Alexey Korovin: how to change your life and stop living on the machine

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Imagine that you are a businessman (some are already). Could you quit a successful business that you gave 15 years of your life to? If so, for what? Maybe in order to change your life and stop living on the machine?

The guest of our interview did just that. He radically changed his life in 2009, when he went with the company on a motorcycle trip outside the country. After a while, he decided to separate from the company and continue the trip himself. Since then, he cannot imagine his life without solo motorcycle trips, and also shares his impressions in his

Alexey's last trip was to Australia. 30,000 kilometers, 137 days and 16 countries - I personally can't even imagine what it would be like. I think you do too. That is why we decided to interview Alexey and present him to your attention.

How did you decide to devote your life to travel?

I have never devoted my whole life to travel. This is part of my life. And I came to this by accident. For example, sometimes people try to stop eating meat. Themselves persuade themselves that this is wrong. Tense up, try not to break. And sometimes you just come to such a state when you no longer need and do not want to eat it. Here is my second situation.

In 2007, I got on a motorcycle for the first time. I had a desire before, but there were always excuses due to the fact that I was doing other things. I rode a little and in 2009 for the first time decided to go further out of town.

Serious "far away" happened

That's for sure. I found guys who were traveling from Kiev to the Caucasus. There were five of us, and I went with them in order to understand what it is and what travel is. However, having started with them, I realized that it was better for me to go alone. I could not move at their speed and could not be in their company. Therefore, I decided to separate and continue to go alone.

After four days, I realized that solo travel is the tool that I need in my life. And over time, it has become strongly intertwined in my life. For me, such travel is not a hobby or a job. This is a tool that helps you get out of society and your comfort zone for a while.

There are different tools. For some, these are extreme sports, but for others, alcohol. And for me it was solitary travel.

So this is an outlet?

- It's not really an outlet. When people want to travel, they save money for a long time and then travel, then save money again and travel again. Divide their lives in two. The good and the bad. But I like living in the city. I feel good everywhere. It's just that over time there is a feeling that you are living on the machine, and then I understand that I need to get out of the city.

It seems to me that every person should have such a "shuttle run" between society and solitude. It is impossible to stick in one or the other state.

Therefore, I do not travel around the world. They last too long, and by the fourth or fifth month you just want to go home. Settle down.

How long does it take to travel around the world?

- About a year.

Perhaps it is very difficult

- Everything is relative. If your goal is to travel around the world, then yes, it's tough. But if you like the process itself, you just live and get a thrill from it. You don't think, but you do.

Why a motorcycle?

- What is a motorcycle? For me, he combines several very important things. I need speed, ground and the ability to connect with space. When you travel in a car, it is as if you are in a dome, protecting yourself from the world around you.

I had a question about where do you get your inspiration from. But, as I understand it, if you like to do something, then you don't really need inspiration, right?

- Inspiration is a cool topic. For me, inspiration is when the soul speaks. People can live from the mind and from the soul. When you live from the mind, you have some particles of inspiration, but you do almost everything thanks to your willpower.

And from the heart you live when you do your job. Or at least you try. I often read people's questions about how to find inspiration. There is only one answer: just do your thing.

Traveling is my business. I still sometimes do things from my mind, but I try to keep track of them and come to the conclusion that everything needs to be done from the heart.

Maybe, after all, something should come from the mind?

- Of course, the head on the shoulders must be present. This is how I used to prepare for travel. I planned everything down to the smallest detail. I thought, what if something doesn't work out here, or here it will be wrong. I just stopped living in the moment.

But you can plan from the heart. Plan in "here", enjoy the planning itself. Thinking less about the future and the past, living in the present moment. The only difference is what you associate yourself with - the soul or the mind.

It is very difficult to realize and change it

- Right. But this is exactly what you need to do in your life. The best part about this is that you stop being afraid of unnecessary things. This moment came to me in 2008. I quit my business, to which I dedicated 14 years. All these years I have lived for him, and leaving him is like leaving your child. Businessmen will understand me.

What was the very first trip?

- It was just the Caucasus, which I have already mentioned. We left Kiev and reached Rostov. There was one guy with us who was going to Kazakhstan, and my brother lives there. The rest went to Tuapse, to the sea. I realized that I definitely do not want to go to Tuapse, and decided to go to Kazakhstan.

We reached the border and they didn’t let me through. There was no passport. And I drove back myself. This was my first solo trip. These five days, which I drove back alone, rediscovered my life. I finally felt alone with myself.

On such trips, all you do all day long is driving. You cannot occupy yourself with anything, because you are driving. And at this moment in time you are with yourself. Then I realized that these small moments of solitude should be. They are like air.

Very similar to meditation

- This is it. For me, meditation is about observing the present moment. And various monotonous things help with this. Someone knits, someone draws. There are many ways. The motorcycle is one of them. A kind of "meditation on wheels."

Meditation is the tool that allows you to slowly become yourself.

