Alas, there isn’t a local newspaper article documenting my plans to follow Karl around the world. But if there were such an article, it would be in the Chronicle Herald culture section, located between a recipe for making the perfect croque monsieur and a local story about an accountant who decided to become a sheep farmer.
It would read:
Could there be a more legitimate “Globe Trotter” than an adventurer who bears the surname Trotter? Many of our readers will be surprised when we make the announcement that it is the intention of Louise Trotter to start an adventure following the path of Karl M. Creelman, the first Canadian to ride his bicycle around the world. Ms. Trotter will start her journey in Karl's hometown of Truro, where his adventure began.
Louise has mapped out her 75,000 km journey, ensuring that she travels to every location Karl documented on his trip. Also, she added to her itinerary some of those places Karl originally planned to visit (Japan, Hong Kong, Tasmania, New Zealand and Italy) and other locations that have been on her bucket list (Bali, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jordan, and a return to Oman*.)
However, unlike Karl, who had never before left the province of Nova Scotia when he set out on his journey, this isn’t the first time that Louise has travelled.
She recalls that her first international trip was as a child in the summer of 1981, travelling in a Wolseley 1800 with her younger sister, parents, and close family friends. The six travelled in the car from their village of Washington in the northeast of England, south to London and then onto the ferry in Dover to cross the English Channel to get to Normandy, France.
When interviewed by this ‘News’ reporter if this first experience inspired her love of travel. She shared that her most prevalent memories of that trip are sitting on the ferry’s outside deck with her blue binoculars around her neck and a paper bag enveloping her mouth. The latter being the only recourse for the intense seasickness from the choppy waters of the English Channel.
Louise’s next travel experience was her first airplane flight from England to Canada. It was January 1982 and her parents had made the decision that the family was emigrating to Ontario, Canada.
In the years that followed — thanks to the family vacations back and forth to England to visit relatives — she became more comfortable travelling and more curious to see new places. And then the summer when she turned 16, she started to travel solo, first to England and then off to northern Europe. The independence and freedom of travelling solo empowered her to plan and schedule her time based on her interests, and she suspects this sparked her love of travel. Since then she has travelled to over 30 different countries and documents her most recent travels in the Armchair Traveller posts.
But notwithstanding her past travel experience, given the scope, distance and duration, this upcoming trip around the world will be epic for our GlobeTrotter. Louise is setting off to discover those places that Karl visited but suspects that she’ll also be learning a lot about herself along this journey.
When asked if there was anything in particular that she was worried about on such an adventure. Louise shared that despite her travel experience, she is a notoriously lousy packer as she has previously written about in her GlobeTrotter blog: Packed Too Much.
The ‘News’ wishes our local adventurer every success in her undertaking, and our readers will be following her journey on the Karl Chronicles and her social media channels over the next number of years.
Karl’s route is green & Louise’s route is purple
*Louise first travelled to Oman in 2015 (GlobeTrotter blog: Oh Man, I love Oman) and returned in 2017 (GlobeTrotter blog: Capturing my heart by starting with my nose: Following Oman's frankincense trail) and can’t wait to return.
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