Putting Canada on the Map

A Modern Day Pioneer Returns Home

The Calgary Sun newspaper released an article announcing and acknowledging the effort and achievements of a true modern day pioneer that truly gives new meaning and redefines the term “world traveller”.

Mike Spencer Bown, hails from Calgary, Alberta.

A fellow Canadian with a passion for travel that has taken him on a road of discovery, epic journeys and around the world adventures that have spanned a period of 2 decades. He left Calgary at the age of 21 to embark on his travels.

Mike, now aged 44 was recognized this week after receiving the celebrated title of

“Most extensively travelled person in human history” after having extensively travelled every single country and region on earth. A revered title that many like-minded travellers only ever dream of attaining in a single life time.  Mike has travelled to 190 countries across the globe.

His journey and tales read like an adventure novel or fairy tale narrative that is only too good to be true.

What sets Mike apart from many other global, jet-setting travellers is his keen interest in truly exploring the ebb and flow of the countries he visits, trying to unearth the unique aspects about a place, the culture and its people. He really immerses himself into the countries local culture and way of life, rather than simply sharing a fleeting moment in a place or taking in a stop-over in a countries capital city for a quick sojourn.

Mike spoke with the Sun and said

“Some of the least travelled people I’ve ever met have been to 100 countries, or even as high as 170 countries — what they do is fly between major cities and especially capital cities, stop off in the airport or take a hotel for the night, and then say that they’ve ‘done’ such and such country.”

“To my view, such people are passengers, not travellers.”

During his worldly adventures, Mike has lived with remote tribes, travelled across deserts and rainforests, forayed into war-torn regions like Somalia and the DRC and carried out scary, if not somewhat insane excursions into middle eastern territories like Afghanistan and Iraq during the US invasions.

This week, Mike has ended his 23-year travel expedition in Ireland where he received his final passport stamp and enjoyed a Guinness, before he makes his way back to Canada to catch up with friends and family.

During his extensive travels, Mike has come to realize one common denominator that we as humans across the globe all share:

“People are basically good and worth knowing whatever the race or culture they hail from” and “once [we get] past some very peculiar customs, people are remarkably similar across the planet.”

Some advice that we should all adopt in an effort to become more culturally sensitive and world wise. 

Mike said “I’ve had no ‘down time’ – every day of my adult life has been adventure, and for this I feel very grateful.”

However, once he settles back into normality or the ordinary humdrum of everyday life back home, is bound to have a book or travelogue lined up detailing his epic lifestyle and adventures around the globe and I for one certainly can’t wait to one day read this man’s remarkable story.