“I want to go home”: a lawyer from Kiev became the first Ukrainian to travel around the world. A PHOTO

In September, 2018 Kiev lawyer Konstantin Simonenko became the first Ukrainian to visit all 193 countries of the world. The corresponding diploma was presented to him on Easter Island in Chile by a representative of the National Register of Records of Ukraine.

Photo: facebook.com/konstantin.traveller

The path to the dream took 10 years. During this time, Konstantin changed 12 foreign passports and made 737 air flights, visited the paradise islands of Oceania and the most closed countries in the world, such as Turkmenistan and Eritrea, walked, accompanied by armed guards, through the streets of war-torn Mogadishu in Somalia, avoided being taken hostage in Mali, and also collected a huge collection of plates - 942 from 210 countries and territories.

In the interview BBC News Ukraine 45-year-old traveler tells how he managed to maintain motivation for so many years, combine traveling with work and raising two sons, how to prepare for travel to distant and dangerous corners of the world, and which countries may surprise the Ukrainian traveler most of all.

Dream of childhood

BBC News Ukraine: How did you get the idea to visit all countries of the world? The main motivation was precisely the desire to become the first Ukrainian who traveled all over the world to get into the record book?

Konstantin Symonenko: The fact that I was able to visit all the countries of the world as the first Ukrainian is certainly pleasant, but this was definitely not my main motivation. First of all, I was fulfilling my childhood dream of seeing the world.

From a young age, I studied maps, dreaming of one day getting to all these islands and atolls, and reading books about travel. I was especially struck by the books of Thor Heyerdahl, Tim Severin, Jacques-Yves Cousteau. I've read all of Gerald Durrell's books about animals. I was particularly impressed by the book “Frigate Drivers” by Nikolai Chukovsky; it was after it that I began to rave about Oceania and distant countries.

As a Soviet schoolboy, I understood that I would not go anywhere further than Bulgaria, but I didn’t even manage to go there. This is probably good, the more I wanted to travel. Then the Soviet Union collapsed, the borders were opened, and several decades later, when the financial opportunity arose to fulfill my childhood dream, I thought: “Why not?”

Honestly, I was not going to advertise much that I had visited all countries of the world. But my son was not believed at school that his dad did this, and he was very upset. Therefore, I had to receive an official record certificate and give an interview. What you can’t do for children.

On the subject: Feel on Mars: TripAdvisor offered users an unusual journey

BBC News Ukraine: You have received a certificate on Easter Island. Why did you choose this place as the final point on the way to the record?

Konstantin Simonenko: You know, visiting all the countries of the world is a rather difficult and difficult task. These are long flights, a terrible climate, sweltering heat and humidity, lack of comfort, and the risk of contracting very unpleasant exotic diseases.

So that I wouldn’t give up in the middle of the journey, I came up with a visual picture for my dream - my last country would be Chile and Easter Island. I will stand at sunrise, on the ocean shore next to the moai statues, and this will be my last country. And this picture always appeared before my eyes when I was completely sad and wanted to quit everything. I imagined the same sunrise and statues, and thought, well, this is cool, I want to go there. Fatigue receded, strength appeared from somewhere.

Therefore, my last country was Chile and Easter Island. The chief expert of the National Register of Records of Ukraine was just nearby, in Brazil, filming the program “The World Inside Out,” and he kindly agreed to fly in and present me with a certificate on Easter Island, so to speak, at the place where the record was set.

Photo: facebook.com/konstantin.traveller

BBC News Ukraine: How do you manage to combine travel with work and family care?

Konstantin Simonenko: I get asked this very often, and I understand why - usually professional travelers are unmarried people who either work remotely, or travel is their job. In my case, everything is exactly the opposite: I work in Kyiv, I am married and I have two children.

I am a lawyer and co-owner of a law firm. In my life there are two people who made it possible that I was able to go around the whole world. This is my wife, who let me go, took care of the housework and took care of the children. And this is my business companion, who also fired up my dream and took charge of the company while I traveled the world.

Of course, I can’t leave for a few months or six months, but for a few weeks I seem to be able to work in remote control mode.

Wife is also an experienced traveler: she visited 60 countries and at first we traveled together. But when the difficult and dangerous countries had already gone, we decided that it would be more reasonable if I continue to fly on my own.

