I am living my dream– an interview with Snezana Radojicic

“I am living my dream: I travel, I am as free as it can be, I live from my writing” – an interview with Snezana Radojicic

Snezana Radojicic is a Serbian blogger, writer, humanist, and cyclist who travels the world by bicycle and on foot. She graduated from the Group for Yugoslav and General Literature in Belgrade and worked as a teacher of Serbian language and literature, real estate agent, insurance sales manager, editor. At the beginning of her forties, more precisely in 2011, she decided to begin her journey around the world and start the life of a Nomad. Snezana is a published and award-winning writer and blogger who has visited more than 40 countries around the world – on her bicycle. She shared with us where she draws inspiration from, what her favorite places and cultures are and what her future plans are. We waited for this interview for several weeks because Snezana was in a tribe, outside of civilization when we reached out. Still, it was worth the wait!

What inspired you to start your journeys?

It was a desire to realize my childhood dream: to live freely, outside all systems, and to make the living out of writing. Traveling by bicycle was a way to gain that freedom, to provide myself with enough time and to gain inexhaustible inspiration.

For how long did that idea was in your thoughts before you made it happen and what was the crucial moment for starting it?

I don’t remember exactly when I started thinking about it, some acquaintances from the mountaineering and cycling world say that I talked about it back in 2009, but I remember that in 2010 I was already looking for a way to achieve that. I tried to find sponsors, to find some newspapers that would publish my writings, but all of that failed. 

There were several important moments in that search for ways to make it happen. One of them was when I got the opportunity to get a job in a company and make a career (I had been in the corporate world for years before that), which I accepted temporarily, “to hibernate through the winter”, only to soon become aware of how unfulfilled I am, as if I have tremendous energy with which I can move the world, if I wish. That’s when I decided to go around the world.

The technically crucial moment was when I met a man with whom I would embark on that journey and who would become my emotional partner, and who had extensive experience in cycling and camping. But very quickly, after less than a year, we separated and from 2012 I continued the journey on my own.

In one of the interviews, you mentioned that you live “outside all systems”. To what systems did you refer to? What does life outside the system brings you, and what are its shortcomings (if any)?

First, that means that I do not work for anyone, nor do I have to deal with the state. I live from my writing, from the blog and some additional income, I do not account to anyone for my movements or my work, I do not have a permanent address, I do not follow political and economic events, I am not influenced (or very little) with any changes, because I am a traveler or a tourist in every country I go to… Bad sides exist in everything, even in this. I believe that the biggest flaw of this way of life is that you cannot root yourself, or develop deep relationships with people, but everything is temporary and often superficial.

As a woman traveling alone, have you encountered problems and security risks? How did you overcome them? What would be your advice for girls and women who decide to take a similar step?

I ran into some problem, but not nearly as big or numerous as people usually think. Some once tried to rob me and steal my bicycle on Lake Baikal in Siberia, but I used pepper-spray. I had two or three minor sexual harassments in Sumatra, Indonesia. Upon entering Colombia, they tried to rob me on the street, from a motorcycle, which is a typical way of street robberies in South America. In Peru, in a remote area in the Andes, I also experienced a potentially dangerous situation when a lone farmer wanted to ‘buy’ my bike at any cost.

I would advise girls and women to always rely on their intuition and never neglect that inner feeling. It’s important to be well acquainted with the security risks in each country and to be especially well acquainted with the cultural customs and the code of dress and behavior in the countries to which they travel. Being safe on the road means, above all, being well informed. It is not ours as a traveler to fight gender inequalities and to defy with our emancipation in cultures where these are still taboo issues.

How important is the support of other people, but also your support for others (e.g. your support to the Drop in shelter for children) not only for your travels, but for your philosophy of life?

The support of others and to others is very important. Due to my material conditions, since I traveled with 150 euros a month, the first years were very difficult for me and, if it were not for the support of people who believe in everything I do, it would have been almost impossible.

Since I started living from travel, I have been able to help others myself, so from time to time I start some humanitarian actions. The biggest one so far was for the children of the Drop in shelter in Belgrade, and that action was related to my walk of the 1000 km long route Camino de Santiago in Spain. Apart from that, I did some other smaller humanitarian actions for the elderly and disabled, and for children. I am also planning a humanitarian action for the PCT.

So many people, even complete strangers, have helped me on my Journey, that it is simply impossible to keep all that goodness to myself, without spreading it further and without helping those who need help. There is no great philosophy here.

Do you have your favorite landscape and your favorite culture? Why?

I am a great admirer of Nature and I find beauty in every landscape. I am equally fascinated by the Himalayan or Andean peaks, glaciers, but also by the Atacama Desert or the Gobi and Taklamakan, the Amazon and the South Asian jungles, canyons, steppes, volcanoes…

When it comes to nations and countries, for now my favorite country is Japan, about which I also published a book. I drove there from the far north of Hokkaido to the far south on the island of Okinawa for six months, and I am completely fascinated by that culture. I am talking primarily about the kindness of people, their care for others and coexistence with others, the organization of the country, as well as natural beauty, culture, and art. It is really another planet, Planet Japan(ese) – as the title of my book suggests.

After many years on the road and numerous difficulties caused by the corona virus, what motivates you to continue? Do you have a plan, what’s next? Are you planning to travel through the United States?

When it comes to my motivation, nothing has changed since 2010, only now I am living my dream that came true and I still live it: I travel, I am as free as it can be, I live from my writing.

I usually don’t have a planned route, because the Road has always been more important to me than the goal, but for the last two years I’ve been moving from south to north, from Tierra del Fuego to Alaska. That is also my plan, to reach the far north of America in some perspective.

I will definitely travel through the USA, and the plan is to walk PCT next year – the longest hiking route in the world, which leads from the Mexican-American to the American-Canadian border, following the Pacific mountain massifs.

S.P.