vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #148 / Social life / Reading article...

If you travel to a different country, don't worry about whether you speak the language. Some things are universal.

That's a trick Tom Wold picked up on his travels to more than 160 countries over the last 20 years. The self-described 'pilgrim' plans to make use of that rule here, since he doesn't speak Russian but will stay about two months.

His lack of Russian certainly wasn't a problem Aug. 12, when about 20 people gathered to hear Wold's travel tales in English. The crowd didn't seem to understand everything, but they were eager to hear English from a native speaker. And Wold's descriptions of exotic places seemed to captivate everyone. A former journalism professor at the University of Hawaii, Wold says he quit his job during the Vietnam War. The societal divisions caused by the war made him frustrated, and he decided he wanted 'to meet people who could tell me the truth.' But he was not yet a pilgrim.

He sold his yacht and gave up his comfortable life. Starting in Central and South America, he went through Africa and beyond. That first trip took four years.

"I learned that whatever you have, it will be stolen at some time," Wold said. "I learned that everything is temporary."

He saw children starving to death, and he narrowly escaped a hepatitis epidemic on the Amazon River. When he got home, he went to the mountains and "cried for hours." Wold was struck by America's wealth and the suffering he had seen elsewhere.

His following trips took him to holy places, where he traveled mostly on foot and studied the world's major religions.

After Vladivostok, Wold wanted to walk across the country to St. Petersburg and beyond. But the federal government refused, so he will take a train instead.

There's a rule pilgrims are supposed to follow on their travels, says Wold: Don't stay too long in the good places, but stay long enough in the bad places. Wold didn't say what kind of place Vladivostok is, but two months isn't exactly a quick trip.

Wold is here by invitation of the Lutheran Church. He is offering free English group lessons twice a week at the Lutheran Center, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2-4 p.m.