I am Skyler, I've previously walked 4,500miles across the US, Cycled 8,000km across Canada, and tonight I leave for Mongolia to ride horses 1,000+ miles across the country, AMA!

Why?

Well, my friend Mario bet me $20 that I couldn't walk across America. In turn I bet him $20 he couldn't cycle across Canada, I had to go with him on that since he didn't have much experience and would have probably died. Now he's bet me $20 that I can't ride a horse across Mongolia.

There's many other reasons I decide to do these trips like enjoying travel, liking adventure, challenging myself, etc. It's really the $20 though.

Fine. I bet you $100 you can’t do the worm across Monaco .

I’m serious. On my honor I’ll pay if you do this.

Plz video

That's a lot of money, a lot of work, and I try not to be disrespectful in a holy site.

Monaco, then.

Only if you pay for my flight :P

How much is that?

No clue, I'd have to fly out of Thunder Bay.

So, looks like a round trip from TB to Nice is $1293. Everybody chip in.

Guys, if you come up with the $1290, I'll chip in the last $3.

20 bucks is 20 bucks

Damn right it is!

You had me until “the $20.” Maybe explore new cultures, not waste my time in Vegas/ Disney/ NYC... etc...? Challenging myself and liking adventure? meh.

New cultures is WHY I like to travel.

Edit: Also foods, I love food.

But would you walk 500 more?

Only to be the one to fall down at your door.

How do you fund such trips?

Just answered that Here. Basically just extremely frugally. I don't own a car, don't go out much, eat cheaply, etc. These trips are my passion and so my money goes towards them.

Sounds awesome man. I should start living more frugally to do similar trips. Enjoy your trip, good luck and safe journey!

Thank you!

How much do you estimate this trip will cost? I’ve thought about doing similar.

About $1500 for flights out there and another $1500-2000 for the actual trip.

What do you do while you save up said money?

Can you elaborate on 'living frugally'?

I already don't go out, have nice things, or spend more than a dollar per meal so please don't say that.

I basically just work and go to trivia once a week. I don't have a car, which is a big expense for a lot of people, and I work a lot 50-60hours per week if possible.

Have you ever looked into sponsorship? Off the top of my head, Northface or nutrition/supplement companies come to mind.

I might in the future. I really just do these trips for fun. I like being able to control them and wouldn't want to have someone tell me what I could or couldn't say/do.

Have you ever taken any government assistance? Food stamps, welfare, etc?

I have not. However I utilize free roads, police, medical, as well as tons of other things my taxes go towards!

How cheap/frugal are you?
Like do you collect ketchup packets from McDonalds and squeeze them back in the Heinz bottle? Do you rent a half a bunk in a room shared between 4 people? Do you try to charge your cell phone at work to avoid using electricity? What is the cheapest thing that you have eaten? Boiled potato with salt and pepper? Rice and soy sauce? Ever forage for greens? Ever have issues dating because you're frugal?

You could be more frugal than me, but I am more frugal than most people. I generally pay $3-400 in rent including utilities. Eat lots of ramen noodles/rice and frozen foods. Cheapest thing I've eaten was dumpster cereal with hillbillies in Kentucky. Buying foods on sale is a big thing. I have foraged for mushrooms, but that was more a fun thing than for frugality. I have had issues dating for other reasons :P

Thank you brotha. I fully understand the dating struggle. May your success bring you tons of groupies wanting to touch your weiner.

You know it hasn't helped at all. Luckily I have found a girlfriend that for whatever reason likes me because of who I am not what I've done. So that's pretty cool and she's looking forward to going to Mongolia with me!

What was the closest you came to death on any of your trips?

or what was the scariest moment of any of your trips?

There weren't really any moments I came close to death on either trip. There were moments where I was completely exhausted but pushed through though.