Are you traveling alone to enter this state?

- Yes. Travel gives me privacy. I tried to ride with people several times. I spent a couple of days with them and drove on myself. This is not at all the same.

How do you plan your trip? How do you choose the route?

- I do not know. I planned my first trip seriously. It was around the Black Sea. And I also approached the planning of the second trip to Mongolia wisely. By the way, for me Mongolia is the best country to travel.

Why?

- There are no people there. Steppes and emptiness. Sometimes you stop in the middle of the road, look around and see nothing. No traces of civilization, nothing. As if you are alone in this world.

- How did you get across the Indian Ocean on your trip to Australia?

- From Kathmandu to Bangkok by plane. Together with a motorcycle. It is impossible to go there any other way. And from East Timor to Australia - by ship. Moreover, these ferries run very rarely, and I have been waiting for him for a month.

What have you been doing this month?

- It was the coolest time. The difference between spending time here and there is that you have a lot of things to do at home. And there you have nothing. And you start thinking how to kill time. You don't live in moments like this. And I learned not to experience this time, but to be here and now.

I can just take the time. For example, in Bangkok. You can go to a cafe, sightseeing and so on. But I didn't want to do that. I could feel the mind trying to find something to do. Therefore, I meditated half the time, and the rest of the time I walked. And in Bangkok, a state of happiness came to me. Whatever I did, it brought me joy. I was pounding from this state.

It was the same in Timor (the extreme point of Indonesia) and in Australia. The idle time took a month and a half. And it was a wonderful month and a half.

How often did you communicate with people? Did you avoid them?

- No. I didn’t avoid, but I didn’t seek companionship either. There were meetings, communication. When traveling, I do not need people to communicate. Nevertheless, I met many interesting people.

When I arrived in East Timor, at the bike wash (a mandatory procedure for crossing the border), I met a traveler from England Chris, and then two more bikers from Germany and Holland. We talked a little while waiting for the completion of all procedures, and then we got on motorcycles and left. Although we were traveling along the same route, they did not intersect anymore.

Are there people who not only watched your trip and said: “Yes, well done”, - and continued to live on, but also changed something in their life?

- There is. I won't say that very often, but people who got inspired and changed their lives write to me. It's not always a journey. As I said, they are not for everyone. But people succeed in finding what is right for them. And this, in turn, gives me strength.

How did ordinary people feel about your trip?

- How do you feel about him?

It inspires me

- Here's the rest too. When people see a person riding a motorcycle alone, hell knows where from, many have a feeling of delight. Everywhere you are accepted with an open mind. It's a wonderful feeling: when one person's heart opens, the same thing happens to you.

Every meeting is a joy. It doesn't matter if it's a policeman or a person to whom I asked to spend the night. People are always open to you, because you don't live with them for a long time.

Does adrenaline take place in your travels?

- No, I have long since outgrown adrenaline addiction. Sometimes I just want to ride with the breeze, but I have long ceased to like extreme sports.

By the way, about adrenaline. What happened in Pakistan?

- You cannot travel in Pakistan without a special piece of paper. It is given to all travelers. After receiving it, you are given an escort of five cars, and you travel in this escort through the country. And I decided not to receive it. And he drove along the Northern road to Lahore, which is considered one of the most dangerous.

Somewhere halfway, I saw some guys on mopeds standing in front of the road. I didn't suspect anything and just decided to drive through them. But when I was already approaching them, one turned around, and I saw that he was carrying a machine gun. He shouted something in his own language, and I immediately realized that it was something like "stop."

I didn’t have time to think, I started to turn in the other direction and go back. At that moment, he pulled the bolt and fired several times in my direction. Bullets flew past me. There were 30 meters between us. This is one of those moments when you realize that you are not such a fatalist as you imagined. I want to live.

Such animal fear helps you cope with the situation quickly. On the machine.

Why did you go through Pakistan without this piece of paper? Did not know?

- Yes, I knew, of course. But getting this piece of paper is very similar to the procedure in our country. You need to wait for an appointment, then stand in line for several days to receive it. Besides, there is also an escort. We must wait for him too. And he moves at a speed of 30 km / h across the country.

When I moved around Iran, an escort led me to the border. I thought: "Nifiga myself, how serious everything is here." And I came to Pakistan, they took me a couple of kilometers and said: "Go." And I thought that I had passed by myself and everything was in order, why not drive here too.

But after the shooting, I drove to the first police station, asked them at once for all the escort that was possible. They asked me for this piece of paper and said, since it is not there, go back and get it. I had to drive back to the border. There I was told that my visa expires in two days and they will not have time to get it for me. They offered to go back to Islamabad, renew the visa and return to them. I sent them and just took a different road. I'll break through somehow.

And along this road a few hours before me an escort of other travelers from England left. And after a while I overtook them. After a while I stopped to rest, and this escort caught up with me. They drove up and are waiting for me. I went up to them, and they said: "Now you are going with us."

