How I became an adventurer: Leon McCarron at TEDxBelfast

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10 жыл бұрын

Leon McCarron is a Northern Irish adventurer and cameraman. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and specialises in long distance, human-powered expeditions.
At the end of 2012 Leon crossed 1000 miles of the Empty Quarter desert, roughly following the route of explorer Wilfred Thesiger and pulling a cart loaded with supplies.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

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@TheCuriousFinch 2 жыл бұрын

Adventure is a dying art. And when adventure dies, humanity dies.

@tedmccarron 5 жыл бұрын

I stumbled across this video by accident but I can relate to it. Soon I will be 54 years old and I decided a few years ago I had to act fast to make my travel dreams come true. My Plan A in life did not work out. That was to have a wife, kids, house and a good career. Instead my student teaching bombed badly when I was 31 leading me to take an easier route working in a warehouse, things didn't work out with my live-in girlfriend and I lived in a tiny studio apartment. I had a buddy I went to high school with whom I was always jealous of because over the years he would just pack up and leave on a shoestring budget to go wherever he wanted to in the world. I felt too many obligations to do that. At age 50 I FINALLY paid off my student loans and my mom had passed away. I had no wife, no kids, no debts, no pets, no mortgage, no more girlfriend and a decent sized 401k (not nearly enough to retire on, but a nice chunk of change). I decided that if my Plan A didn't work out then I could do Plan B, an adventurous older years traveling the world. After two years of planning I finally quit my warehouse job of 16 1/2 years on March 10, 2017, had a huge party, put everything in a storage locker and left my tiny apartment after 24 1/2 years and left my northern Illinois town after 30 1/2 years. I was going to start my new life by doing a six month thru hike on the Appalachian Trail going from Georgia to Maine. However after only a few days on the trail I almost got hypothermia and bailed from it, very embarrassed. I had money saved from my 401k so I stayed with a friend, renting his extra bedroom in his very unpleasant townhouse. After the six month hike I was supposed to go overseas and teach English as part of my adventures. Instead I stayed way longer than originally planned at my friend's place, not working at all for eight months then doing some substitute teaching. During this time I got my online TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) certificate. Exactly one year after my hike bombed I went back to the spot where I left off on the Appalachian Trail and resumed my hike until I reached the first major outpost as planned. It was only a tiny fraction of a six month thru hike but it did give me satisfaction after the embarrassment of the previous year. Finally after many delays I flew to Thailand on November 13, 2018. I'm here now living in Chiang Mai, Thailand and plan to start teaching English online to Chinese students very soon. There is a huge demand for that, the money is good and the cost of living is very cheap out here. I plan to stay here for at least a year, probably two. Then I may very well live in Saigon in Vietnam for a while where they pay very good for English teachers. Over the rest of my life after that anything could happen. I may bounce around a different countries or I may stay in one country that I love long-term. Either way though I want to visit different countries whether I'm staying in one place for a long time or not. If I live outside the US long-term then my plan is to come back and stay in Northeastern Illinois where I'm from for at least three months every two years. I may also come back to other parts of the US and stay there for a while. I absolutely love New Orleans and I also wouldn't mind working at seasonal resorts as part of the staff there. Room & Board is included in the working package for jobs like that. I might do a summer working in Yellowstone and another summer working at a resort in Alaska. I also might move back and forth right here to Chiang Mai, Thailand order some other part of the world that I love. I could also meet the girl of my dreams and just settle down with her somewhere. I'm leaving my plans deliberately wide open and just want to live the adventure as I go along. I don't want to have any more regrets on my deathbed when my time is up. I could easily have put up with another 10 or more years in the warehouse and kept living in my tiny Illinois studio apartment. My 401k probably would have doubled or even more, but by then I would be in my sixties and my family history Would give me less than 10 years to live at that point. I'm doing these plans because I didn't want to be on my deathbed someday regretting that I didn't go out and see the world when I still could have. I only have one life on this Earth and I can't push the reset button to go back or start over again. I don't know what the future holds in store for me exactly but as long as some catastrophe doesn't hit me I want to travel, see places And enjoy life as much as I can.

@madhavvkapur697 5 жыл бұрын

Wow. You inspire me sir. It's so great to see people finally doing something meaningful. I hope you start writing a blog or even a book (unless you already are/have). Also I'll be visiting Thailand this, would love to meet you :)

@tedmccarron 5 жыл бұрын

@@madhavvkapur697 thank you! Are you from India?

@madhavvkapur697 5 жыл бұрын

That's right. But I live in Canada

@calumcooke2040 4 жыл бұрын

Good for you

@davidpurdie5455 3 жыл бұрын

Good on you buddy. I recently done the same with some hiccups (first round the world trip cancelled due to bad motorcycle crash in vietnam and second stopped due to coronavirus!!) ...... third time lucky!!

@jorgeromera3861 5 жыл бұрын

Just three comments after nearly 5 years? What's wrong with people? Not everybody can afford to travel around the world. Many times it's not a matter of money or free time, but disability or family obligations. Anyway, adventure is a mindset, and as other comment says, everyday mini-adventures can be taken. Thank you, Leon McCarron, for your inspiration.

@tedmccarron 5 жыл бұрын

It's very possible it has so few comments because nobody knows this video exists. The only reason I'm here is because I looked up my own name and he shares my last name and my first name is Ted (as in TED talks). Now that I've seen this though I do like it and I can relate to it. Look at the other comments here because I'll share my own story.

@sronnau99 4 жыл бұрын

Thank you sir. This was my very first websearch and very first video since i decided to become an explorer like DORA!

@hme605 4 жыл бұрын

how's it going?

@user-rv7nx7jy8b 2 жыл бұрын

😂😂😂😂

@hadez3688 8 жыл бұрын

That sounds like fun the way he explains it lol... He's very lucky to have experience that!

@shubhamtripathi4125 6 жыл бұрын

i'm really wanna be an explorer

@ecofamily8990 3 жыл бұрын

have done my solo travel few years ago, it's def scary and lonely. i got to know myself more and tho i didn't do anything amazing, i want to go solo travel again after covid over. once is not enough to grasp the soul of exploring

@againstthemodernworld3253 6 жыл бұрын

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BIKE??? Loved your story brother. It's truly does my heart good to know there are still folks like you in the world. You've inspired thousands of people. Including me. (and people also forget you can take a mini-adventure everyday- drive a different route to work, walk somewhere instead of driving, or just go for a bike ride.)

@jorgeromera3861 5 жыл бұрын

I absolutely agree with you.