Scariest moment was when I was in Alabama. I had just crossed the Tennessee river and was on some land owned by the National Parks system, it wasn't really meant for camping though. It was about 10pm, the sun had long set and I really needed to use the bathroom, and I'm talking more than just a tree. Luckily there was a bathroom about 10 minutes walk up this little hill. So I start walking. The moon was out so I had enough light I didn't need to bother with a flashlight. That is until I start hearing rustling nearby. Suddenly it was coming from multiple directions. Almost a scratching noise. I quickly got out my phone and turned on my flashlight only to discover it was some armadillos. They were just digging in the dirt for bugs or whatever it is. Nearly scared the shit out of me.

Will you be using any camels or guard dogs?

Last summer my sister rode a horse around Mongolia for ~5 months. She thought having a guard dog was very worth while. Before she got a dog, her horse got stolen in the night once (and luckily reclaimed later.) She wrote up her thoughts here with another traveler she met here: http://www.thelongridersguild.com/stories/w-mongolia.htm and a newspaper interview here: http://www.valleyrecord.com/life/duvall-traveler-returns-from-five-month-journey-across-mongolia/

Also she fell in love with camels while in Mongolia. Wasn't expecting to use any, but she says they have the best, quirkiest personalities. :)

She'd probably be happy to offer tips & contacts if you need any!

EDIT: As others pointed out, experience with horses seems important to consider. My sister had been riding regularly for >10 years before this trip.

Wow that's awesome! Always good to hear about other people doing cool things like that!

We'll be starting in Eastern Mongolia so not a ton of camels out there. We're looking into guard dogs but might be staying with random people so we don't want to have a dog that might fight with local people's dogs.

How long will you be riding near Ulaanbataar? How will you deal with the intense air pollution?

We will be in UB for about 4 days before we go off to the countryside. So hopefully we won't actually be riding very close to UB. The air pollution is usually worst during winter, but I have asthma so I'll be wearing a surgical mask likely, however much that helps and be bringing my inhaler.

Good to know - I wasn’t sure how much, if any, extra precaution was needed to start a long journey like that.

Thanks for getting back to me, and good luck on the trip!

I should also mention that once you get away from the capital there's very little pollution (because there's very few people), so I won't need the mask.

Make sure you get one rated for particulates!

I'll do my best, I have a 22hour stopover in Beijing, so hopefully I can find a decent one.

Do you have a trust fund or something? Most people couldn't afford to take a month off work let alone years.

I just save up money (working minimum wage jobs). I don't need much to survive and live very frugally. My first trip I spent about $5000USD, my second I spent about $2500CAD. This one should hopefully take about $3000USD.

How much does a horse cost in Mongolia?

About $550USD

How much does a bike cost in Canada?

A decent one is twice that.

What's your favorite soda and why is it Coke?

Coca-Cola, I prefer it in glass bottles with real sugar like they having in Mexico and many other countries around the world. For Fountain Coke, McDonald's takes the cake with consistently good mixtures. Coca-Cola was something that my family would drink on occasion, and I enjoyed it since I was a kid. No matter where I travel, I can still get it. It's tied to many, many good memories for me.

Why Mongolia? It’s a beautiful country but has also a lot of flat open space with nothing to see.

Are you going to take the same route as The Grand Tour did? If not what would be your (in global) route?

Are there special places that you want to visit and what are those?

If you’re not your own boss how do you get such a long time of?!

My last two trips were in fairly big countries that were well populated. I wanted something different. I enjoy solitude sometimes, and feeling small in the universe. It also just popped into my head so I decided to roll with it.

I don't watch The Grand Tour, I actually don't own a car or have a driver's license. My friend was telling me they built a car in Mongolia or something though? That's crazy cool.

There are several national parks in Mongolia that we'll be going close to and so we'll go off and visit them. Uvs lake looks pretty cool.

I work minimum wage jobs so it's not terribly hard to find new ones. To save up for this one I worked at a coffee shop and as a dishwasher in a restaurant (about 55-60hours a week combined).

