This text is part of the special Pleasures notebook
Travel the planet without taking a plane? This is the tour de force that Lucas Piazza is trying to achieve, combining bicycle, hitchhiking, ferry, and even… sailboat hitchhiking to accomplish this feat.
For as long as he can remember, the man who goes by the nickname Billy Bobby Back on social networks has always loved discovering new lands. “Since I was a teenager, I haven’t stopped traveling,” he says. At 25, I saved some money and said to myself “that’s it, I have to go on a world tour”. Otherwise, I’ll regret it when I’m too old. »
But his visit to the planet is anything but ordinary since he has excluded the plane from his ways of getting around. For the sake of ecology, but also out of a desire to get off the beaten track. “I want to see if it’s possible to travel around the world without taking a plane. It’s a challenge for me,” confides the 27-year-old Belgian. This way of proceeding allows him to get to know all kinds of people throughout the landscapes. “I find it much better than taking a plane, where you don’t meet anyone,” he confides.
Since then, he has traveled to more than ten countries. “I started in Sicily, through Palermo. I wanted to see my grandmother before leaving. I said one last hello and hitchhiked around the island and to the south of Italy,” he recalls. He then took a ferry to Albania and visited Montenegro, Croatia and Slovenia by bicycle. His father joined him in a converted car in the south of France and he decided to get back on two wheels to travel around Spain. One ferry later, Lucas Piazza set foot on the lands of Morocco, which he hitchhiked through.
“Thumb up” by boat
It was in the Canary Islands that he discovered the basics of hitchhiking. But finding a boat that would accept him on board was not easy, as he had no sailing experience. “People didn’t want to take me because they were afraid I would get seasick,” he says.
He emphasizes the importance of being surrounded by regulars. “I had a first offer, but I didn’t go up. There was nothing in terms of security. Not a single life jacket, no radio. If there is a problem in the middle of the ocean, you find yourself in deep shit…” he warns.
An experienced captain finally agreed to take him under his wing to go to Cape Verde before beginning a 15-day transatlantic crossing by sailboat to Trinidad and Tobago. They then went back towards Martinique, passing through the small islands of the Antilles.
During his trip, Lucas Piazza was able to learn the basics of sailing. “I didn’t know what “lowering” meant (lowering a rope or a sail), I was incapable of tying a knot, I didn’t know how to do anything at all. Afterwards, if you don’t know anything about it, you can do it anyway. It depends on your captain, depending on the passion and desire he uses to train you,” he says. At the beginning, it’s quite difficult because your body has to get used to it and get into the rhythm. I was very tired during the first three days. »
The sea also sometimes holds surprises, depending on the direction of the wind and the type of sail installed. “We made a departure from the luff. This is when the sail will almost touch the water. I panicked: “Is the boat going to sink or what?” Afterwards, we calmed things down and things went well,” he says.
A transatlantic crossing nevertheless requires some manual skills: the people on board must be able to carry out repairs along the way. “There are so many problems on a sailboat. For example, a guy had blown his mast. You can break your bar, too. We broke a lot of things,” he says. He was also able to count on the advice of his captain to learn the basics of sewing and patching a sail in order to continue sailing.
The budding YouTuber gave himself another challenge, that of living on a maximum of 10 euros (around CA$15) per day. “The less I spend, the farther I go!” he exclaims. And I don’t need the comfort that many people want. »
And is it expensive to travel by sailboat? According to Lucas Piazza, some captains sometimes charge a daily rate for a place on board. But he was lucky enough to only have to share the costs of the food needed for the crossing. “Plus I learned a lot. It was a kind of two-month intensive sailing course, free. It’s great,” rejoices the one who has so far got away with around 500 euros ($731) to set foot on three continents.
Unique landscapes
Turtles one meter in diameter, dolphins, magical landscapes… About his crossing, Lucas Piazza has no shortage of anecdotes. After three moonless nights where the front of the boat was not visible, the panorama was completely transformed. “The moon really lit up everything. It felt like it was day, even though it was night. And when you see the Milky Way, it’s magnificent,” he says with so many stars in his eyes.
“And what I find so beautiful is when it’s calm. This is when there is no wind or waves. The sea is smooth and flat. With the sunset reflected in the water, you have the impression of being in another universe,” he describes.
Stayed in Martinique for a few months before setting sail again, he later wishes to return to Panama in order to set sail for the Pacific countries. “But I would like to do Latin America, the United States and Canada first,” he says.
The globetrotter plans to spend between five and ten years completing his world tour. “By boat, it’s slow travel, we must have time. At one point, I didn’t know what day it was anymore. You have to experience it to realize it. And I think it’s a great way to travel. »
To follow the world tour of Lucas Piazza, aka Billy Bobby Back:
instagram.com/billy_bobby_back
youtube.com/@BillyBobbyBack
This content was produced by the Special Publications team at Duty, relating to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part.