Sam Manicom spent eight years roaming the world by motorcycle, which is an accomplishment by itself. He later put those experiences into words, authoring four books: “Into Africa,” “Under Asian Skies,” “Distant Suns,” and “Tortillas to Totems.” Each volume takes readers through a different portion of his journey, Manicom tells Mark Long on this episode of the “Driven to Ride” podcast.

Manicom has traveled most of his life, using all manner of transportation. He explored Europe on a bicycle, hitchhiked by semi-truck, and crossed an ocean via cargo ship. All were tremendous experiences, he says, but motorcycles—a BMW R 80 GS, in particular—tick all the right boxes. For a chunk of that nearly decade-long journey, he even had a companion, aboard her own motorcycle.

During his time abroad, Manicom made an important discovery. “I found that a handshake and a smile and a ‘hello’ in somebody’s language gets you through an awful lot of very difficult situations,” he says. “You show respect to people and they’ll be gobsmacked, to begin with. Then, they tentatively smile back. All of a sudden, so many issues just melt away. It was such a good lesson to learn.”

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