I have a friend currently walking across the US, she’s currently in Ohio, any tips?

If you ever think of quitting, do one more day of walking. Doesn't have to be a full day, but go to the next place. During my cycling trip my friend Mario who was with me wanted to quit a few times, but I'd always push him to do one more day with me and then he could quit. By the next day he'd be ready for another.

Also don't forget to take days off every now and then! Gotta recharge and do some laundry!

Do people associate your name to Breaking Bad more often than you'd like?

Only on reddit, last AMA there were TONS of people with Breaking Bad references. I've never been called a bitch so much in my life. Other than that not really.

What's your hemorrhoid situation at the moment?

Currently none, I'm not in Mongolia yet though.

Keep doing you man -- some serious salt in these comments. What has been the hardest part of your journeys thus far? Any times you felt in danger?

Scariest moment was when I was in Alabama. I had just crossed the Tennessee river and was on some land owned by the National Parks system, it wasn't really meant for camping though. It was about 10pm, the sun had long set and I really needed to use the bathroom, and I'm talking more than just a tree. Luckily there was a bathroom about 10 minutes walk up this little hill. So I start walking. The moon was out so I had enough light I didn't need to bother with a flashlight. That is until I start hearing rustling nearby. Suddenly it was coming from multiple directions. Almost a scratching noise. I quickly got out my phone and turned on my flashlight only to discover it was some armadillos. They were just digging in the dirt for bugs or whatever it is. Nearly scared the shit out of me.

Will you try to find a Mongolian woman to ride across the taiga with you?

Will you make this woman bear children for you and will you build a yurt for her?

I've found American woman. Very pretty.

So, how muscular did you get from all of this?

Each trip would build muscles in certain areas, which after the trips I'd do essentially nothing to maintain the muscles so within several months I'd be back to normal. So Very & Not really.

Did you walk across the country along highways?

In the US you're not allowed to walk on the interstates (with a few exceptions), so it was a lot of state highways and backroads.

Are you ready to drink fermented mares milk?

Airag! Yes I am!

How long does it take you to plan for these trips? Did you have visa issues in Mongolia? Good luck and i wish i were part of it.

Usually over the course of several months to a year from idea to fruition. As for planning it started in February, so maybe 3 months?

Americans can visit for 90 days without a visa. Paying for a visa only gets you an extra 30 days.

Thanks!

How did you plan the logistics of your current trip? Was it difficult to procure the horses?

We used Workaway which connects travellers with places to stay in exchange for several hours of work a day. We let the people we'd be staying with know what we were planning afterwards and they know people who will have horses to sell.

Google maps is a really big help!

Do you expect to run into, and/or destroy any city walls?

Yes to both.

Have you ever considered changing your name?

Yes, before I was born my mom wanted to name me Stone, but my dad wanted to name me Skyler. It turns out I share a birthday with Stone Phillips, so that's pretty cool. In general though I like my name.

What do you do for a living?

A little of everything. I've worked everywhere from a meat packing plant to engraving store to coffee shop.

That is crazy! But really cool! Question: how do you handle money? On your way? And do you carry any protection? Seeing as you never know what you might meet? And how did you start out at first? Edit: Also where did you start out from? Lol did you just like walk out of your house one day and never looked back? And how many miles did you average a day? How much did you spend day to day, week to week on food?

1. Usually in my bank account and using a debit card. I'll have to use mostly cash for this one

2. I didn't really carry protection. I will be getting a decent knife for this trip, mostly because of wolves.

3. My mom dropped me off at a trail head in Waterdown, Ontario. I gave her a hug goodbye and I started walking.

4. I'd average 20-25miles a day when I was walking. The most I did was 34 miles by walking. Cycling was 60-90 miles a day.

5. Usually about $10-15USD on food per day. A mixture of grocery stores and fast food. As well as the occasional restaurant.

