Sunday, November 28, 2004

Cabbie catches travel bug By Kerry Diotte

If Edmonton Economic Development Corporation ever needs a foreign ambassador they might hire cab driver Jim Soliski.

The 43-year-old got the travel bug in his late 20s and decided he wanted to see the world.

"A big reason for my desire to travel was I wanted to find out if there was a better place anywhere in the world than Edmonton," says Soliski.

After roughly 15 years of sporadic travel to almost 50 countries, Soliski figures he has his answer.

Does he agree with former mayor Bill Smith that Edmonton is the best city in the best province in the best country in the world?

Barrel Taxi driver

"Absolutely I do," says the Barrel Taxi driver who has written an intriguing, first-person book chronicling his globe-trotting adventures titled Does Your Meter Work? (The title is inspired by his dealings with cabbies in the Philippines).

"I was trying to find a place better than Edmonton and I couldn't," says the third-generation Ukrainian Canadian. "There's nowhere else like Edmonton where you can have the opportunity to live so well."

Soliski, however, got an invaluable education trying to find an answer to his personal quest.

The book cover itself gives a tantalizing potpourri of his numerous adventures:

"You can read about a day at the Philippine cockfights ... whitewater rafting through the Nepali Himalayas ... (hiking) over southeast Asia's highest peak in Borneo ... assault rifles up the snoot in Sri Lanka ... the ineluctable mysteries of Angkor Wat in Cambodia."

Soliski got the travel bug late in life.

He was working at a university rehabilitation clinic surrounded by medical personnel who hailed from all parts of the world. Their tales of other countries fascinated Soliski.

Since that first modest, four-month-long trip to London, England, in 1989, Soliski has criss-crossed the globe, funding his travel by working odd jobs or running businesses here. He once owned a popular Hub Mall restaurant called The Jacket Potato Man.

During his lengthy journeys he taught English as a second language in Taiwan and Vietnam.

Although he had no experience, teaching in Asia was a revelation to him.

"Being born a native English speaker is equivalent to winning a lottery before you've bought a ticket," says Soliski, adding people the world over are desperate to learn what has become the dominant language of the world.

Even though he had no job offer ahead of time and no experience at teaching, Soliski easily got hired as an English teacher in Asia - and his book gives practical advice on how just about anyone can have similar luck.

Soliski is happily settled back in Edmonton after his last major trip a couple of years ago. Yet he admits he still has a yen to globe-trot a bit because of what you learn from travel - particularly when you go it alone and end up anywhere the wind blows.

"Travel to me is an entity completely unto itself," says Soliski, who got his feet wet in the writing industry by penning an article for a small Massachusetts magazine. He was paid the princely sum of $35 for it.

"Nothing super saturates your learning curve better than travel."

Since his first article he's managed to hound his way into doing pieces for a host of big-name publications, including the Boston Globe and the Chicago Times.

But despite his most earnest pitches, Soliski could not find a major publisher for his book - so he went the solo route, just as he has in most of his travels. He published it himself.

"I had all my newspaper clippings in a package and I queried 110 literary agents and 55 publishers with no luck.

"I always wanted to write a book, so I thought if that was going to happen, I'd publish it myself."

Not one of the adventures Soliski writes about is born from experiences in five-star hotels. These are tales from a backpacker trying to squeeze the maximum number of kilometres out of the minimum number of dollars.

He succeeded very well at that - virtually never paying any more than $10 for a hotel room in South America or Asia.

The most inexpensive room ever?

It cost him the equivalent of 33 cents in 1997 for a double room in Nepal. "It was basically a mud hut, but there was a toilet and restaurant there," he grins.

Delicious, gourmet-quality meals in Nepal featuring the likes of chicken and cashews cost him only $1 to $1.50.

Hot, poor, dirty countries

Although he loved the people in the many developing nations he visited, Soliski figures he's now seen more than enough of "hot, poor, dirty" countries.

His next lengthy dream adventure is to spend a few months exploring Iceland, Ireland, Scandinavia and a bit of Russia.

Unlike many boomers, he doesn't dream of retiring in a warm place far from here. But he'll always love heading off on trips.

"I know I can always travel. I know I can be anywhere in the world I want to be any time I want to be. You just have to have the courage to go for it."

Soliski's travels are detailed on his website at www.DoesYourMeterWork.com. You can also travel down to check out his "reading and picture show" at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Laurie Greenwoods' Vol. II bookstore, 12433 102 Ave.