World traveller returns to Etobicoke

World traveller returns to Etobicoke. Jeff Dickinson of Etobicoke tried his skills at surfing during an eight-month trip across Australia and Africa. His goal is to visit all seven continents. Photo/COURTESY

And that's all in the last two years.

Etobicoke's Jeff Dickinson, 29, has done more travelling than most would hope to do in a lifetime.

And he's not done yet.

"There's still a lot more I want to see. I've done six continents in the last two years, just Antarctica is left," he said.

Dickinson got a taste of travelling early in life, he said.

"When we were younger my parents used to take us away a lot, kind of wherever the car would take us," said Dickinson.

The first time he went overseas was during high school, a trip to Italy for 10 days, he recalled. When he graduated university, he backpacked through Europe for six weeks with a friend.

"I did hostels, that kind of thing," said Dickinson, adding the pair covered Scotland, London, Paris, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland.

That backpacking trip "definitely got the (travel) bug going", he said.

But he fell into a full-time career and for the next couple of years found himself vacationing at all-inclusive resorts, he said. "So then one day at a beach resort I decided I'm too young to be doing this," said Dickinson.

He resolved to hit three destinations he had wanted to visit since he was a kid: Mount Everest, the Amazon Jungle, and the Serengeti.

"I signed up for a high-altitude trekking trip in Nepal, eight days of hiking to get to the foot of Mount Everest," he said. He said Nepal really stands out for him, being his first "solo" trip. "Up in the Himalayas, there's not even a road. Everything is brought in by yak."

He said he also got a surprise there. "You get into these villages that don't have electricity, and then we saw a sign for an Internet cafe. They kick started a generator and we go in and they have a nicer laptop than I have," he said with a laugh.

That was fall of 2008.

"Six months later, I booked a trip to Peru and went into the Amazon ... it was unbelievable," he said.

During that journey he saw three giant river otters - "there's only like 400 left in the world" - and he also saw birds, monkeys and spiders.

"The only time it was pretty creepy, we did a night hike and that's where you hear lots of sounds from the jungle. A lot of times they'll make you turn your headlamps off to stand there in the dark and listen," he explained.

Not too long after hoofing it through the Amazon, he was "at the right point financially and in my personal life" to tackle the next destinations.

Dickinson, an American Express marketing manager, secured a lengthy leave of absence from his job.

Next stops: Australia/New Zealand, diving in the Great Barrier Reef, surfing and skydiving before heading to Africa for an extended stay.

A tour took him through nine African countries in 54 days, he said.

"The animals were incredible, just in the Serengeti alone we saw 33 lions, just one of those majestic creatures that doesn't matter how many times you see it, it's still impressive," he said.

He also went "shark cage" diving - "to see the power of a great white shark was pretty crazy."

In South Africa, he plunged about 214 metres from the world's highest commercial bungee jump.

"This stuff doesn't really bother me that much," he said.

He was impressed with Africa, and said there are misconceptions from Westerners about the continent. "It's very green, their agriculture is phenomenal, some of the best fruit I've ever tasted," he said. "The people don't have wealth, but they're very happy, they see their friends and family almost every day."

In spring of this year, he met his father Randy in Paris and the pair spent 17 days in France, Belgium and the Netherlands visiting the battlefields of the world wars.

Dickinson said travelling across the world made him realize "how much stress you carry when you're at home ... you realize how much emphasis we put on material things, but the relationships you have with people is really what's important."

But while Dickinson has seen more than most, he said anyone can fulfill their travel dreams with some discipline.

"It's not necessarily about money as much as it's about will," he said. "If you look at what people spend here on fancy restaurants, cars, televisions and drinks on Saturday night ... if you just take a fraction of that and put it toward a travel fund then it's not too hard.

"If you want to do it, anyone can do it."