Interesting stuff, I’m asking cause traveling cross country on foot or cycling has been kind of a bucket listed thing for me, so naturally I’m curious bout this stuff. I’ll probably do it someday when I’m a little better off financially. Again amazing stuff, the sights you see must be exhilarating stuff. Thanks for the tips! :] and have safe travels, traveler.

the sights you see must be exhilarating stuff

If you're thinking of doing it I should tell you that it all becomes way more incredible because it's surrounded by days of boring, mindless walking/cycling. It's a lot of fun but you have to be prepared to exist in your own mind a lot.

Really important question: why should I care about you randomly traveling places? You're not even pretending that this is for a cause like a lot of the other "I did X across Y" posts, so who cares?

It's just a relatively unique experience, it's one of those "either you care or you don't". There's lots of AMA's from people on here that I don't care about, so I just scroll past it.

How are your knees? your feet? your skin? your back?

Knees and feet are in good shape, I have a lot of acne on my back from when I was a teenager. So that kinda sucks.

Also I have some hip problems from the Walk.

Like what?

If I sleep on my side and don't have a pillow in between my legs I will have trouble walking for a day or two usually. I also can't take the weight of a full backpack on my hips anymore.

Have you seen a PT? Did you have a backpack or a stroller on your walk?

I have not. I start with a backpack for the first 2000 miles then switched to a stroller afterwards due to my hip problems.

To maybe head off some of these naysayers, why don't you tell us what your plan is after you return from your adventure?

I will be returning to Ontario with my girlfriend to go to university in Thunder Bay!

Cool. Have you decided yet what you'll be studying?

An English & History Degree and a degree in Education. I'll be doing a concurrent education program so I'll be in school for at least 5 years.

Rad. I bet with exciting stories about all your adventures like this one you'll be the favourite teacher of many students.

That's the hope! I'll have to be careful that I don't come across as a useless teacher that's full of himself. I think I have a decent personality/skills geared towards public speaking and teaching though, so it'll be about honing them.

When you walked across America where did you stay at night? Hotels or did you just depend on the kindness of strangers or did you camp?

Mostly camping in my tent or with Strangers. I'd either meet them as I was walking or use sites like CouchSurfing. It's a country of very kind people.

Will you be playing Mongolian throat-singing while you ride your horse across the plains? Please, don't disappoint me.

I'll do my best. I'll have to be careful though, I don't want to lose my voice.

When will you be riding grizzly bears across Russia?

3 years from now, I want to do polar bears across Greenland first to prepare.

This has been my absolute dream since I first visited Mongolia in 1998. How did you arrange all this?

I found some people to help me and buy horses from on workaway and the rest is just sorta making it up as I go along.

Just followed your Instagram. Can’t wait to hear how this goes. You’ve just given me the kick in the pants I needed to dust off the riding plan I made a few years ago!

Happy to help, and good luck!

Your previous adventures have been in places with clear rule of law.

You're going somewhere that is not like this what precautions do you plan on take to protect yourself?

Are you aware of the extreme pollution affecting Mongolia and how will you manage this?

The pollution is only in the capital city UlaanBaatar and mostly during winter. We will only be there for 4 days. The rest of the country is sparsely inhabited so it won't be a problem.

Mongolia has little crime, and most of it is nonviolent. We will need to be on the lookout for horse thieves though.

AHH fair I was under the impression it was far more widespread due to the heavy metals industry. Which, brings me to my second question are you going to check this out: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150402-the-worst-place-on-earth ?

Horse thieves lol very old school man. Have a great time.

Inner Mongolia is actually a province in China. Mongolia is it's own country. There's actually more Inner Mongolians than Mongolians. They're ethnically pretty similar though.

What do you do for health insurance and such?

I bought some travel insurance through my credit union.

Does that cover stuff like a broken leg?

Pretty much any health emergency/problem that develops on the trip. Also some money to bring my body home in case I die.