There was no choice. And they go at a speed of 30 km / h. It is difficult to ride a motorcycle at such a speed. In general, I overtook them and drove to the next post, where they told me to wait for an escort again. It was like this until the night. We stopped to spend the night and had to leave at eight in the morning. I got up at six, packed up and left alone.

Were there any more problems?

- No, then everything was in order.

Did your motorcycle often break down on the road?

- By itself - no. Only once through my fault. I decided to drive along a dirt road, which was all dug up and blocked by excavators. I drove up to one of the sections where the road was completely plowed, and there were already several motorcyclists waiting for the excavator to finish work.

I decided not to wait for him and drove off to plow. Then again this situation. And again. I overcame the last section, went uphill, but the motorcycle does not go. I planted the clutch. I stopped and looked, and all these motorcyclists were passing by me. The Irony of Fate.

I went back to the excavator camp and tried to explain for a long time that the motorcycle needed to be repaired. They don't even understand English. While I explained everything, while the motorcycle was sent, while it was being repaired, it took a long time. At first I was furious about this. And then I thought that I, damn it, in a Lao village, go for a walk in the jungle, talk to people. Live in the moment.

The clutch was repaired, but after a while it started to fail again. I am driving through Laos and I understand that I need to go further to Vietnam, but if the clutch breaks there, then I will not have a chance to fix it. The second option is to return to Bangkok, to the workshop. I drove to the fork between Vietnam and Bangkok and thought about it.

And what did you choose?

- Vietnam - what will be will be.

Did you make a mistake?

- I drove through Vietnam, Cambodia, but when I was driving through Thailand, I almost pushed the motorcycle with my feet. The clutch barely worked. Dispersed it and slowly rolled.

It turns out that spirit has won over reason again?

- Yes, after thinking everything over, I decided to go to Bangkok. But when I got to the fork, I decided not to think. I just turned to Vietnam.

By the way, right now we are creating and simultaneously posting a 7-episode film about this journey called "". There are already three series available.

Where did you spend the night?

- Differently. I tried to spend the night in nature when the weather allowed. When I felt that it would be cold or I needed to charge my devices, I looked for a hotel. In all other cases, I stayed in nature.

Did you have a lot of things with you?

- No. It all depends on the person. I have a minimalist approach. I tried to take with me as little as possible. From food I took only rice, buckwheat, butter, brandy and coffee.

But now I am going to Norway and I understand how cold it will be there. There will be more things this time. I have a thin constitution and my hands are very cold. Therefore, I take a lot of warm clothes. No matter how much you take, it won't be enough.

What equipment did you take with you?

- Navigator (Garmin Nuvi 500), smartphone, two cameras (Canon 600D and GoPro). GoPro is one of the most important tools, but Canon gives the best picture, and when I wanted to add colorful frames to the film, I shot with Canon.

Did you use any applications?

- I almost never stayed in hotels, so I didn't need such applications. The most important thing is Google Maps. His offline work sometimes helped. But the navigator is, of course, more useful. It does not waste the phone's charge and makes its way along the smallest paths, which is what I needed.

What do you do in your free time from traveling?

- I have two projects. One is a manufacturing company and the other is a bag. So far we are on sale in the Russian market, but we are planning to enter the USA. I'm doing engineering there. In general, I enjoy design tasks. I try to do this only for my own pleasure.

But the most important thing is the ability to inspire people. This is what gives me the strength to continue my work.

Can you advise readers where to start? How to find your life's work?

- The most important thing is to be aware of yourself and every current moment. The Matrix movie always comes to my mind. He is very metaphorical and perfectly shows how our life moves automatically. As soon as you realize this, you begin to slowly crawl out of your hole.

I started to get out with yoga and meditation. At first I did not understand anything at all. And then smart thoughts began to come to mind. Try to invite someone to do what you love. A person will immediately find thousands of excuses.

Also, your favorite business should not be a hobby. Thus, you divide your life into two parts: this part I have for success and money, and this part is for myself. You tell yourself that 70% of my life I will not live, and the remaining 30% will still live. As soon as a person accepts the idea that these 70% of the time he does not live, he immediately begins to change. Do everything and don't be afraid to make mistakes.

Error is moving forward. We think that our life is a straight line, in fact it is not. If I had not had experience with business, I would not have come to the state in which I am now. Errors are needed, moreover, they are useful.

Imagine a limousine. In front of the limousine there is a chauffeur who thinks: “Damn, I'm in charge! I'm driving. This is the first step. At the beginning of my journey, I felt like such a driver. If I want to turn left - turn left, if I want right - turn right.

And then it turns out that I am not alone. In the back sits an eccentric who is really in charge. It is he who controls everything. This is the second stage.

And the third stage, when you begin to feel yourself not in the driver's seat, but behind, merging with your spirit. And the sooner you understand who is the boss in the limousine, the faster you will learn to manage your life.

Read the following interview with A. Korovin: "How to find your life's work."