Long long ago, when he set out to see and take in the life in villages of India on his friend's lorry, he never imagined that he would one day travel around the globe. But today, Jacob has seen 50 countries; and his excitement knows no bounds. The 50-year-old Manivayal Veliyathu Mariyil Jacob, from Sultan Bathery, has a dream, he wants to visit 100 countries and that too, very fast.
He has already visited 21 among the 27 countries of the European Union including France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Vatican, and Switzerland. He had made trips to Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, and Jordan. His sheer love for travel took him to many Asian and Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. While visiting the African countries Uganda and Congo, he made a detour to Australia as well. He had also spent quite a long time in the football-crazy Brazil and Chile in the South America.
However, wanderlust was in his blood. Long ago, Jacob ventured to the villages across India with a friend who drove a lorry. He acted as the cleaner of the lorry. Jacob started his overseas journeys in 2011. His first visit abroad was to Israel and Palestine. Most of his trips would last 15 days to a month. He has been celebrating Christmas at Bethlehem for the past three years and wishes to be there during Christmas in the coming years as well. Jacob traveled to Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia recently, and this time, his wife, Flory, accompanied him for the first time. They set sail on the cruise liner Royal Caribbean International and spent an amazing week on this luxury cruise ship.
Jacob says that he had made traveling his hobby not because he is wealthy, his worldly possessions are - a 19 cent plot and a house in it. Jacob has been doing some small scale businesses to subsist. The frequent travels have left him with little savings; he had already spent around Rs 15 lakhs for his passion.
This hasn't pulled him back from the dream to see at least 100 countries and his hopes to take his family, including his kids Hilda and Jijo who are students, for a trip. This September he is going to visit 16 European countries and in February, he plans to go to the US, Canada, Mexico and the ever-frozen Antarctica.
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