Traveling is described in countless ways by many people. Some people call it an adventure; some people call it an escape from the tiring reality. Most people think that traveling is when you have plenty of leisure time and enough finance. They often think that you cannot travel for a living. There is Ryu Sung-Yong, a professional traveler and travel writer whose life you can truly call a traveler’s. So far, he published several books based on his journey, and he also directed numbers of traveling programs.
The book “Professional Traveler” is where Ryu got the nickname and since then has gained quite some popularity among people who want to travel. “Professional Traveler” consists of two chapters with similar topics but different contents. One chapter covers a story of a man who couldn’t settle down so traveling has become his daily life. It’s actually about his own story of traveling after he had lost people around him. It is gloomy on one hand after all since he did not have much choice but to travel around. Another chapter is ‘The World’s Loneliest Travel Story.’ This is about the writer traveling around countries from China, Tibet, Nepal to Pakistan. This became a lighthouse for those who travel often and an inspiration for those who could not travel freely.
Ryu was born in 1971 and graduated from Yonsei University. He was a columnist in the Hankyoreh newspaper. After finishing school, he entangled himself into several events such as joining crab fishing. He spent three years as a Korean subject teacher in high school. When he was 29, he went to southern part of Jiri Mountain, and spent 4 years doing nothing but selling teas and writing. This was when he published the book “Love of Things that are Nothing.” Then he started traveling around Asian countries from India to Pakistan for one and a half year, and published the “Professional Traveler.” Later, he directed several traveling television programs such as EBS’ ‘World Theme Tour’ where he introduced countries like Mexico, Peru, Iran and many more.
Ryu inspired many people with his stories and ideas. Writer Bob Chang who watched Ryu taking part in EBS’ ‘World Theme Tour’ was inspired by how he can easily blend in with the locals and new environment, no matter which country he visits. On the interview in the Kyunghyang newspaper, he made some important criticisms about traveling. He said, “People take their traveling experience to show off to others. People try to travel on their own will and their own choice only.” He also gave some suggestions such as “Traveling is a great opportunity to be somebody else. It is difficult to not be ourselves in daily lives. Also, we learn the importance of will and decision but we do not have enough opportunities to learn that there are views and places we cannot reach with just will and decision. We need some space to walk around with our presence reduced, letting few things go as we walk along.”
Perhaps, the true meaning of traveling is not in our ideals of good traveling we see on TV. Just like Ryu has found his own style of traveling and gained the nickname of “professional traveler,” we should keep his advice in mind and try to blend in rather than shining alone and seek for our true meaning of traveling.
shimhg5@naver.com
BY Shim Hyun-Gyun
Bangi Middle school
SMART & STORY 