Hi Skyler! Have you considered doing any water-based travels (such as kayaking the Mississippi or something)?

Great name!

I have. My girlfriend mentioned kayaking from mainland Australia to Tasmania, so that's a possibility.

are you rich? do you have a full time job? how can one just leave everything and do anything they want?

I don't really have any responsibilities in my life that force me to stay anywhere in particular. So I just live somewhere work a lot, save up some money, and go. It's not for everyone, but it works for me.

Godspeed my man, I found my roots but I fondly remember traveling around the south when I was 18. Keep doing what you love man and life will keep giving. It’s always great to see people hate on those who break the mold, and truly experience freedom. My only advice would be to start a blog, people love your story and maybe you don’t have to work those jobs anymore. Keep it up bro; and have a safe trip.

Thanks for the encouragement!

Where’s the worse place to get chafing?

If you're careful with clothing and physical development you can generally avoid it. Mosquito bites though, the worst place to get one is on top of a knuckle. Northern Ontario has some terrible mosquitoes and black flies.

i am Mongolian, do you need suggestions for good places to go?

Sure!

these are all very solitary modes of transportation. what's your favorite mass transit option?

1. Trains

2. Planes

3. Ferries

4. Subway/Light rail

5. Buses

Why mixed units?

The Walk was in the US so miles, Canada uses the Metric system like a sane country, and I'm typing this from the US so I used miles for Mongolia. If I was there I'd use Kilometres. I generally write down both since the people that read my blog are a mix, but that'd make for a long title.

My aunt just started the American Discovery Trail a couple of days ago. She is hiking across the US stopping at women’s shelters to help encourage them to continue on and break the cycle of domestic violence. Deegoesfromtrialtotrail.comis her blog! Do you have any advice I can give her? I will be joining her for about a week soon as soon as she reaches Sacramento :)

I'd just say Keep it up! Also take it a day at a time. It's hard to keep the whole distance of the trail in your mind, but easier to keep a single day.

What are you most worried about?

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Are your, uhh, "family jewels" prepared for the journey?

I'm going to have a lot of padding, A LOT.

I'm most worried about the last quarter of my trip, it's sparsely inhabited even for Mongolia and fairly dry. We're going to have to go off of local advice.

What are your thoughts on having the name Skyler? It seems to be developing into a girl's name among all spellings.

I know that Skylar is now majority female, but Skyler is still holding strong as majority male. By the time I die both will probably be majority girls names. It happens to certain names. Beverly and Lindsey for example used to be a guys names.

Yeah, I'm in that boat too being named Skyler as well. With it being a less common name I think it's weird hearing that I either do or do not look like a "Skyler." Do you get that at all?

I've never gotten that before, but I'd imagine it'd bet weird. I've met a few Skylers before. Maybe I'm biased but we tend to be cool people.

What's your route across Mongolia? Are you crossing through the desert? I imagine you're gonna need a separate horse to carry your food and provisions and maybe another one to carry your camping equipment, if that's what you're doing. How do you plan on dealing with this?

We're going to be going a more northern route, closer to the Russian border. Mongolia is a really cool country because it has camels in the south, reindeer in the north, and horses throughout. I think it's the only country with all of those.

It's my girlfriend and I, so we'll each have one riding horse and one packhorse. We're sharing our camping gear so it'll cut down on some space. We'll restock on provisions in the small towns whenever we can. Gonna be a very meat and dairy heavy diet for a while.

I'm about to head there myself in June. When is your trip?

From May 4th to July 28th. 4 days in UB, 1-2 weeks nearby but outside, then the next two months riding across.

Do you even know who Subutai is?!?!?!

Genghis Khan's General? Unless that's a youtuber or something now.

What music do you listen to when riding horses across Mongolia?

Not sure yet. Each trip I like to pick a theme song My first trip was I'm Gonna Be by the Proclaimers. Second was For Forever from Dear Evan Hansen. This trip will be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmJzLipDbIA

Why do you mix kilometres and miles?

