When I met Jesse in 2009, he had recently left his job to travel across Europe, and I was getting my Master’s Degree at Dublin City University. We were on a 24-hour ferry ride from Rosslare, Ireland to Cherbourg, France.
Jesse had been on the road for less than a month; he had flown from Vancouver into London on March 9, and when I first met him on March 20, his backpack was quite light. The only thing he owned that seemed cumbersome was the camera he carried around his neck. On my end, I had packed the indispensable heavy books and binders into a suitcase to spend Reading Week at my parents’. I admired and envied his sense of adventure and his very simple packing skills for a five-month trip.