I quit! British IT manager chucks in cushy job to embark on 'quest' to travel 10 million miles and visit every country in the world

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As Lao Tzu said, ‘The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.’ For John Spencer, who has embarked on a life-long dream to travel 10 million miles, it began with his resignation letter.

The now former IT manager based in Leatherhead, Surrey, pulled the pin on his cushy job earlier this year having been inspired by Leo Tolstoy’s 19th-century novel, The Death of Ivan Ilyich.

Spencer, 39, saw similarities between himself and the book’s high-court judge character Ivan who questioned his purpose in life too late in the piece to do anything about it.

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John Spencer, on a night out in Sendai, Japan, is on a 'quest' to travel 10 million miles and to all 193 countries 

Spencer is filming his experiences and posting video blogs on his 10 Million Miles Journey YouTube channel

‘Ivan died “with his music” still in him, with his unrealised true self, passions, without having truly lived. Whatever happens to me, I know I will not be like Ivan, I will not allow myself to die “with my music” still in me,’ says Spencer.

There is no structure to John’s ‘quest’, as he calls it, which is being documented on his 10MillionMilesJourney website and YouTube video series.

‘My quest has two components: visit every country and travel 10,000,000 miles,’ he explains. 

‘There are people who travelled 10 million miles (seven people currently, I believe, that’s on one airline) and there are people who visited every country (there are 193 countries using the UN definition), but as far as I know, no one has done both. So I hope to be the first!’

Unlike British adventurer Graham Hughes, the official Guinness World Record holder for visiting all 193 United Nations member states and other territories without taking flight, Spencer’s primary mode of transport will be planes.

‘I love commercial aviation, flying, planes even the airport experiences. What many people hate, like prolonged layovers at an airport, I tend to actually enjoy,’ he says. 

A couple Spencer, 39, met on a flight from Rome to Tokyo invited him to join them for Golden Week festivities

Spencer’s 10 million miles, for which he has set no timeframe for completion, would be the equivalent of flying for two years on a commercial airliner for two years at 600mph or about 40 one-way trips to the moon.

Just like George Clooney’s lay-off expert in the movie Up In the Air, whose primary ambition was to join an exclusive club of flyers who reach 10 million miles, Spencer says, ‘The miles are the goal’.

‘There will be a lot of jumping around the globe and the whole quest could take 10, 15 or even 20 years to complete,’ he says.

‘I am not worried about the environmental impact not because I don’t care, but because there is only one of me doing it and the ultimate benefit of motivating people and showing them ways of living a self-actualised life will outweigh any negligible environmental impact.’ 

Spencer loves meeting new people and was impressed by the story of 80-year-old Kazu Aki Tanaka

Spencer, who grew up in Poland but has spent the majority of his adult life in the UK (and considers himself British), said he has enough in his kitty left to get through to the end of the year but is trying to make his journey pay for itself.

He says he’s working with a New York-based PR and marketing agency on how to make the most of his trips, but with income from YouTube ad revenue only nominal unless his contributions go completely viral,’ he’ll need other means. 

His plans include crowd-funding a book and also has designs on being paid for public speaking. Far from being a philanthropic exercise, he’s also looking into corporate sponsorships. ‘I would like in particular to work with airlines, as much of this Quest will be spent flying,’ he says.

Spencer is keeping his costs down in Japan by travelling and mostly sleeping in a mini-campervan

'Life is good,' John posted with this image of his rudimentary cooking set-up and computer for video editing

Starting in Japan, not a cheap country by any stretch, is a strain on his budget but he’s been exploring with a mini campervan and video blogging his experiences on the road and with the people he’s met.

Also on the cards for this year are Hawaii, where he has friends, and South Korea, China, Germany and Poland. He’s also working with a company in China to arrange a trip to North Korea, where his style of first-person filmmaking would be restricted.

‘This is not political for me, it’s about motivating people, bringing them together, showing them that they can follow their passions and that there is a lot of good people in the world,’ he says.

Spencer presents a piece to camera from Tokyo's famous Shibuya Crossing for one of his videos

‘I am not that worried about visiting some of the difficult countries like Syria, Iraq or Somalia. Even in Iraq and Syria there are relatively safe areas. I don’t want to be just a stamp collector, I’d like to stay at least three days in each country. Many countries I will be visiting repeatedly, staying for extensive periods and covering from different angles and under different themes.’

Spencer refers to another quote, this time from American psychologist Abraham Maslow, in explaining his motivation. He said: "A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be".

‘For me flying and travel are true passions and I made it my goal to do it full time,’ Spencer says.