My wife supports me, of course, realizing how important this hobby is for me. Of course, families are very lacking in travel, but I always try to find the opportunity to contact my relatives. Now it's pretty easy. Almost everywhere there is Internet, and where it is not, satellite communications helps out.

It is very important for your family to know that everything is fine with you. Well, if you yourself are on the other side of the world, you feel bad and lonely, hearing the voice of your beloved wife is the most important thing.

Photo: facebook.com/konstantin.traveller

“I always come to a country with an exact plan”

BBC News Ukraine: How do you usually spend time traveling? Walking around interesting cities, visiting museums or, conversely, pulling in national parks or mountains?

Konstantin Simonenko: This, of course, depends on the country I am traveling to. Usually I study in sufficient detail what is unique, interesting and worth seeing in the country. I always come to the country with an exact plan, I want to see how to get there, how much it costs and what are the nuances.

For example, having flown to Vanuatu, I knew for sure that I would go to the Yasur volcano, see how locals jump from palm trees, tying their legs with vines, and drink a local kava-kava drink with the leader of the nearest village.

Often preferences change over time.

Having traveled half of Africa and visited the Serengeti, Kruger Park, Okavango Delta, Massan Mara Park, I almost completely lost interest in any African national parks: sometimes it began to seem to me that I knew all the elephants by name.

After Victoria Falls, Iguazu and Niagara Falls, I was no longer interested in such natural attractions in principle.

On the subject: Ukrainian traveler miraculously escaped the death penalty in Iran: he was convicted because of the drone

BBC News Ukraine: How much time do you spend in each country you visit, on average?

Konstantin Simonenko: Depends on the country. Tuvalu in Oceania can be walked in two hours from one end of the country to the other, and if by car it takes twenty-five minutes. Likewise the Marshall Islands, Kiribati. And what to do there for longer?

If we are talking about Australia, then I have been there four times already and clearly understand that it takes a couple of years to go around it all. The same with the USA, it is such an interesting country, I will study it for many more years, and each time I will find something interesting.

In addition, in many countries I would be happy to explore all the interesting sights, but for a tourist it is simply impossible. For example, in South Sudan there are wonderful unique tribes, but it is highly discouraged for whites to travel outside the capital. For example, I would be glad to travel around the entire coast in Venezuela, but now this is unrealistic due to security issues.

Therefore, to say how much time I spend in the country, taking into account that there are 193 of them - completely different independent states - is like calling the average temperature in a hospital.

Photo: facebook.com/konstantin.traveller

“After seeing how the rest of the world lives, I learned to love Ukraine”

BBC News Ukraine: Which countries do you want to return to again and again, and where you will not return for any money?

Konstantin Simonenko: So far, no one has offered me money for visiting countries, unfortunately. Seriously, I am happy to return and will continue to return to interesting countries. It doesn't matter whether they are dangerous or comfortable. If they made an impression on me, left a mark in my memory, if there is something else to see, I will definitely return. This list equally includes New Zealand, Australia, and Somalia.

But I won’t go to the boring ones anymore - the Marshall Islands, most countries of the Caribbean.

Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica are usually not included in the list of “boring” ones; this is rather an exception. We are talking about tourist islands designed for cruise tourists - Barbados, Antigua, Martinique, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines or the Dominican Republic. They are exactly the same and are tailored to the general requirements of the unassuming cruise ship tourist.

By the way, there is a state in the Caribbean - Trinidad and Tobago, which I really liked. There are practically no tourists there, even though it is one of the richest countries in the Caribbean.

BBC News Ukraine: did you ever want to move to a country with your family, at least some time to live there? Learn a language and explore better its traditions and culture?

Konstantin Simonenko: No. I really love my home, my work and my friends. But most of all I like to return from traveling home. For me personally, this is a special buzz when the trip is over, I have completed everything I planned on the route, and I am flying home, where my beloved wife and children are waiting for me.

Travel is when you dramatically change your surroundings, see new countries, new cultures. When you start living in them, it probably gets boring quickly.

On the subject: 5 ways to outwit scammers while traveling

BBC News Ukraine: What is your favorite country after so many trips?

Konstantin Simonenko: Ukraine, of course. The longer I travel, the more I am convinced that she is my favorite. It's true. We do not have: hurricanes, tsunamis, malaria, deserts, heaps of terrible tropical diseases, there is no such terrible criminal and economic situation as in many other countries. And we have a great nature, climate and people.

