Back in 2021, Tom Napper is toying with the idea of never having a permanent address again.
An English-born artist and graphic designer, he felt so anxious about traveling solo that he decided to join a group cycling tour of New Zealand, figuring it would give him plenty of natural chances to chat with fellow cyclists and make new friends.
But the coronavirus pandemic, which closed New Zealand's borders indefinitely the day before he was due to fly back to London, changed Napper's plans, and his life.
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How It All Began
Napper arrived in New Zealand on February 16, 2020, to take part in Tour Aotearoa, an organized cycling event in which roughly a thousand "bikepacking" travelers ride 3,000 km (about 1,860 miles) along routes across the country. The route starts near Cape Reinga (also known by its Maori name, Te Rerenga Wairua) on the North Island and ends at Bluff on the southern tip of the South Island, and it takes about 30 days on average.
Participants are asked to photograph every stop along the way to prove they are following the route, but Napper asked for, and was granted, permission to make his visual check-ins as illustrations instead. Little did he know that those drawings would turn into a long-term project.
After finishing the ride, Napper headed to the town of Balclutha to meet up with a college friend. That meeting turned out to be far more than a pleasant chance to unwind before flying home.
"It turned out that while I was cycling around New Zealand, the rest of the world was falling apart."
Napper had to make a quick decision: try to book a seat home on an emergency flight, or wait out what he assumed would blow over quickly in New Zealand. He chose the latter. At the time of publication, he is applying for his fourth, and likely final, extended visitor visa.
His original 30 days stretched into 15 months, and his 30 paintings of stops along the bike route grew into a long-term project to document every place he visited in New Zealand.
Taking the Leap
"I always wanted to become someone brave enough to set off on a solo journey," Napper says.
A native of Oxfordshire, he spent a decade in London and began to feel that big-city life had an expiration date. Joining an organized tour, where 100 cyclists are "released" onto the trail each day and become a kind of loose cohort, let him explore a new direction without diving 100 percent into the world of solo travel.
But then he got stuck in Balclutha during lockdown. Once he realized the pandemic was, in fact, a pandemic and not just a temporary spike, Napper kept taking advantage of visitor-visa amnesties, extending his stay again and again. Thanks to the new friends he had met on the bike tour, he was able to use a few services and stay in spare rooms and holiday homes between longer stints in Airbnbs.
Luckily, as a freelancer, Napper was able to keep up with his work projects, and keep the income flowing. Every month he sheepishly told his roommates back in London that he still was not sure when he would be able to return, and he eventually gave up his housing altogether so he would stop spending money on rent for a flat he was not living in.
Have you ever taken a day trip somewhere, been completely blown away, and then wished you had rearranged your schedule to spend more time there? Welcome to Napper's entire 2020. He revisited some of the places he had ridden past on his journey, including Queenstown and Mount Cook (Aoraki).
Solo travel is not only about taking in the sights. More often than not, it means learning to spend long stretches of time alone and not relying on other people to keep yourself occupied.
"I don't think I've been bored even once in the past 14 months," Napper says. "Working on the paintings has become a huge anchor for me. I can happily spend all night in front of my laptop, preparing my work and telling stories on social media and so on. And it's led me to a point where, instead of just going for a hike, I go for a hike with a purpose, and I create a painting. And then I tell the story through that painting when I get back."
The Road Home
Border restrictions in New Zealand eased slightly thanks to travel bubbles with Australia and the Cook Islands. Meanwhile, the UK had already launched an aggressive vaccination program, and bars, restaurants, museums, and other businesses had reopened.
In another life, that might have meant it was time for Napper to head home. But this once-reluctant solo traveler now has no idea what his next move will be. He is considering a six-month stay in Australia or a longer spell in Canada once his last New Zealand visa runs out.
"I don't have a home anymore. It's been interesting to watch people's comments online asking, 'When are you coming home?' And I'm like, 'That word means something different now.' As far as I'm concerned, I've been home this whole time, right here."
