what everyday life is like for people in the places they work and introducing us to people who may well be influenced by what we do back home.
So why the scooter and sidecar?
From the centre of London to Calais it’s 109 miles: to Birmingham it’s 126.
There are thousands of people living in desperate conditions in the Calais Jungle fleeing all kinds of terrible situations and just searching for a better life. If that was in Birmingham, would we be doing more?
We get that national borders are needed and that the reason the people are in Calais is because there’s a national border there. But what we don’t get is why our feelings towards people should change because of the border. The people there are no different to you or me and should be treated with the same level of compassion and respect as any other person. This is the case no matter what issue you look at all around the world – it seems that if it’s abroad it’s just not as important to us. Well we think that now that we live in such an interconnected world, that the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ philosophy is just plain outdated.
So, if we can circumnavigate the entire planet on this completely inappropriate mode of transport then maybe we can show just how close to home the world’s problems are and how it really doesn’t matter if you’re in Birmingham or Bangkok, ultimately, what we hold in common significantly outweighs our differences.
Next week we’ll tell you a little bit more about the sheer scale of the challenge that lies ahead…
Well Said…. 🙂