After four years cycling around the world with his twin seven-year-old sons in tow, Kim—a South Korean university professor—has learned a few important lessons.
One of those lessons escaped his smiling lips July 17 while he was in Jasper. He had just arrived after 10 long days of biking the Icefields Parkway from Banff. With that memory fresh in his mind, he said with a laugh, “I’ve realized carrying children isn’t a man’s job.
“But I’m doing my best.”
Kim, who asked to be referred to only by his first name, began his journey with his sons, Miri and Muni, when they were just three years old.
Having travelled extensively himself and having learned a great deal from those travels, he knew it was important to share that with his kids.
“Age three to seven is one of the most important times in human life,” he said referring to his sons. “It’s time to make the foundation of life: values, concepts, tongues of language.
“If they stay in one place it means they only have one kind of concept.”
So to open the boys up to more and to enlighten them to the differences in the world, Kim set out from South Korea four years ago. They began their journey on foot, backpacking their way to Germany, and then continued on four wheels—a bicycle with a trailer hitched to the back, acting as a seat for the kids.
“Travelling is mentally and physically hard. Travelling isn’t travelling, it’s life on the road,” said Kim, while Miri and Muni folded paper airplanes. So, rather than picking up a bike in Korea, Kim felt it was important to first teach the boys how to travel. That’s why they started on foot, he said.
It took them a year to reach Germany, and then they spent two months there preparing for their cycling trip.
Since then, three years have passed and the family has travelled through Europe, Africa, South America, the United States and now Canada, where their adventure will come to a close.
The trio left Jasper, bound for Kamloops, aboard a VIA Rail train July 18. The trip was sponsored by VIA after a representative in the Jasper train station heard Kim’s story.
He said he’s grateful to have some time off from cycling, especially after battling the hills on Highway 93.
From Kamloops, Kim will cycle the remaining distance to Vancouver, where he and the boys will board a plane and go home in time for the kids to attend school.
It will be their first time sitting in a classroom, but Kim’s not concerned.
“Life on the road is a kind of survival. In any situation, they now know how to survive.”
As well as attending school, when they return to South Korea, the boys will also see their mother and sister, both of whom stayed behind.
Kim said he hasn’t thought much about that reunion.
“I’m still on the road, so I don’t want to think about family with emotion. If I think with emotion, I can’t travel,” he said.
Now that the journey is coming to a close, Kim said he’s planning to write a book about his experiences on the road, travelling from country to country along with his boys.
“Our experience is small, but we want to share it,” he said.
Since the trio is flying home, they will be leaving their bike and trailer behind in Vancouver. Kim said if a museum is interested in keeping it, he would love for them to get in touch: [email protected].
Nicole Veerman
[email protected]