I don’t know, in any case, I always want to return to Ukraine, home.

BBC News Ukraine: In your opinion, how do journeys change a person?

Konstantin Simonenko: Personally, I have become very tolerant of any religions, customs, and generally to people. Seeing how the rest of the world lives, different from Europe, I learned to love Ukraine.

I’ve definitely become more confident in myself - when you are thousands of kilometers from home, sometimes in very hard-to-reach places, you can only rely on yourself, your first aid kit and your own strength.

I became more attentive to little things, because when you are preparing for a trip to a difficult country, you have to take into account hundreds of nuances and small things, and this is not figurative, your life depends on it.

Photo: facebook.com/konstantin.traveller

BBC News Ukraine: How difficult was it for you to get into such fairly closed countries as Turkmenistan, North Korea, Eritrea, Somalia. How is it to be a tourist in these countries?

Konstantin Simonenko: Actually, getting to North Korea is no more difficult than getting to Egypt. Just buy a tour there at an authorized travel agency and go. Actually, this is the only option to get there, because independent tourists are simply not allowed there.

It’s quite difficult to get a visa to Eritrea, but if you contact local guides, they can help get a visa upon arrival. In the country itself, it is quite safe and very interesting.

Somalia, if we are talking about a trip to the capital Mogadishu, this is a separate matter - they do not issue tourist visas there at all. They do not have this category of visas. Therefore, I received a work visa there as a flight engineer for civil helicopters. Believe me, you can get any visa, you just need to show persistence and imagination.

The most difficult thing was to get a visa to Turkmenistan. In a year and a half of trying, I received three refusals. I tried to get a visa together with a tourist group, according to an individual program of a local travel agency, a transit visa - I always received an invariable refusal.

I had to turn to our embassy in Turkmenistan for help. I am very grateful to them that they helped to resolve this issue. Once again, the main thing is never to give up!

BBC News Ukraine: Which countries have unpleasantly surprised you with the level of trash? Where is this really bad?

Konstantin Simonenko: Well, here, of course, Bangladesh breaks all records. I have not seen a more littered country in all my travels. In addition to the terrifying situation with garbage, there is also a huge overpopulation.

Most countries in Africa are not clean. India is also famous for this.

However, I have long learned to ignore such trifles as trash on the street. If a country is interesting for its history, culture, customs, then no rubbish will prevent me from falling in love with it.

“The cost of living in many countries is less than we think”

BBC News Ukraine: Which countries are most at risk of robbery or kidnapping of tourists? How did you solve security problems in countries where terrorist attacks (Afghanistan, Mali, Somalia) and high crime rates (CAR, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela, Haiti)?

Konstantin Simonenko: Well, this is a topic for a separate book, to be honest. You can only briefly summarize.

All of the countries listed are “difficult” for tourism. However, I hired security there only twice - in Afghanistan and Somalia. Moreover, in Afghanistan, a security guard was needed more to speed up the passage of checkpoints than to actually protect you as a tourist.

But in Somalia, protection is vital. It is safe for foreigners to stay there only in a tiny green zone around the airport. To go beyond it, you need to hire security, and not fake, but serious and professional. But the adrenaline gained and the country's interest compensate for all the inconvenience.

In general, these countries should be divided by danger category. Terrorist threats include Afghanistan, Central African Republic and Mali; criminal threats - Haiti, Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela and Somalia.

El Salvador is not usually a tourist country, but I don’t consider it too dangerous.

Photo: facebook.com/konstantin.traveller

There are not very safe areas in Colombia, where it is quite dangerous in the capital Bogota, but at the same time quite calm in one of my favorite cities in Latin America - Cartagena.

In Brazil, too, you need to keep your eyes open and not go into criminal areas. Although I was in the favelas, but for this I need to take a guide there, someone from the local.

I would especially highlight Venezuela. This is a very beautiful and original country, but now they just have a catastrophic economic situation. The vast majority of residents were left without sources of livelihood, therefore the criminal situation there is now extremely unfavorable. When the crisis was just beginning, they robbed me right in the central square, sending a very well-placed strike to a deep knockout.

