Can you imagine being able to travel around the world without exchange limitations? It is not a crazy idea. Felix Weis – a programmer fond of cryptocurrencies, made this fantasy come true at the age of 27, visiting a total of 27 countries and 50 cities using only Bitcoin (BTC).
Weis – born in Luxembourg – became obsessed with the crypto world since knowing of its existence in 2012, and the idea of traveling only with cryptocurrencies came out when he lost his credit card during a vacation in the United States, being forced to use Bitcoins to cover his expenses.
His world journey began on January 1, 2015 – just two days before the fall of the Bitcoin price under the $ 200 BTC/USD exchange rate. Despite this, Weis did not back down from his adventure and managed to enjoy the beauty of the paradisiacal beaches of Yap, and even those of Venezuela. His only rules:
- No banks, exchanges not Western Union.
- Bitcoin is be the main payment method, and should be used whenever possible.
- If he needs local currency, he would only accept cash, making peer-to-peer transactions.
The voyager has declared in several media like Forbes that the key of his experience was his organization. For that, he made a thorough investigation before venturing to each destination, which allowed him to maintain the requirements in his payment policies by not using credit cards or traditional mechanisms if it was not strictly necessary. In addition, he noted that he has used crypto trading platforms such as Coinmap, LocalBitcoins, CheapAir and Expedia to purchase from a simple cup of coffee, to his flight tickets.
Not everything is perfect
Weis explained that he experienced the most difficult moments at the beginning of his trip in Romania, since there were still not many options to change cryptocoins into local currency, and the person he contacted via LocalBitcoins to settle the transaction never appeared. Because of this, he has to spend 3 days in a hotel feeding only at breakfast time and hiding some fruits from the buffet to make it through the rest of the day.
However, bad moments and other downsides were unable to overshadow the wonderful thing that has been his passage through the 21 countries and 50 cities from all continents. He highlighted his preference for several destinations that he does not rule out visiting again, not even Venezuela, a country hit by a deep economic crisis that has left it out of the tourism sector.
Lastly, the Luxembourger’s initiative has accomplished the objective, described by himself as “showing the scope of Bitcoin technology around the world and encouraging people to adopt this tool.” Likewise, he expressed his interest in writing a book that would be titled “Around the world in 80 Bitcoin”, but for that he needs to do some additional research and even go back to some countries, due to being unable to assert how much money he spent in his adventure (Bitcoin price was waving between USD $ 200 and $ 640).
