Chick Lewis is likely one of the most widely-traveled guys you’ve met, having visited 139 of the qualifying “countries and island groups” on the ‘Traveler’s Century Club’ list.

In January 1975, at the age of 24, Chick gave notice to his job as a physicist, sold nearly everything he owned, and headed out from Los Angeles with $5,900 of savings to see the world. And see it he did. In the following 41 months of Super-Low-Budget Vagabonding, he used the cheapest local transport, stretched every dollar, and opened himself up to the beauty of the people and cultures – and adventures – surrounding him, as he circumnavigated the globe.

During this 3-and-a-half-year-long journey, Chick roamed through 60 sovereign nations, seeking out numerous remote, exotic, and often ill-advised locations, some of which are almost inaccessible to even the most determined traveler today. 

In his book, "Just Another Pilgrim on the Train to Wau", are the four months of his African experiences.  These range from meeting amazingly generous and good-hearted people to dealing with phenomenally nasty scammers, thieves, gunmen, corrupt officials, and ne’er-do-wells. 

Including the continued journey through Asia, Chick survived quite a number of life-threatening experiences, such as a fatal-to-the-driver auto accident, Dysentery, Gangrene, Malaria, Hepatitis, and Dengue Fever, very nearly drowning, a serious tribal fight, and a bandit ambush... making Chick probably also the luckiest guy you’ve ever met.

Returning home after vagabonding, Chick was invited to be first employee of 3D Systems, the company which invented 3D printing.  He designed and built the prototypes for the world's first commercial 3-D printers, using resin and lasers, and is named as a co-inventor on at least 18 U.S. Patents. 

Chick retired in 2009 and resumed traveling extensively… so note: The first travelogue, "Just Another Pilgrim on the Train to Wau", covers Chick’s tales from Africa.  A subsequent book will cover adventures in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Oceania and the Far East.