They took money from me, a camera and a backpack. Passport defiantly put on the chest. Usually robbers try not to pick up their passport, because if they are left without documents, the tourist will have to go to the police to get a certificate about the loss of a passport. And if the passport is on hand, most likely the tourist is unlikely to go to the police station.

In terms of the effectiveness of contacting the police in such countries, not a single friend of mine in such a situation received either money or documents back.

BBC News Ukraine: What to do in order not to get into trouble?

Konstantin Simonenko: As for the risks associated with the criminal situation in the country, they can be effectively reduced using fairly simple rules.

First, do not go outside after sunset, do not go into criminal areas.

Secondly, do not attract attention, do not show with your appearance that you are a tourist. Always behave confidently, but not defiantly.

And it’s even better to have an escort - a local guide, not security, but just a local guide.

However, these, of course, are very basic recommendations. It is necessary to speak in more detail for each country separately.

Regarding terrorist attacks, I am a fatalist. No security can save you from a terrorist attack. Here you will either be lucky or not. Of course, I significantly reduce the risks and do not visit those areas where there is an exacerbation, I do not go to mosques or places where there are other large gatherings of people. But overall it's a matter of luck.

Do not forget that terrorist attacks occur in many countries with a high level of welfare. For example, I was in Nice in 2016 just a couple of days before the terrible terrorist attack on the embankment took place there.

I will give one example. In November 2015, I was in the capital of Mali Bamako. I checked out early in the morning from the hotel and two hours later the terrorists seized the hotel, took 170 people hostage, 20 killed. Since then, in Bamako there have been no such serious hostage-takings, but if I had stayed for that two hours on that day, it is not known how it would have worked out. Are you lucky? Very lucky. Could I have prevented or affected this? Not.

Photo: facebook.com/konstantin.traveller

BBC News Ukraine: If you are still robbed, is it worth trying to stop the criminals?

Konstantin Simonenko: If you are already robbed, you definitely should not resist, you need to give everything that they ask. Not worth the camera or smartphone of your life.

Moreover, the cost of human life in many countries is much less than we are used to thinking. Another thing is that you do not need to neglect basic safety rules so that there are no such robberies.

BBC News Ukraine: In which countries do the most hospitable people live?

Konstantin Simonenko: I probably won’t be able to single out any individual countries. I was welcomed hospitably both in Sudan and equally in another part of the globe - in Kiribati. In any country there are hospitable and sincere people, and there are evil and suspicious ones.

BBC News Ukraine: What resources would you recommend travelers to read? What applications to use?

Konstantin Simonenko: Nowadays there are many blogs and channels on the Internet run by travelers. I, of course, recommend my own website www.Konstantin.Travel, where you can find reports about my travels to the most exotic corners of our planet. There are videos and photos there - it will be interesting.

However, I want to warn that if readers are looking for any specific advice, numbers, prices or conditions for obtaining visas, then they need to pay attention to the date of publication. Any factual information about third world countries becomes outdated very quickly. For example, in Africa, the conditions for obtaining a visa in a particular country may change every six months.

As for the applications, there are hundreds of them now! I’ll only say one thing that really should be on the phone of any traveler. This is the MAPS.ME program, in which it is possible to download a map of the country or region of interest for travel, and then use it even in the absence of the Internet. How many times this simple and free program helped me out on trips! After all, the Internet is not in all countries and not everywhere.

Photo: facebook.com/konstantin.traveller

BBC News Ukraine: What are your future plans?

Konstantin Simonenko: There are a lot of plans, health would be enough. This includes Antarctica, the Arctic, Greenland, Alaska..., because visiting all the countries of the world does not mean visiting all corners of our planet.

I already made a list for the next three years, even agreed with my wife. Hopefully soon I can take my eldest son with me on trips.

BBC News Ukraine: Maybe you want to take a trip to space? At least Elon Musk is already organizing space tourism.

Konstantin Simonenko: I would love to wave to Mars. I am afraid, however, that I will be too old at a time when such flights will become available to tourists. Although, you know, we also have enough places on the planet similar to Mars. I recently visited Reunion Island, there are such unearthly landscapes, as if I had already visited Mars.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Amazing Themed Cruises You Can Book In The USA

In America alone: ​​what you need to know before you go

Feel on Mars: TripAdvisor offered users an unusual journey

How not to apply for a visa in the United States: why we were refused

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.