At the age of 19, a young Croatian by the name of Petar Rikic decided to leave home and travel around the world by motorcycle. Throughout the course of this immense journey he experienced an equally immense diversity of peoples, landscapes and cultures. By crossing borders, learning languages and immersing himself in dozens of unique communities he came to the life-changing conclusion that in order to become more alive and free, we need to erase the borders and boundaries that confine us politically, emotionally, culturally and psychologically.

As a young man's travel journal of experiences, composed on a laptop while travelling by motorcycle, Around the World jumps from juvenile travel narrative to pseudo-philosophical enquiry, from initial adolescent exuberance to something akin to mature reflection. Much like the geography that whizzes by along paved highways, dirt roads and hidden trails, Petar Rikic spins, thinks, writes and rides his way into the deep and multilayered territory of life's great questions and realizes that there really are no great answers beyond the act of searching itself.

The Croatian edition of Around the World has been translated into English and Spanish, with proceeds going to support and protect the Amazon environment and the rights of indigenous people living there.

Petar Rikic was born and raised in Croatia but spent much of his youth travelling throughout the India–Nepal Himalaya with his father. Once he completed high school, Petar decided to continue his education through worldwide travel, in what he describes simply as “the Study of Life.” Part of his “adult education” was to ride his motorcycle 10,000 kilometres to the northernmost point in Europe: Nordkapp, Norway. And in 2009, at age 19, he became the youngest person ever to circumnavigate the globe on a motorcycle, an odyssey of nearly 40,000 kilometres. Since 2011 he has been engaged on a Pan-American expedition, travelling from Tierra del Fuego province in Argentina to the northernmost point of Alaska, USA, and has covered more than 100,000 kilometres by motorcycle and other modes of transportation along the way. Petar is currently living somewhere in South America, spending long periods of time in native Amazonian communities, advocating for indigenous rights and supporting various environmental protection projects. His next book will detail these newest adventures.

Petar Rikic's profile page