Because I'm American and Canadian and oscillate between the two places. I'm mixed in the head.

You ever think about doing thru-hikes?

Probably a lot more scenic than road walking.

Sounds sick tho.

I've thought about them but I really like meeting and talking with people to see the variety of life. I may do them one day, but probably not any time soon. Also I have some hip problems so I'm not sure I can handle the backpack weight.

How do you confront the fact that you provide no value to the world?

I haven't confronted it yet, could you give me some tips?

What kind of shoes do you usually wear?

I'd wear running shoes. I switched up the brands a bit. I wore Asics, Brooks, New Balance, and Nikes. I prefer them in that order.

How do you deal with pain from sitting on a saddle so long when cycling? Or does a good saddle prevent all that?

Get a decent saddle, but more importantly good bike shorts. I'd ride on days off around town doing chores/picking up supplies and 5-10kms of that would have me way more uncomfortable that when I was doing 120km with bike shorts.

oh cool another travel blogger, what will we get next? a subway sandwich artist?

I applied for a job at Subway and didn't get a call back. Does a failed Subway sandwich artist count?

How do you train for this? Even if your riding a horse, i imagine you need to go through some type of training.

I usually take it quite slow in the beginning and slowly ramp it up. I'm 22 so my body still adjusts pretty quickly.

what kind of unforeseen trouble did you deal with in your walk across the country and how did you deal with it?

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You might get comments from more interested people if you dropped by a few travel subreddits and let them know about your ama.

For the first 2,000 miles I walked with a backpack and in Texas my hip started having a lot of problems. I eventually switched to a stroller and pushed that for the next 2,500miles. My hip still flares up if I sleep on my side without a pillow between my legs.

What is it like being super wealthy?

No clue, because I'm fairly poor. No debt though so that does put me up there.

Are you considering on doing a trip through South America?

I don't really plan my next trip until I finish my current one. There is a new trail in Chile I've been thinking about, so who knows?

Why do you seek our validation? Just do your stuff and enjoy it, there's absolutely no reason to start an AMA thread so you disguise-brag about your personal life.

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As long as this doesn't help anyone, does not benefit anyone but you, didn't achieve anything for the world, didn't improve or create something to help the planet, it's just a personal experience and it's of absolutely no value to others.

Same reason anyone does? A friend recommended I do another one.

People are interested in unique experiences, so I'm doing it. If no one asked me questions then I'd just be watching some Netflix as I wait for my flight.

How do you think the horses are going to feel about having somebody ride them over that distance?

We're buying Mongolia horses which were bred for trips like this. We're knew to the whole experience and will be taking it easy. We'll each have two horses (one for the person, one for the gear). I also won't hesitate to get off and walk with the horses now and again. One of the great things about Mongolian horses is they live outside year round and can survive on their own.

Why are you buying horses instead of renting them? The depreciation alone has to make it a terrible investment. And oats! So much oats.

Well it's a one way journey and there's no Hertz equivalent for horses. We'll be losing money on them but mostly because we're foreigners so they'll charge us more on the buy and lose money on selling them. Still $550USD per horse isn't bad.

The point I'm getting at is that Horses are a prey animal. Having something or someone mounting their back goes against just about every instinct a horse has - kinda why making a horse more compliant to have somebody sitting on it is referred to as 'breaking them'.

I'm well aware that there was a time where horses were the only viable means of transportation over long distances and adverse terrain - but we have touring motorbikes and other vehicles specifically designed for these kinds of expeditions now. It seems a little exploitative to enlist the use of a horse just for some kind of romanticised ideal of what the trip should represent. Do you feel there are more ethical alternatives you could have chosen?

I live in the US & Canada. Countries which use factory farming. I eat meat, which is kept in conditions that far exceed the ethical dilemmas that might arise from riding horses on this trip.